{"id":485,"date":"2020-04-15T09:12:24","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T09:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/?p=485"},"modified":"2020-04-15T09:12:24","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T09:12:24","slug":"happiness-and-gloom-or-how-i-handled-the-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/?p=485","title":{"rendered":"Happiness and Gloom or how I handled the lockdown."},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"wpsocialite social-buttons large\"><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/?p=485&amp;locale=en_US&amp;t=\" class=\"socialite facebook-like\" data-lang=\"en_US\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/?p=485\" data-send=\"false\" data-layout=\"box_count\" data-width=\"60\" data-show-faces=\"false\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"vhidden\">Share on Facebook.<\/span><\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"socialite twitter-share\" data-text=\"\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/?p=485\" data-count=\"vertical\" data-lang=\"en_US\" data-via=\"@birdstoowit\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"vhidden\">Share on Twitter.<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n<h1><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Copywrite Peter l. Barnes April 10<sup>th<\/sup>\n2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFred, what are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cClearing the garage like we agreed,\u201d said Fred. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cStill. You\u2019ve been doing that for days,\u201d said the voice from the\nkitchen. \u201cWhat\u2019s taking so long?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cClearing out thirty years of storing my stuff in the garage will\nprobably need more than one day,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHoarding you mean,\u201d came Mabel\u2019s voice, grating on Fred\u2019s ears like\na rusty file on sprung steel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe same as your sewing boxes and cloth scraps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhatever, I\u2019ve left your breakfast on the steps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fred took the plate, which in theory, mimicked the delicious\nbreakfasts they\u2019d had in Sydney Harbour. Of course, Mabel always bought the\nwrong type of avocado, so instead of lovely lumpy green and tasteful delight, what\nwas on the plate was a flat mush of nothing, making the limp toast, more soggy\nthan usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fred gazed around the garage wondering where to start, looking up at\nthe cobwebs where spiders had been self-isolating for decades.&nbsp; I wonder what they get to eat, hopefully the\nannoying mosquitos or maybe each other. Do spiders get stuck in their friends\u2019\nwebs, he wondered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not wanting to be disturbed again, Fred tried to get the old\nanalogue radio to work, hoping to drown out the sound of his wife\u2019s voice. But\nthe old radio no longer tuned in, probably a cracked ferrite rod unable to pick\nup signals. Fred had tried the new-fangled digital radios but had never found a\nstation. More attempts to tune into Radio Four only brought more crackling\nnoises, made worse by the worn-out speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Talking of flying insects, one wasp seemed intent on getting into\nthe garage and disturb him, if not sting him. Fred took an old sandal and threw\nit across the garage, completely missing the offending wasp but luckily hitting\nthe door, slamming it shut, effectively barring its intrusion, as well,\nthankfully, his wife\u2019s moaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll start with the childrens\u2019 toys,\u201d he said to the pile in the\ncorner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An old bus, which had been used to help the toddlers walk, now\nrusted and forlorn sat on the top shelf. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMaybe somebody would be able to restore that and make it useful\nagain,\u201d said Fred, dusting it down and replacing it on the shelf. \u201cWow, the old\ncastle I built for the boys, now long gone to warmer climes. That definitely\ncan go to the charity shop, once they reopen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A box held old teddies, worn and stained from years of hugs and tea\nparties, but still with the buttons in their ears.&nbsp; \u201cThey could definitely go to the auction room,\u201d\ndeclared Fred. The toy car collection, still in their original boxes could\nbring enough money for a holiday, he didn\u2019t watch \u2018Flog It!\u2019 for nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cGosh is this still here. I thought I\u2019d thrown it out long ago,\u201d\nsaid Fred, dragging out a beautiful coffee table. Hand made by himself, as\nrequested by Mable. Crafted wooden legs and struts, varnished instead of French\npolished, after an attempt to follow YouTube videos, failed to live up to\nexpectation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A wooden model sailboat, painstakingly put together to try and\ndemonstrate that he did have the patience, not of a saint perhaps, to complete\nsuch a complex work. Finished and proudly presented to Mable, but not allowed\nto be displayed on the mantlepiece, dismissed as a dust trap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A cot and high chair saved for any grandchildren that might come\nalong but now that his sons and daughter were spread across the globe, unlikely\nto be needed, but bringing back fond memories of crying and food spread across\nthe kitchen floor and of course, nappies. Well maybe not such fond memories,\nreflected Fred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A box in one corner held the treasures of holidays long forgotten, a\nbatik from South Africa; a boomerang from Australia; a flag from America and\nposters of trips including a memorable poster of him swimming with dolphins,\nwhich despite the claims on the poster, did nothing for his wellbeing. Maybe\nswimming with a mermaid might have been more his style, assuming he was a merman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One memorable trip was on a cruise ship to the Mediterranean, where\nMable had been taken down with a food bug and confined to the medical suite,\nallowing him to enjoy the pleasures of relaxing by the pool, watching the\nnubile ladies diving into the water and generally lying about in the sunshine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He started ticking off all the power tools and separating them into\ntwo piles. One for those he used frequently and those he would probably never\nneed. But on reflection he put them all into one pile for \u2019keep at all costs\u2019.\nThis clearing out was not going well so far. Moving onto all the spare wood he\nkept from whittling, to offcuts allowed him at last to find things to throw\naway, although it was still quite a small pile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A big box in one corner was his old parts for cars and bikes. There\nwere several parts that could definitely thrown out as they applied to vehicles\nsold many years hence. But getting to the bottom he pulled out a long cable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere you are,\u201d he said to the cable. \u201cHow did you get in here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now he was talking to inanimate objects, whatever next thought Fred.\nBut this cable was special, it was bought for the bike he was storing for 20\nyears and after years of searching he had found the cable on the internet but\nhad been distracted when it arrived by Mable struck down by a mysterious bug.\nFred was sure she would get these bugs whenever she thought Fred was drifting\naway and enabled her to demand his full-time care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He had thrown it into the box in frustration and it had obviously\nslipped to the bottom, never to be found again, \u2018til today. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t I clear\nout the garage earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He went over to the back of the garage and slowly hauled a tarpaulin\noff the object in the corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSilver, how are you?\u201d He wheeled out the huge gleaming motorbike out\nof the corner admiring its gleaming chrome and silver paint job. Still as\nwonderful today as the first time he had bought it. Actually better, many years\nof stripping, polishing and painting had turned it into a gleaming monster. The\nbattery was still on trickle charge for which he thanked his foresight, that\nmaybe one day he would get out on it again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He took the object out of its protecting plastic and opening his\ntool box and connected the clutch cable from handle bars to the lever,\ncarefully threading it though the channels. A quick pull showed that the cable\nwas still free and capable of allowing him to change gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNow, where\u2019s my box of biking equipment?\u201d he said, searching for\nhis collection of biking gear. Leather and helmet donned and boots pulled\ntight. He was almost ready. He opened up the door, \u201cJust off to the dump,\ndear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sun was low on the far horizon, as a whirr of a motor\nlifted the garage door. Shafts of light swept around the garage as the sunshine\nreflected off the chrome. A click of the key and a rumble as an engine burbled\ninto life. A clunk, as first gear engaged. The wonderous almost forgotten smell\nof oil and fumes swirled around the garage and drifted out into the street. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A\nscream from the kitchen door, as Mable realised what was happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRight,\u201d\nsaid Fred. And with a twist and a roar and a shout of \u201cHi Ho Silver.\u201d And with\nthoughts of William Tell, Fred and bike disappeared into the fading sunlight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Copywrite Peter l. Barnes April 10th 2020 \u201cFred, what are you doing?\u201d \u201cClearing the garage like we agreed,\u201d said Fred. \u201cStill. You\u2019ve been doing that for days,\u201d said the voice from the kitchen. \u201cWhat\u2019s taking so long?\u201d \u201cClearing out thirty years of storing my stuff in the garage will probably need more than one day,\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":486,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}