España, April 18th, 2020

By Roberta Phillips

My only legal reason to leave the house is to go to the supermarket or pharmacy, so I have taken to doing no exercise and watching music videos from the 60s, 70s and 80s - God, how lucky they had it. They could drive all night to make love to someone and Martha and the Vandellas were just out there, dancing in the street, all 4 of them, together. Imagine. I’m pretty sure that would incur a three figure fine here.

Yesterday I spent most of the day thinking it was Thursday, so when the weekend sprung itself on me a day early, I was in no way prepared. Should I be sad or worried that I had inconspicuously swallowed up a day, or was it a triumph in the face of an endless quarantine? 

I decided to go for the latter. After all, I’m trying to be a glass half-full kind of gal. 

I actually wrote a really dark piece about civil liberties and George Orwell before this one. Thank fuck for 80s music videos and a gin and tonic, eh? 

Since this dark affair began I’ve rolled tears to Candi Staton, drunk myself away with Beanie Man and Sean Paul and brought myself back into daylight with Cyndi and Whitney - Britney tried to join a couple of times because someone had clearly fucked around with my algorithm but I told her where to go. Because if it isn’t a toxic rhythm remix then it can fuck off, quite frankly. 

But that’s enough about them. This is about the here and now. España, April 18th, 2020. 

About birds and them being great big flying clichés. 

….Sorry, I was in a dark place and there were about 10 of them all flying around, together, chirping away. They were being so damn liberal up there, swooping and gliding every which way. This is a lockdown, goddammit. 

I move over to the other side of the flat to watch my neighbours doing laps around their house. It’s easier to relate to. Some days you can really see the determination on their faces as they weave in and out of the patio, through the kitchen and up to the terrace. Some days they don’t come out at all, and that makes me sad. 

I think about cheering them on but they don’t look like they’d appreciate the support, they just want to get through the however many days we have left of this. 

It sounds like I need to top up my gin and tonic.