Time is usually predictable, with hours upon hours passing in the way we’ve grown to understand. We feel cheated by the lack of time we have to sing 80s ballads in the shower before school. Drained by the endlessness of the last period of the day. Deceived by supersonic seconds passed before its time to close our eyes and repeat the process, over and over.
But lockdown has been a bad influence on time. It’s become rebellious. Perilous. Painfully prolonged with seconds lasting lifetimes. Ridiculously rapid, with minutes passing in the blink of an eye. Before time was our only companion, we didn’t pay too much attention to it. It seemed to lull in the background of our fiercely busy lives. But time has turned defiant, punishing its inhabitants by speeding up the moments we crave, and extending the moments we fear the most.
Lockdown forced its residents to undertake new schedules, in order to consume the omnipotent time we began to face. Perfecting raspberry souffles, learning Mandarin, reading every classic ever written. Or more likely, binging our favourite box sets, spending 600 hours a day on Instagram, and eating a packet of cheese and onion crisps every 3 minutes.
Time’s revolution seemed to separate the productive from the sluggish. Or at least, that’s what Instagram told us. I don’t know about you, but I envied those who woke up at 6am, fresh faced, about to put their loaves of sourdough in the oven and complete day 17 of their 30-day yoga challenges in tie dye lounge sets. But let’s be honest – Instagram isn’t a reality. And you and I know, that once that yoga challenge was completed, they would crawl back into bed and continue watching series 7 of Gilmore Girls.
Nobody’s lockdown was perfect. And if anything, time’s rebellion has brought us closer together. We all long for company – whether that friendships or watching Gavin and Stacey for the 19th time. We all long for comfort, tracksuit bottoms and our beckoning duvets. But most importantly, we all found lockdown exhausting. And if Covid 19 causes time to attack again, an oversized hoodie, a laptop charger, google classroom, and the realisation that nobody is perfect, is all we need to defend ourselves.
