Ben Lowry: This spring season has been rich compensation for the cabin fever of lockdown

Eighteen months ago I lived in a south Belfast flat with no outside access. I loved that flat, but it would have been hard to self isolate there.
By Ben Lowry
Published 30th May 2020, 10:38 BST
Updated 31st May 2020, 11:09 BST
People enjoy the hot weather on Clapham Common, London, this week. Parks should never have closed, so people who live in flats with no outside space enjoy some of the escape that people with gardens have had in this fine weather, writes Ben LowryPeople enjoy the hot weather on Clapham Common, London, this week. Parks should never have closed, so people who live in flats with no outside space enjoy some of the escape that people with gardens have had in this fine weather, writes Ben Lowry
People enjoy the hot weather on Clapham Common, London, this week. Parks should never have closed, so people who live in flats with no outside space enjoy some of the escape that people with gardens have had in this fine weather, writes Ben Lowry

Mindful of the families who still live in the block, and the millions of families like them, I have been a strong supporter of keeping public parks open during lockdown.

In fact, I would never have closed the car parks to such spaces, and am glad they have been belatedly reopened. Latterly cars were parking in long lines alongside roads outside such locations.

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Most people in the UK do however have a garden, or at least some outside space, such as a back yard.

Now that I am fortunate to be among them, and have been working from a room that looks out on to, and opens directly into, the garden, I have experienced the best spring of my life. In fact, it is the first time that I have watched a spring unfold fully – daily, from dawn til dusk.

Every other year since the age of nursery school I have been out of the house all or most weekdays.

It has been extraordinary. I began working from home before lockdown, in early March, when it was almost winter. The days have extended so relentlessly that now it is getting bright before 5am.

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The sun now effortlessly clears every tree and building nearby, no matter how high, from mid morning to mid evening.

My garden is wildly overgrown, partly due to my laziness but also because I am loathe to shear it now that, with long grass and full shrubs, it has become like a lush wildlife haven.

The birdsong is so loud. And the birds themselves seem more confident, picking at roofs, as if they know that humans have been in retreat. And I am grateful to have neighbours who do not spoil it all by playing intrusive music.

All of this would have been a joy to behold if the weather had been merely average for spring. That it has been so sunny — the best consecutive April and May of my life — has made it all the more magical.

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It has been rich compensation for the ‘cabin fever’ of lockdown.

• Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter deputy editor

• Ben Lowry: Old people face a clear Covid risk yet few of them want to be locked up

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Related topics:Ben LowryBelfastNorthern Ireland