Faded Rainbows

 Faded rainbows  in the windows.                                                                                       Colourful inky drips dribble down the doors,                                                                         'thank yous' washed away with rain,                                                                                         float silently down the drain,                                                                                                   paper rainbows scattered on the floor,                                                                                    streets that are quiet,                                                                                                       reminiscing cheers, claps and joyous screams,                                                                       tokens of appreciation trapped in sound bubbles,                                                                      drift up into the atmosphere causing no troubles,                                                                   sliding out of our consciousness and away from our dreams.                                                     But we must not forget.                                                                                                                we must not allow the rainbows to fade in our hearts,                                                                   we must continue to thank our brilliant NHS,                                                                             and the fire service,                                                                                                      supermarket cashiers,                                                                                                              carers,                                                                                                                                          the taxi drivers offering up their cars,                                                                                            to take key workers to their destinations when they had no other form of transportation.           The rainbows can not fade,                                                                                                           It is our duty as a nation to ensure they do not fade and although we no longer clap on Thursday evening to show our gratitude,                                                                                                     we can still stand up for our national health service,                                                                    we can still thank our key workers,                                                                                              we can be proud, upstanding citizens with caring attitudes,                                                measuring our thanks in the length of platitudes.                                                                       After all, we need these vital services,                                                                                     they're essential to our wellbeing and health,                                                                        imagine only having them if you were imbued with a particular rank of wealth,                          we can't afford to lose them,                                                                                                      can't afford to distract ourselves with social media or reality TV when reality is staring us in the face and not looking too pretty,                                                                                                    no watching Love Island when this island that we live on is in desperate need of some love itself. It's important to not forget,                                                                                                           it's a difficult time- we're all doing our best,                                                                                but no matter what we must not forget,                                                                                        we must not let,                                                                                                                            the faded rainbows on our windows and our doors be laid to rest.  

An Original Poem By Frances Hudson 

  

 

Will The World Ever Get Back To Normal After Covid?

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected, in some format, everybody and everything. It has triggered an avalanche of devastating consequences. Shutting down businesses, locking everyone indoors, damaging jobs and economies, striking fear into the hearts of everyone worried about both their loved ones and themselves contracting the virus, sending everyone into corona-fuelled existential crises asking 'what next?' and perhaps more pertinently 'will the world ever get back to normal after this?'... I don't know the answer to the first question. I can't see into the future. There is no miraculous crystal ball able to warn us of what is going to happen next and even if there was, anyone who has seen the  'Back To The Future' films is aware of the danger of knowing our futures (as Doc avidly teaches Marty, it disrupts the space-time continuum). Despite not knowing the future, I do (obviously) know the past which provides some insight into the answer for the second question: will the world ever get back to normal? The long answer is complex and nuanced. The short answer is an almost definite no.  

The world will probably never resume back to complete normality... whatever 'normality' is anyway. What I mean is things may never return exactly, hundred percent back to the way they were before the pandemic. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The pandemic forced us all to step back from our usually busy, bustling lives and re-evaluate what really matters to us. Working from home of course led to a range of challenges and difficulties, but also enabled everyone to spend more time with their loved ones, in a period where connections with others was of the utmost importance. The lockdown has shown people the importance of spending time with loved ones rather then focusing only on work. And clearly work is important. We all need to make a living and support ourselves and our families in some way. It goes without saying that work shouldn't be neglected or ignored in favour of other more entertaining activities as that's just not a sensible thing to do... however the lockdown has shown the importance of achieving a healthy work-life balance and of making time for loved ones.  

Environmentally the pandemic actually resulted in some beneficial effects. Lockdown resulted in a decrease of carbon dioxide emissions, lowered pollution rates and an improvement in air quality. A sudden soar of wildlife encapsulated the world whilst tourists were away. The issues surrounding the environment, what with global warming and climate change being brought increasingly more to our attention, evidently call for action to save the planet. Immediate action. (There is, after all, no 'planet B'). It appears that the pandemic, however, has paved the first small steps towards a better environment.  

So no, things will most likely not return to the same, typical 'normal' we were acclimatised to before this devastating virus. Change is inevitable, and necessary. The future is uncertain but we know one thing for sure... that there is hope. Hopefully lockdown has permitted us the chance to reflect on the world we live in and how it works. Hopefully we will use the information and the experience that we have gained in order to create a better, brighter future. One where we care more for the environment and prioritise spending time with loved ones over slogging endlessly away at work.

By Frances Hudson      

'Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine' by Gail Honeyman book review

Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine' by Gail Honeyman is a deeply emotional book which I would definitely recommend. It follows our protagonist Eleanor- an outsider regarded by her co-workers as weird and strange- as she unknowingly suffers from severe loneliness. Eleanor leads a basic life... she goes to work, comes home and treats herself to the exact same two bottles of vodka to drink at the weekend every single week. Her existence is incredibly monotonous- she even wears the exact same outfit to work every day- and is profoundly alone. She has no friends, no family (aside from the uncomfortable calls from the sinister and creepy 'Mummy' which are the only slight difference punctuating Eleanor's drably repetitive life). At first it appears that Eleanor is content with her mundane life or that she at least doesn't mind the lonely, tedious nature of her day-in, day-out routine but then a series of events happen which end up flipping her life upside down. It's an emotional read... heart-warming in places, heart-wrenching in others. 

What's so great about the book, as well, is that all the characters feel real. I think that in many books characters can feel one-dimensional, as if the author has simply thrown them into the story to prove a point or fill a trope or just for the sake of it... and whilst it's true that not every single character has to serve a purpose, per se, sometimes it just leaves the reader questioning 'why'? plus it breaks the story up when this happens because the characters feel unrealistic and, worst of all, unrelatable. But this doesn't happen in 'Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine'. All the characters feel very authentic, especially Eleanor herself whose particular personality and quirks are displayed in a very convincing manner which intrigues the reader and leaves them wondering why she is the way that she is. Furthermore I found the style of the writing in the book enjoyable. It manages to strike a fine line between humour and the discussion of serious topics (such as mental health) in a way that isn't too heavy but not too light-hearted or trivial either. The writing style is also quite seamless. One of the major plot lines in the book focuses on the mystery of Eleanor's past, and little indications as to what actually happened are fed to the reader throughout the book, but it's done in a clever, subtle way that doesn't feel like an onslaught of clues and it doesn't distract from other plot lines and aspects of the story. The mystery of her past isn't revealed to the end of the novel. As I was reading the story I did suspect some form of twist- partially because twists are kind of all the rage in books at the moment and partially because there was a genuine build-up in the story that led you to believe something shocking was going to happen- and I was right. There was a twist at the end of the book -as is the norm- but it was a genuinely surprising twist  that I didn't see coming. 

Overall this is a really gripping book. I struggled to put it down because I just wanted to find out what happened next. If you enjoy books that focus mainly on characters and emotions as opposed to intricate plot lines and events, then I would definitely recommend this book to you. As I said before the writing style is very smooth and seamless and I look forward to reading more potential books from Gail Honeyman in the future (currently 'Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine' is Honeyman's only book). I think that this story is excellent and thought-provoking and one that I will return to time and time again. But don't just take my word about how great this book is... I'm clearly not the only one who has thoroughly enjoyed this novel if the multitude of praise from the book community alongside the multiple awards the book has won is anything to go by. 

By Frances Hudson