My Post-lockdown Plans

If lockdown has made me realise anything, it is that in the last year I have allowed a lot of the things I love doing to slip out of my life.  Whether it was time, or motivation, working too frequently or never really clocking off – I am now making up for lost time.

These are the plans and goals I aim to implement once ‘normal life’ resumes.

• Sitting at the window in Federal NQ, drinking an iced vanilla oat latte and munching on a basic bitch breakfast of avocado on toast.

• Urging the tram to go faster as I race home with still-warm sourdough bread, purchased fresh from Lovingly Artisan at Altrincham Market. 

• Guiltless walks down Bridgewater Canal, hand-in-hand with my boyfriend.  No aim or end goal – no ‘daily exercise’ excuse, just a canal path tour and a whole lotta’ loving.

• Keeping my craving for writing up.   It was originally lost to spending too much time propped up against the bar instead of writing about it and working too hard.  I have the bug again, and my creative juices are flowing.  Mmmm.
• Attend a real-life barre class at BLOK London.  From living room to class room.
• Swim.  Swim fast; swim long; swim slow; just do not stop swimming.
• Keep studying Greek Mythology.  I have been rinsing The Open University’s free courses, and I have no plan to stop.  I had no idea how much I missed learning!

• Visit my friends.  Trips to Devon and home-home are on the cards.  I want a big reunion with lots of prosecco and lots of gossip. 

• Get involved with a Parkrun!  Heaton Park every other Saturday morning?  See you there.

• Drink coffee in Foundation Coffee House on the regular.  Even if it is just for an hour before work with a book.  I need that fix.

• Enrol on a food photography course.

• Margaritas in Luck, Lust, Liquor & Burn’s outdoor area – the ultimate sun trap.

• Keep up the baking.  I want to bake something new every week; whether it is cookies or cakes, hot-crossed buns or a cheesy bread loaf.  In fact, I really want to master pastry.  Croissants and coffee for breakfast?  YES PLEASE. Star baker – I am coming for you.

• Making time for a weekly date night.  Whether it is Hooch & a slice from Crazy Pedro’s, or bottomless brunch at Peter Street Kitchen – the weekly date night is sacred. 

• Organise a Christmas London visit.

• Be ‘plant based-ish’.  I want to put less pressure on myself to be plant-based.  I want to be able to eat what I want, when I want, with restrictions from myself.  Food is to be enjoyed, not to be struggled with.

• Finally, keep myself in the present.  I had lost so much of myself over the last year, and lockdown has helped me regain a feeling of who I really am and what I want from life.  I want love, I want warmth, I want a job I am proud of and I want happiness.