'is it just me?'

Such strange times!

Since we decided to close the Bed & Breakfast side of our businesses for a couple of weeks, we have found ourselves cocooned in our own little world and there has been something rather comforting about the situation in which we find ourselves. Much like the storms that hit us earlier last week, with squally winds and very sharp downpours of rain, the world seems to rage around us and we remain more or less unscathed. Our lovely neighbour has recovered well from Covid-19, and the symptoms that were displayed were mild; we sincerely hope that there will be no relapse. There have, so far, been no other reported cases in our village and yet the news from Granada is not good. The Province has recorded one of the highest increases of Covid cases in the whole of Spain in recent days, but it does seem as though this current wave of new infections is beginning to slow down. The grip on municipalities across Andalucia is being tightened, and our movements are being ever more restricted.

I think that, since we resigned ourselves to a period of self-isolation, the stresses induced by everything else surrounding us has lessened. Certainly, we don’t feel quite so worried as we still feel so safe in our home, pottering around between the house and the studio, and finding remote hiking routes where we never see another person. As long as we have a larder full of food and enough gin and snacks to see us through the longer evenings, we feel quite resilient.

We are lucky in that we have projects to keep us occupied. I, certainly, have found the afternoons very tough. I make no concessions to the fact that I miss our family dreadfully, and have had to accept that it may be some time until we get to see everyone again. I am not sure it helps trying to plan visits in the very near future, knowing largely that the trip is unlikely to happen without a great deal of stress and anxiety. It’s very hard to accept that we may not meet our gorgeous granddaughter until she is 3, maybe even 6 months old, so it is better to keep occupied and not dwell too much on what we have lost, for the time being at least.

Surprisingly, we have managed to find a great deal to be positive about, and even excited.

Last week, we learned that #MyTravelPledge had been Commended in the World Travel Market ‘World Responsible Tourism Awards’ for this year. When we launched the campaign back in March, we had absolutely no expectations other than trying to do something to ensure that we had a business when this wretched period comes to an end. However, helped by 100+ other accommodation providers, we did manage to achieve something of which we can be proud. Even though this pandemic continues to do everything within its power to disrupt our lives, and take friends and family members away from us, we have to remain hopeful that a normal life will resume one day.

The other, hugely exciting news to emerge from our own little bubble is that we are about to launch a publishing company, and a book!

A friend of ours, Caroline Howitt, is an illustrator and when we moved to Moclín, Caroline was just leaving the village to go and live in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada. We kept in touch and we have been delighted that Caroline has now returned to Moclín, accompanied by her lovely dog Doodle. During the first, harsh lockdown, Caroline kept a journal of the strangeness of life in isolation as seen through the eyes of Doodle, and depicted in a series of daily sketches.

Andrew saw these lovely vignettes and immediately a book came to mind. We discussed it and, to me, this seemed like the perfect opportunity for Andrew to use the 20 years of experience in Children’s Book publishing to launch his own imprint; to create the books that he loves to create and design, and to work with illustrators who generate magic through their creativity and imagination.

So, out of some fairly dark times for all of us, when we have often struggled to keep a positive focus, something delightful and creative has emerged in the form of ‘is it just me’ - a charming journey through the emotions that we have all felt as we have faced the challenges imposed by isolation. The book, although it was inspired by lockdown, is not just about life under quarantine. It is more about loneliness, solitude and isolation, and circumstances that we can find ourselves in at any stage in our lives - the busiest of cities can be the loneliest of places, for example, and we have all experienced the emotions evoked by being on our own: boredom, a need to be active, hope, grief, joy, sadness, expectation. The illustrations in this book, aimed at both children and adults, manage to subtly convey all these feelings associated with finding ourselves alone.

We have set up a Kickstarter campaign to fund the publication of the book, and launch the publishing company, Fig (website coming soon). We hope that, with the support of generous pledges through the Kickstarter campaign, we will collectively create a lasting legacy through this creative work, and subsequent works by Caroline and illustrators and storytellers who want to be a part of this new venture. Of course, this all ties in rather neatly with the ‘Children’s Book Creation’ course that Andrew will be running with award-winning Author/Illustrator, James Mayhew, next year!

We may still be in the depths of one of the most challenging years in our memories, but we have to find the positive in even the smallest of ways. We certainly know as well as many the toll that these past months have taken, and grief continues to hit us when we are least able to tackle it. Hopefully, ‘is it just me’, this small and beautiful co-creation, will be as cathartic in its evolution as it will be as evocative and enchanting in its physical manifestation.

To conclude, do please consider helping to bring this work to light and pledge your support through our Kickstarter page. Creativity is such a vital part of seeing our way through these trying times.

Thank you!

Link to our Kickstarter Campaign http://kck.st/32pTk5v

15th November 2020, and a little addendum. On Twitter, we were posed a question about the book, and our response gives a fairly thorough overview of what the book is about:

Question:

I love the concept and the illustrations are wonderful, and I know it’s a kids’ book, but what I don’t get is the dog not being allowed out during lockdown. Why not? Like for many others, spending time outside every day walking my dog during those months was a lifesaver!

Answer:

During Spain's first, and very hard lockdown, Caroline started doing a sketch-a-day of Doodle as a way of expressing her own emotional reaction to the strange circumstances in which we found ourselves. The book, 'is it just me?' is a chronicle of the time. It is not a literal account of Doodle's own experiences; for instance, he can't bake (much as he would like to) or read a map! However, through Doodle, Caroline conveys the emotions that so many people have felt as a result of enforced isolation.

Our experiences of a life in lockdown are all different. In Spain, our movements were severely restricted. Although we were fortunate to have a dog, and therefore able to get out for some fresh-air, we were only allowed to take a trip around the block. We were reprimanded by the police for venturing too far from our front door. Families with young children were far less lucky, as children were most definitely not allowed out of doors. Many people were confined to their flats, with no outside space, and no excuse to go out for a walk. From our perspective, here in Spain, the lockdown imposed in the UK was far less severe, but any loss of liberty still takes its toll, whatever the circumstances. Some people can cope with isolation, but for many people it was very difficult to manage, with many emotions amplified and mental health clearly affected.

Although this book was borne through Caroline's own experiences of lockdown, the context is far broader. Lockdown has been a catalyst through which many, many more people have experienced the effects of isolation and loneliness. One only needs to look at social media to see how people dealt with these strange circumstances.

When we see Doodle looking longingly at the birds flying overhead, remember the older, house-bound neighbour who spends every day looking longingly out of their window. When we see Doodle poring over a map and dreaming of his next adventure, remember the frustrations of not being able to travel as freely as we were once able to do, or visit our friends and families. We hope that, for many of us, lockdown restrictions are finite, but for millions of people, loneliness and isolation will continue way beyond this short period in our history.

Doodle is all of us.