Is This It?

It’s been a strange couple of weeks, I’m sure you’ll agree. We’ve seen a very different world start to become the norm and I for one have felt like a stranger in my own home. As someone who rarely spends much time at home due to work, performing and being an all-round social butterfly, it feels counter productive to be stuck at home for all but a government sponsored walk for an hour a day.

It’s been an interesting time to say the least. I’ve learned lots about the world; the community in which I live and the communities within which I work and play. I’ve learned lots about people; family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and those I have any kind of interaction with during these strange times.

As someone so active, I’ve found it difficult to get used to the idea of being inside a lot, all of this despite having access to luxuries such as books, musical instruments, Netflix, the internet and the company of Kyleen and Dusty Rose. We are indeed some of the lucky ones and I never take that for granted.

After a difficult first week in ‘lockdown’ I made some plans to be creative and make the most of the time I have at home. This has included writing and creating material for upcoming shows, designing our new garden, redesigning my website and working through a backlog of books I’ve bought and albums I haven’t had time to listen to. As someone that struggles to switch off, even when I go on holiday I’m still at the pool, writing, working, answering emails etc, this period has taught me the importance of making time for yourself and switching off. This current crisis has put things into perspective for a lot of us. It’s certainly made me realise how much and how many people I took for granted.

I’m doing better now that I’ve structured my time and made plans to make the most of this time to get done things I’ve been meaning to do for ages. I have no idea when I’ll be back on stage again performing. I have no idea when I’ll be able to go out for dinner again. I have no idea when I’ll be able to get fuckin’ chickpeas in the supermarket again. Regardless of how difficult I’ve found it at times I’ve learned to flip it on it’s head and look at how I can make the absolute most of these few months at home and the time that comes with it. We might never get this time again.

So, with all that in mind and a shiny new website, I’ve decided to start writing a blog again. I used to write one years ago and fell away as I didn’t really have time (ironic, eh?) I’m looking forward to getting back into writing again and covering some areas of interest as well as the obvious subject of magic and general deceptive practices. I’m not going to make any commitment on how regular and how lengthy the content will be. I have no idea. We’ll just see how it goes.

Thanks for taking the time to read this so far. I can’t promise that the content will get any better from here (or the grammar) but I’ll certainly aim to make this tiny corner of the internet, if not life affirming, then interesting at the very least.

I’ve been searching for a way to keep connected with the world other than through Facebook and Twitter. A way to share stories and ‘magic’ with people when we can’t be in a room or in a theatre together. Some of my peers have been making performance videos and doing live stream videos. For me, I don’t find much palpable about these things in terms of my own creative output.

I’ve thought long and hard about the best way for me and decided on the format of a written blog.

This is it…

Stay safe, remember to wash your hands and look after yourselves.

R. x