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Lots has been written this week about the one-year anniversary of lockdown. As individuals, families, friends, all of us have been struggling to make some sort of sense of what has been, in many ways, a social experiment on an unprecedented scale.
No doubt in years to come academics and scientists will pore over the data and a clear picture will emerge of the social, economic and psychological effects.
For now it’s hard to tell. We are too close to the epicentre of the impact to see the true scale of the devastation.
Eleanor Tattersfield, an artist and printer by trade, decided to turn her pandemic into a creative project (above)
An undie-statement: One woman was finding freedom from her usual dressing-up routine
Another bristles with rage and takes sweet revenge on her idle husband
All many of us know is that we feel different. Life has changed and, although many have learnt to adapt, many more have not.
The anxieties and challenges of the past 12 months manifest themselves differently. For some the negative emotions are overwhelming — sadness, anger, loneliness, resentment and grief.
For others it has been a period of unexpected positivity, of growth and self-development.
Lockdown lust: One rail passenger indulges in a different form of cheating
Not a lot of social distancing in this affair – let’s hope they kept their masks on
A running joke: So you can stop pretending that extra weight is down to weeks of uncut hair growth
The idea was to encourage people — friends, customers, followers on social media — to unburden their innermost thoughts and feelings on to an anonymous postcard. Pictured: All too many simply sink to the depths of despair
All at sea: While some find love riding high on the ocean wave
Many, including myself, just feel a bit numb, worn down by the relentlessness of it all, frustrated by the endless setbacks, perturbed by the inch-by-inch removal of our freedoms and the ever-encroaching scrutiny of the state.
One woman who has a better insight than many into this roller-coaster ride is Eleanor Tattersfield.
An artist and printer by trade (she sells handmade stationery from her shop Marby & Elm in North London), she decided to turn her pandemic into a creative project.
The idea was to encourage people — friends, customers, followers on social media — to unburden their innermost thoughts and feelings on to an anonymous postcard.
Always read the small print: The familiar rainbow of love – but with a sting in the tail
The wheel thing: You can’t get better than a fit tyre fitter
But others prefer something more exotic
Irresistible splurges: The shops may be shut but online is the store that never closes — and we bet this customer’s delivery drivers are worn out
She offered via her Instagram account, which has 10,400 followers, to send a blank, pre-addressed postcard to anyone who asked. The cards are also available to download from her website (marbyandelm.com).
The result is Lockdown Secrets, a kind of ‘postcards from the edge’ of the pandemic, which she herself describes as ‘little pieces of someone’s soul’, adding: ‘It can be quite cathartic to write what you’ve kept inside all this time down on to a page and just send it away.’
As well as being a unique snapshot of a bewildering moment in time, it’s a collection of our deepest thoughts as humans, filled with wit, sincerity, honesty — and more than a hint of sadness.
WHAT’S YOUR LOCKDOWN SECRET? Send an email with a photo of your postcard to femailreaders@dailymail.co.uk
Additional reporting: Libby Galvin
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