As Britain hunkers down in self-isolation, families are settling into a timewarp
, scrambled eggs, omelettes...” The crisis is no reason to let diets slip, reckons Eleanor Jaskowska. As panic buying took off and lockdown loomed, she bought three rescue hens. Saved from an untimely end in the slaughterhouse, Maggie Hatcher, Roberta and Ginger are now free to roam around her sunny garden in Bristol. In return, their eggs make for delicious suppers.
As Britain hunkers down in week two of self-isolation, families are settling into a timewarp that lies somewhere between the mid-21st century and the 1950s. Aside from working virtually and binge-watching Netflix, they are keeping chickens, playing board games, baking bread and knitting sweaters. Queues for the shops, recalling postwar rationing, are encouraging people to grow or cook their own.
Bread-making is back in vogue, after being sent into decline in 1961 when scientists developed a way of making bread 40% softer, that also reduced its cost and doubled its life. Supermarket shoppers are hoarding baking ingredients as well as loo paper. Some are abandoning food-delivery apps and experimenting with new recipes. On one community WhatsApp group, families offer to drop off samples of their latest creations on neighbours’ doormats.
Many young people have scarpered from cities to lockdown with their parents, hunkering down with younger siblings who are off school. Of an evening, they gather in their living rooms to make their own fun, just as it used to be. Board games are making a comeback, with sales jumping by 240% during the first week of lockdown.
Slow-burning activities like learning an instrument are educational and kill time, too. The Sound Garden, an independent music shop in north London, has sold out of all entry-level acoustic guitars. Ukuleles are also popular. Karen Davis and her 12-year-old son have taken it up. “We strum away badly, sing terribly and bring joy into the monotony of lockdown,” she says. “Self-isolation is forcing us to rethink family time.
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