Mulquiney's Musings
A weekly guide to happenings at home and abroad in the time of Corona
Issue 1 — Jamie's new cooking show, free musicals & a travel book club
While I’m not coming out of this Corona moment with a new masterpiece like Shakespeare, I knew I didn’t want to squander this time watching Netflix and drinking my feelings. I’m just too good at doing both and I started remembering all the times I wished for more time (you know, before full time work and adulting got in the way) and now, the Corona Fairy Godmother has - in a really shitty way - granted my wish. There have been scores of studies done on this very topic: would you rather have more money or more time? Scientists have even coined the term ‘time famine’ to describe the pervasive feeling of being overwhelmed with the demands of work and life.
Now that weekends are (temporarily) 7 days long, there is literally no excuse to go do that thing you’ve always wanted to do (in between binging Tiger King and Mc Donald’s of course).
I love keeping busy but I’m also guilty of procrastinating. Years of freelancing from home pretty much put a stop to the latter pretty quickly (no worky, no eaty). I start my days now like I did then: shower, dress, breakfast. Schedule your day just like you would if you were going to work. While you’ll have good and bad days, carving out some normality (like showering and dressing) offers peace of mind (even for a few hours). And if this doesn't work for you, that’s also OK. The world is in a right state, after all.
The idea of this newsletter came about on Good Friday morning – I was keeping track of all the things I wanted to do during lock down (or rather I had to do to stay sane), and thought I would share my finds with friends. And so, in an effort to do something and entertain myself, Mulquiney’s Musings was born. It’s not perfect but I hope, at the every least, it brings a smile to your face in between Tiger King episodes.
Enjoy!
Vanessa x
THINGS I’M LOVING THIS WEEK
Bespoke Speaker Series
In an effort to stay busy and afloat, Beijing-based Bespoke Travel Company has launched a series of speaker events via Zoom. The founder and my good friend, Sarah said last week: “For obvious reasons, my company is struggling financially at the moment, but I love the fact that all of this has forced us to be creative and scrappy again, and allowed us to make our experiences more accessible to everyone by putting them online.” Hear, hear! The Speaker Series will run every Tuesday and Thursday until May 5 and costs 10EU a session with a full pass available. Speakers include New York Times best selling authors, and more. Read more here.
The Show Must Go On!
The Phantom of the Opera will be the next Andrew Lloyd Webber musical to be streamed for free as part of The Shows Must Go On series. Shows are available to watch via The Shows Must Go On YouTube channel from 7pm every Friday (BST). You have 24 hours to watch the show for free before it’s removed (individual songs still available to view though). Last Friday’s show was Joseph starring the incredible Tim Minchin as Judas and Mel C as Mary Magdalene (what’s not to love here). If you missed Joseph last Friday, you can still have a singalong here.
Together With You
Closer to home, the Arts Centre has made some full performances (The Australian Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty, Fatboy Slim at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl to name a few), family-friendly activities, playlists, podcasts, interviews and more, available to view for free as part of their Together With You initiative. The performances available to view are regularly updated. See more here.
ARMCHAIR TRAVELLER
Night (or day) at the Museum
Visit the world’s best museums and galleries without the pesky queues – stop by the Louvre after breakfast, head to the Van Gogh Museum after lunch, and take in the British Museum to finish.
Across the pond, the American Museum of Natural History in NYC is making its previously recorded tours of the museum halls available via Facebook Live every day at 2pm (EST) throughout the closure (meet you at the Hall of African Mammals?).
There are over 2500 museums and galleries around the world offering virtual tours - you don’t even need to leave the sofa!
Summer 2020 festivals going virtual
Coachella has been postponed to October 2020, while other festivals like Burning Man are going virtual this year. No dates or details have been announced yet.
(CORONA) HERO OF THE WEEK
I am loving everything singer and comic Chris Mann is posting on his YouTube channel. I can’t believe I didn’t know who he was pre Corona. For shame. While he is a proper artist in his own right, it’s his own (Corona) take on hit songs from Adele and Lizzo that will have you in stitches. There is nothing amazingly philosophical about this but he does make me laugh and that’s a good enough reason to crown him the first (Corona) Hero of the Week.
INSPO IN ISO
Stories to warm your cockles
Among the celebrities taking to Instagram to recount their isolation (in a mansion) woes (they're just like us, guys), or the heart-wrenching selfies from exhausted medics pleading with us to #staythefuckhome, you’ll find heart-warming stories like superheroes visiting nursing homes just ‘because’.
One story got me all choked up in particular. Tom Moore, a 99-year-old Army veteran has raised £16 million for the NHS by walking laps of his garden (his original goal was 100 laps before he celebrates his 100th birthday and was hoping to raise £1000).
Photo: BBC
Whether it’s COVID-19 or something else, I’m a true believer in finding the silver lining in times of adversity. Trust me, I’ve faced a couple just like you. Not buying it? Why read one uplifting story when you can read 100? Sit down with a brew and catch up on a couple here. I promise they’ll put a smile on your face when you’d really like to punch a wall.
THINGS TO DO THIS WEEK
Eat
The easiest chocolate cake you’ll ever make from Donal Skehan – One Pot Chocolate Cake – as easy and idiot-proof as it sounds.
Drink
Everything.
Watch
Eddie Jaku, Holocaust survivor and self-proclaimed ‘Happiest Man on Earth’, celebrated his 100th birthday this week. Grab a tissue and a new perspective and watch Eddie’s incredible TedX Talk.
Photo: TedX
Read
AFAR Media has just launched #afarreads, a book club “for the world’s best travellers” (us!).
Every month, an AFAR editor will select a book following the theme of place/travel. Join the conversation via the AFAR Reads page on Good Reads.
April’s book is A Room With A View – Italy is never far from my mind, now more than ever, and I’m looking forward to taking a trip to Florence with Forster’s 1908 classic.
Be sure to check out AFAR’s #travelathomechallenge (view in their Instagram saved stories) for a good chuckle. My friend and AFAR editor, Laura, will feature in Around the Globe (see below) at a later date, too!
Make
Squishy Soap – a fun idea to make with the kiddies in this age of obsessive hand washing from The Joy Journal’s Laura Brand (yes, Russell’s missus).
Listen
I’m obsessed with true crime podcasts – I inhale them daily but I’ve given myself a break and have resumed my love for radio, in particular, the award-winning radio show (and podcast), This American Life. So many podcasts and films have started life as a radio story on the show - the uber successful Serial podcast and the 2019 Chinese film, The Farewell are just a couple. Meaty, thoughtful and beautifully produced - give it a go! Russell Brand’s brilliant Under the Skin podcast doesn’t disappoint either. I know he can be polarising but park that and just appreciate the intelligent conversations. He has some really impressive guests. This week I listened to Richard Ayoade.
Follow
Stay up to date with the Melbourne businesses who are still offering take away and delivery via covid_takeaway_crew on Instagram.
For mindless belly laughs, follow @Uespiiiiii aka Mr Uekusa ‘The Naked Comedian,’ France's Got Talent Finalist and Britain's Got Talent semi-finalist. He does weird things with Corona bottles and wonderful things with cups and saucers while naked.
Move
Make your #stayathome en pointe with free ballet lessons from the Australian Ballet. Beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels can be accessed.
For something a bit more uptempo, PE with Joe is taking the UK and now the world be storm. It’s a great little workout with some cheeky chappie vibes thrown in. Tune in for your daily fix.
Laugh
Things that go bump in the night?
Residents in a small Indonesian village might be safe from COVID-19 but not so safe from their neighbours after dark. A group in Java (like Neighbourhood Watch) has coordinated with local police to set up a team of volunteers to dress as pocong or shroud ghosts, a folklore spirit who represents the trapped souls of the dead. These pocong people roam the streets scaring people (literally) into staying indoors. Nothing like a good dose of superstition is there?
Stan saves the day
Stan just announced a brand-new comedy, The Australian Lockdown Comedy Festival, which will showcase the sets that comedians like Wil Anderson and Cal Wilson didn’t get to perform at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Comedians will perform in their own homes and operate their own cameras (they’re just like us, guys). The release date has yet to be announced, but in the meantime, head over to Amazon Prime for ten comedy specials.
Binge
I know the whole world is inhaling Tiger King, I haven’t watched the series but I did listen to the podcast a while ago. Instead of watching a gun-toting redneck, I’m bingeing on some feel-good telly - enter Jamie Oliver’s Keep Cooking and Carry On YouTube series. Think simple, quick recipes without needing to go out for special ingredients filmed at home by his wife and daughter. Win. It’s screening on Channel 4 in the UK or via Jamie’s YouTube channel.
Learn
Looking for an online course? Check out Coursera which offers both free and paid certificate courses. I’m loving the course I’m doing on Roman Architecture through Yale. There are thousands to pick from - check it out.
IF YOU ONLY READ ONE THING THIS WEEK
Think my suggestions suck and still wondering how to spend your time in lock down? Here is a good place to start - 5 things to do under quarantine according to an Italian.
AROUND THE GLOBE
Musings goes international! Letters from interesting people in interesting places during lock down.
This week, Alessandra contributes from her home in LA. Follow her on Twitter and subscribe to her newsletter here.
A Letter from Los Angeles
Tuesday was the first warm day in Los Angeles in a while. It is never truly cold here, but for the past two weeks, we’ve had grey skies and long downpours. The miserable weather seemed to fit the empty streets better than the warmth, and it was easier to feign coziness or some semblance of hunkering down for the winter when the sun was not shining.
In California, we have been in isolation for a month now. Although the governor has begun to explain how the state will slowly lift stay-at-home measures, the mayor of Los Angeles has told the county to prepare for another two months at home. While we are still free to move around with social distancing and there are no restrictions on how far we walk from our homes, it is now mandatory to wear a mask. The morning after the rain stopped, I took Bud, my foster dog, out for a walk. He wore his harness, and I wore a cloth face mask. On our walks, nearly everyone’s face is covered, including those who are homeless.
Over the past couple of weeks, it has been heartening to see our community rally around those living on the street. One way that we have been able to help is by preparing lunches for unsheltered youth. We make the brown bag lunches at home (wearing a mask and gloves) and they are then delivered to a local organisation that works with young people. I am grateful for their work as there is so much need right now, and not always a clear way to help from home. This week, as we made sandwiches, Bud stole a loaf of sliced bread from the grocery bag and attempted to tear his way into it. In our own way, we are all contributing!
As a freelancer, I lost some work at the start of the pandemic but have gained it in other ways. Most of my days are spent writing, researching, or doing interviews over the phone.
Lately, I have been more hyperactive than usual and I find it difficult to switch off or focus on one thing, even the sentence I am typing now. We all have our ways of coping and this is perhaps mine. Long morning walks with Bud have been a nice way of enjoying the small things we are given. There is one scrappy stretch of sidewalk that has become our favourite spot. Bud likes to explore in the long grasses that stretch over the footpath and surround the short palm trees. For me, it is a fleeting minute that feels as though we have truly gone outside. The morning after the last long rain, the area was damp and alive, and as we walked deeper into the weeds, the air became sweet with wild fennel.
Alessandra, her boyfriend Justin and foster pup, Bud. Photo: supplied
FIN
Thank you for reading and see you next week!
A virtual Burning Man?! Look out! And Jamie is my hero :-)