Curtains

Three weeks from lockdown and it is becoming undeniable that this virus is a nasty beast. We are getting to the stage where famous people and maybe someone you know have died. The Prime Minister, thankfully (whatever you think of him) didn’t die and has left hospital.

All of this has made me think about curtains.

Curtains, or lack of them, have been a weird feature of our lives lately. We were in the middle of a complete redecoration of our bedroom and went into lockdown before our new carpet could be fitted,  our new curtains were finished and the shops we bought them from are temporarily closed. This has meant flashing the neighbours every time I get dressed and waking with the birds. Weirdly, the Long Suffering Husband, who had wanted blackout lining, is sleeping brilliantly without any curtains. My daughter has been working from the dining room table. At first, she was set up facing the window but was too cold, so turned around to be next to the radiator. Then in conference calls her boss complained that he couldn’t see her because of the light shining behind. We only have a sheer curtain in the dining room, so it wasn’t blocking out any light. The LSH is great at solving problems, so he fixed a navy duvet cover to the curtain pole with some pegs. Unfortunately, her colleagues thought it made her look like she was in a hostage video.

However, these aren’t the kind of curtains I’ve been thinking about. This morning I have been ruminating on metaphorical curtains. Deaths are often talked about with curtain references.
“Catching the virus was curtains for him.”
Businesses get the curtain treatment too.
“The global pandemic brought the final curtain down on already struggling Debenhams.

Social media, this morning, is back to its usual hateful self.  It is full of curtain twitchers, wanting to tell the world about their neighbour that went for a walk of longer than an hour, or who bought and ate an ice cream in the street, or sat on a park bench to throw a ball for their dog.

There is also a lot of disbelief of Boris Johnson’s recovery. There is a suggestion that he was never really sick and that he shouldn’t be travelling to his holiday home. I agree that the second part is not the best example to set but also, resting probably shouldn’t be done in the office. The idea that he was never actually sick is bonkers, though. In times of curtains you should never underestimate a person’s ability to pull themselves together. There will be thousands of people who are sick, hurting or grieving who will put on their brave face and act act though nothing is wrong. This is how we cope in difficult times.

Maybe I am missing my old curtains, even though they were hideous.