7 Ways to Make the Most of Your Time at Home this Autumn (because as it is not completely lockdown again, it’s still safer to stay inside)
Try understanding what the heck is going on in the US
You have heard of the elections that are happening on November 3rd, you know about all of the seemingly crazy things their president has been saying over the past four years, but what will happen on the first Tuesday of the next month?
You could first, look at a website like politico.com that takes pride in being a non-partisan political news source.
If you want to understand the system in-depth, you could read the (slightly outdated but good for basics) book ‘American Politics for Dummies’ (Matthew Hill — 2014).
For a little history in a fun way, the award-winning musical Hamilton is still available on Disney+.
And for a daily update, the American talk shows (known as Late shows) upload their analysis on YouTube every day. This option gives you the choice between a multitude of hosts amongst which you can choose your favourite (Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Trevor Noah…).
Start cooking again
You made sourdough the first 5 weeks of lockdown but abandoned your whisk and your kitchen as soon as we were allowed out again?
Lucky you, in the era of internet, the cuisine of the world is only a few clicks away. With the cold weather starting to settle again, nothing better than a home-cooked meal to warm yourself up. And if you need a change, you can travel without leaving the comfort of your home.
Supermarkets in the UK offer a wide range of different spices and ingredients that you would have to hunt or order from abroad if you were in another country.
The easiest access to a recipe for free, online is published in The Guardian every week by super-star Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi. But he is not alone as many other chefs publish recipes for free available in just a few clicks. It makes it way easier to access flavours that will make you travel.
If you like visual aid better, the Instagram account of chef Dennis Prescott (@dennistheprescott), host of Netflix’s Restaurants on the Edge, gives new recipes for free nearly every day.
And if photographs of meals aren’t enough, the YouTube channel Babish Culinary Universe releases at least two videos each week, one on a dish inspired by a film or TV show and the other one on what they refer to as ‘Basics.’
Pick up that dusty guitar
You bought a guitar or maybe a keyboard for the first lockdown? Or maybe you had an instrument before, from a friend or a family member who had stopped playing?
Not only playing an instrument is satisfying when you start to get over the basics, but to learn, you have access to a world of knowledge. Online guitar teachers such as Marty Schwartz (Marty Music on YouTube) have been teaching socially distantly (and for free!) for over a decade and have taught hundreds of thousands of people to play.
If you already know the basics, but want to dive in the theory, YouTube has got you covered again with fascinating channels such as Adam Neely’s, Paul David’s’ or David Bennett’s.
Watch classic films
You finished Netflix over lockdown and are hungry for something new?
Something old could also do the trick!
The British Film Institute’s website offers free thousands access to thousands of film. But if you are looking for something in particular, the monthly subscription for £4.99 with the first two weeks for free has got you covered. Hundreds of classic films by some of the most influential directors in the history of cinema such as Fritz Lang, Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman, Werner Herzog or even Federico Fellini.
And if these classics haven’t quenched your thirst, since last spring new films have been released such as The Trial of the Chicago Seven (Aaron Sorkin) on Netflix or Borat Subsequent Movie Film: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Jason Woliner — Sacha Baron Cohen) on Amazon Prime Video.
Reduce the massive pile of books you have been looking at for several months
With Amazon, it all goes really quickly.
Maybe you read Barack Obama’s yearly book recommendations and bought half of the list thinking the first lockdown was going to be way more than enough time to go through it; maybe you joined a book club, or maybe you thought you were going to simply read some classics you never had the opportunity to before. Whatever the way you had to get there, you did and now these hundreds (or thousands) of pages have been staring at you for quite some time. It’s finally the time to make that pile disappear one way or another!
Hundreds of people have developed technics to read more on over the past few years. My favourite is possibly the simplest: every day, try reading at least 15–30 minutes before sleeping. But maybe this is also too time-consuming for you? Another method widely used and very accessible is audiobooks. Services such as Audible offer a wide range of books that you can listen to either while resting or doing something else such as exercising or cooking.
If you opt for the second option and would like to sell the physical copies of your book, sites such as webuybooks.co.uk will buy your books and find them a new owner reducing hence the pollution caused by new prints.
Try new drinks
With all of this time at home, why not try to make what coffee shop chains would charge you way more than what it costs you to make these sweet autumn drinks?
With just a few basic spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger) you could make your own pumpkin spice latte. If you miss the summer and are craving an Iced Coffee, it doesn’t get easier than this: brew coffee using your preferred method (French Press works the best for me), wait for it to cool for a couple of hours, then pour it in ideally a glass bottle and leave it in the fridge for 24h. Pour in a glass with some ice cubes and voila!
But what about when the time for coffee has passed? The pubs are still closing at 10 pm, aren’t they? This time before or after 10 at home can be used to practice your cocktail making skills for when the restrictions are finally lifted! My advice would be to invest in a bottle of bitters (such as Angostura) and try making some cocktails with what is on your kitchen shelf. Many YouTube channels run by bartenders are specialised in cocktail making techniques and tutorials. If you’re interested in the history of your drink or cocktails from films/tv shows, the channel How to Drink is made for you. If what you are looking for are pure cocktail making techniques, the channel Vlad Slickbartender gives handy advice. And if what you are looking for is clear easy to follow instruction for original and classic cocktails, The Educated Barfly should cover these.
Meditation
Even though some of the ideas listed above may relax some, in these strange times that we are living through, having a clear meditative routine cannot harm.
If this practice suits you, it could even stay a part of your daily life when things settle.
In the past few years, one method of guided meditation has emerged and gained a lot of popularity and followers: Mindfulness.
It consists of being aware of your surroundings during a specific period of time.
These guided meditations are available on YouTube for free or in apps on your preferred device. The YouTube channel of Sam Harris, one of the main promotors of Mindful Meditation offers two videos of nine and twenty-six minutes for free as an introduction to the concept.
T.B.
