Tag: quarantine

doing a geographical

four person standing at top of grassy mountain
Photo by Helena Lopes on Pexels.com

So far this year we’ve never ventured far,

Like little magnets spinning back

To central spots that draw us in.

It will feel weird when forces lapse

And then we spin way out

Into the vastness of the Universe

And we’ll be left just holding on

Hoping we will find our way back home again.

I’m going on holiday!!!! Never thought it was going to happen but we leave tomorrow and I’m feeling like an excitable puppy. I’m a home bird at heart but sometimes just getting away is what we need.

I find that home can be a little bit like a pressure cooker, and that pressure just builds and builds until it’s too much to contain. And I think a lot of us are getting to that point.

A lot of us probably haven’t left our hometowns in over three months which is just crazy. We never would have thought that would be the case as we saw in 2020, and look where we are now.

We’re still staying in the UK so it’s not like I’m venturing far, but I feel like that bungee cord that has been holding me within such a small circle over these few months has finally started to lose its elasticity and so my reach is increasing bit by bit.

Whether this is a luxury that we are going to still have in a few months, I don’t know. But for now, I’m going to enjoy feeling that stress and pressure ebb away.

Much Love

Rachel xx

PS I reached 500 followers today and I am so honoured that so many people have chosen to hit that button. I love you all.

anyone else watching weird stuff on the tv?

I’m finding myself watching

The strangest of things.

Lots of rubbish on QVC

Selling everything from

Trainers to tea.

I stumbled across

Some guy called Bob Ross

And I found myself transfixed

By his big afro hair

And his soft soothing voice.

The TV’s become

A portal to the world

And I now have new shoes

And a painting on my wall

That I made on my own.

land of limbo

Caught between

What is real

And what could have been

With no end in sight,

Her boots trudge through

The swampy mire,

Hitching up her

Emerald gown

And holding on

To her paper crown

As she bravely goes

In search of ground

That’s firm and sound

But sinking deeper

Every moment

Has become the norm.

And so she leaves her trail

Of glitter dust

As she searches

A land of limbo

For the safety

That she craves.

Crystal Palace pool circa 1998

Water cold enough to take your breath

As fingers pierce the surface film

And bodies undulate in time.

Sunshine streams through panes of glass

As divers circle through the rays

And children patter on the tiles.

The chlorine tang still burns my nose

But dried out skin and prune-like prints

Were just a symptom of my life.

The Crystal Palace housed a world,

A pool that held my childhood dreams

In careful liquid hands.

It’s now the place I like to go

When leaving home is not allowed.

I’m finding that as we are becoming more and more confined to our own homes I want to go places more and more. I have a whole list of places that I would have loved to go to over the Easter holidays; more than normal, I’d say, because I know I can’t go anywhere.

However, I have also found that I’m now thinking more about places that I used to love as a kid as well. Places that I’ve never had any thoughts about in years, but now I feel like I’m itching to go to again.

I was thinking a lot the other day about a place where I spent many happy days as a kid. I saw it on an advert and after that I just couldn’t help but want to revisit the place.

My happy place as a child was the swimming pool at Crystal Palace Sports Centre in London. We used to do training camps there and even though it has been twenty years since I was last there, I can still close my eyes and remember it vividly.

Does anyone else have these places that you can go back to almost instantly in your mind? I have found that spending a moment taking some deep breaths and just being there is really calming when things are getting a bit overwhelming. Try it next time you feel you’re struggling and I hope that it brings you some of the inner peace it has brought me.

Much Love

Rachel xx