Thankfully my wife is doing better, excluding the expected pregnancy pangs, and we’ve settled into life under lockdown.
I’m a little ashamed to say I am happier than I’ve ever been.
As our entire industry has been closed I’ve been furloughed by work. This unexpected boon, of a two month temporary retirement before my life of parenthood, has, at a stroke, removed all the things that irritate me from my life. No commuting. No staring at a computer for eight hours (excluding video games). No thinking about the WENUS. Despite being, very literally trapped, these irritations have been replaced with a great sense of freedom. Freedom to not feel bad about putting off all the stupid little tasks, chores, and hobbies that have built up over the last decade.
I found a film on my laptop the other day which I’ve meant to watch since my last year of university!
I still haven’t watched it. But it’s nice to know I have the time.
I'm managing to tick some things off the list! Our babies room is finished (complete with curtain rail I drilled into the wall MYSELF), and we’re on top of washing for the first time since moving. I’m even reading a chapter of a book a day, occasionally lifting weights (and certainly eating enough for it to hopefully have an effect…) and, look at this, now I’m even back on track with Real Live Friends!
“The One Where I Fiddle Whilst Rome Burns”
We may be gripped in the middle of baby fever, mercifully no longer an actual fever, but Monica really ISN’T. Despite Chandler’s assumptions.
He’s getting a bit scared of commitment now their relationship is all out in the open. Hey, Chandler, you may be committed but at least you still have other people you can talk to every now and then!
The secret being out gives us another glimpse of Red Ross after he catches them at it. Oh Ross, I feel the pain of someone you thought was a mate getting with your sister.
Incidentally, it’s a nice touch that Courteney Cox went to the effect of buttoning her shirt up incorrectly.
I’m a little ashamed to say I am happier than I’ve ever been.
As our entire industry has been closed I’ve been furloughed by work. This unexpected boon, of a two month temporary retirement before my life of parenthood, has, at a stroke, removed all the things that irritate me from my life. No commuting. No staring at a computer for eight hours (excluding video games). No thinking about the WENUS. Despite being, very literally trapped, these irritations have been replaced with a great sense of freedom. Freedom to not feel bad about putting off all the stupid little tasks, chores, and hobbies that have built up over the last decade.
I found a film on my laptop the other day which I’ve meant to watch since my last year of university!
I still haven’t watched it. But it’s nice to know I have the time.
I'm managing to tick some things off the list! Our babies room is finished (complete with curtain rail I drilled into the wall MYSELF), and we’re on top of washing for the first time since moving. I’m even reading a chapter of a book a day, occasionally lifting weights (and certainly eating enough for it to hopefully have an effect…) and, look at this, now I’m even back on track with Real Live Friends!
“The One Where I Fiddle Whilst Rome Burns”
We may be gripped in the middle of baby fever, mercifully no longer an actual fever, but Monica really ISN’T. Despite Chandler’s assumptions.
He’s getting a bit scared of commitment now their relationship is all out in the open. Hey, Chandler, you may be committed but at least you still have other people you can talk to every now and then!
The secret being out gives us another glimpse of Red Ross after he catches them at it. Oh Ross, I feel the pain of someone you thought was a mate getting with your sister.
Incidentally, it’s a nice touch that Courteney Cox went to the effect of buttoning her shirt up incorrectly.
I think we’ve all done that. In the days when a shirt was something you’d bother to wear.
One of the two B-stories this week is a little hard to swallow, even this starved of entertainment. Joey’s got a new partner, who’s a little rough with her hands. And not in a good way.
It’s not so much this mildly abusive behaviour (if abusive behaviour can be mild…) being presented in a comic light I have a problem with, anything’s game for comedy if it’s done right.
It’s more how much of the humour arises from the other characters mocking Joey’s reaction to the situation. Maybe funny originally, but now it doesn’t really paint the characters in a good light. Their reaction is far removed from the usual high standard of friendship they exemplify.
Phoebe, too, isn’t being the best Friend this week, going to a party behind Ross’s back after he accidentally alienates the entire floor of his new flat.
Poor Ross, not making any new friends and sitting in his flat by himself. I wonder what that’s like?!
Even if some aspects of lockdown are hard, it’s brought some unexpected positives.
During my wife’s illness my dad began ringing every day to check in. I have no idea if this was off his own back, or at the behest of my mum, but once I got used to the strangeness it was quite nice. Really he’s a pretty great father, it’s a little cheesy but I know “he’ll be there for me” whenever I need him.
Even if our conversations were a little stilted, it’s a strange blessing that we spoke more in that week than we usually would in several months.
Another fun thing we’ve done is a live Friends™ Quiz on YouTube™.
Disappointingly, we didn’t do as well as I expected. But I think that’s understandable given I haven’t watched the second half the show since it first aired! And a lot of the early episodes are now several years in my past.
My wife consoled herself with another entry in her “Isolation Diary”.
“Day 14:
My husband’s become completely obsessed with playing ‘Love Island: the Game’. Now imagine being quarantined in your house due to a global pandemic, which you currently have, and your husband is in the next room muttering about which boy to couple up with, and which girl is a complete bitch. I’m half expecting someone to jump out and say April Fools! But this really is life now. I thought it was just the virus & the baby I had to worry about, turns out my husband’s sexuality is also something of a concern.”
Don’t worry wife. It’s just a game. I’d never get fiction and reality mixed up!
Real Live Sitcom Moment:
We had a little chat with one of our neighbours on our walk the other day (at a distance). It can be summed up by the following.
Getting Coronavirus: concerning
Watching your pregnant wife go through it: deeply distressing
Having a lengthy discussion with your neighbour about the virus spreading on cats, where you find out he’s been secretly feeding your cat, and then telling him you’ve both had it:
Priceless.
That’ll teach the fucker.
One of the two B-stories this week is a little hard to swallow, even this starved of entertainment. Joey’s got a new partner, who’s a little rough with her hands. And not in a good way.
It’s not so much this mildly abusive behaviour (if abusive behaviour can be mild…) being presented in a comic light I have a problem with, anything’s game for comedy if it’s done right.
It’s more how much of the humour arises from the other characters mocking Joey’s reaction to the situation. Maybe funny originally, but now it doesn’t really paint the characters in a good light. Their reaction is far removed from the usual high standard of friendship they exemplify.
Phoebe, too, isn’t being the best Friend this week, going to a party behind Ross’s back after he accidentally alienates the entire floor of his new flat.
Poor Ross, not making any new friends and sitting in his flat by himself. I wonder what that’s like?!
Even if some aspects of lockdown are hard, it’s brought some unexpected positives.
During my wife’s illness my dad began ringing every day to check in. I have no idea if this was off his own back, or at the behest of my mum, but once I got used to the strangeness it was quite nice. Really he’s a pretty great father, it’s a little cheesy but I know “he’ll be there for me” whenever I need him.
Even if our conversations were a little stilted, it’s a strange blessing that we spoke more in that week than we usually would in several months.
Another fun thing we’ve done is a live Friends™ Quiz on YouTube™.
Disappointingly, we didn’t do as well as I expected. But I think that’s understandable given I haven’t watched the second half the show since it first aired! And a lot of the early episodes are now several years in my past.
My wife consoled herself with another entry in her “Isolation Diary”.
“Day 14:
My husband’s become completely obsessed with playing ‘Love Island: the Game’. Now imagine being quarantined in your house due to a global pandemic, which you currently have, and your husband is in the next room muttering about which boy to couple up with, and which girl is a complete bitch. I’m half expecting someone to jump out and say April Fools! But this really is life now. I thought it was just the virus & the baby I had to worry about, turns out my husband’s sexuality is also something of a concern.”
Don’t worry wife. It’s just a game. I’d never get fiction and reality mixed up!
Real Live Sitcom Moment:
We had a little chat with one of our neighbours on our walk the other day (at a distance). It can be summed up by the following.
Getting Coronavirus: concerning
Watching your pregnant wife go through it: deeply distressing
Having a lengthy discussion with your neighbour about the virus spreading on cats, where you find out he’s been secretly feeding your cat, and then telling him you’ve both had it:
Priceless.
That’ll teach the fucker.
