{"id":212,"date":"2020-05-19T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/?p=212"},"modified":"2020-05-18T17:21:55","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T16:21:55","slug":"walking-in-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/2020\/05\/19\/walking-in-lockdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking in Lockdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Suzanne Jobling<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>PhD Candidate in History<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>13\/05\/2020<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Evening sunshine,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Empty street, I close my eyes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Imbibing the warmth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve\nalways been a walker. From being a well-exercised toddler with a mother who\ndidn\u2019t drive, I progressed to being teenager who furiously pounded the\npavements before exams to handle the stress. My devotion to walking frequently\nsaw me walking from my home in the South side of Dublin to my university on the\nNorth side, an ideal opportunity to listen to my favourite music (and save on\nbus fare).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\ntook a very cautious stance at the beginning of the lock-down, resolving to\nlimit my exercise to my ancient treadmill. This didn\u2019t last however, and before\nthe first week had ended, I was back on the pavements, dashing out the door at\nthe end of a day\u2019s work after making the vital podcast\/audiobook\/music\ndecision. In the intervening weeks, my evening walks have become increasingly\nimportant, allowing me to process my thoughts and stretch my legs after days\nthat have become increasingly crowded, encompassing research, home-schooling\nand the sourcing of food and providing of frequent meals to a family and two\npets with high standards. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Walking\noutside also serves as a reminder that, despite my present narrow horizons, the\noutside world still exists. Encountering another walker often involves a\ncomplex little dance incorporating a rapid appraisal of distance and strategic\neye contact in order to go on your way. Occasionally, you may catch the other\nwalker\u2019s eye and ruefully smile, attempting cheeriness despite the changed\nreality.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This lockdown seems to pare everyday life down to its essentials \u2013 obtaining food takes more effort, there\u2019s a new-found anxiety for the health of our loved ones and certainties about life, work, education and the future don\u2019t seem so certain anymore. Sometimes old and simple pleasures help to remind us of who we are and where we came from in strange and unfriendly times. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Suzanne Jobling PhD Candidate in History 13\/05\/2020 Evening sunshine, Empty street, I close my eyes, Imbibing the warmth. I\u2019ve always been a walker. From being a well-exercised toddler with a mother who didn\u2019t drive, I progressed to being teenager who furiously pounded the pavements before exams to handle the stress. My devotion to walking frequently [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":786,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifeinlockdown"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/786"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions\/227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/happ\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}