Lockdown Lift Off
For the majority of the past year, the UK has been in lockdown. At first, it was a novelty. Hubby and I took long, boozy baths, I developed and pursued my own taste in clothing via eBay and Amazon, and relished the newfound headspace and freedom that both living and working 24/7 in my bubble afforded me. However, as the months wore on, I gained weight and developed knee issues through inactivity, grew lazy, lethargic and, let’s face it, bored.
Boredom
A common human issue but what a curse! Is there anything more annoying than boredom gnawing away at you and taking the shine off everything? Experts say that boredom is productive because it forces us out of our comfort zones and into a creative space, but it’s definitely not pleasant to go through. At Christmas, I finished work a full week earlier than Hubby and was bored within 24 hours. I wouldn’t say boredom made me creative, but our house had never been cleaner!
Lockdown laziness
Before lockdown, I’d been a regular gymmer for 2 years. A couple of times a week, I’d get up early and drive down to the gym, work out and then dash to the office. On the days I didn’t gym, I walked from home to work, over 2 miles away. When the gyms and my office closed, I took up running around my local area, which lasted all of a month, after which point I lost all motivation. Months went by when I didn’t leave my property at all, except for a leisurely stroll with my parents. When my knees started developing issues, I made a concerted effort to take a lunch-break each working day, get out and go for a walk, which sorted them out. However, my weight-gain and lethargy remained.
A light at the end of the tunnel
Hubby and I booked off week-commencing 29th March 2021 long before Boris’s ‘Roadmap to Recovery’ was announced, as our wedding anniversary falls during this week. When our self-catering spa experience couldn’t go ahead, we felt down and deflated. Was our precious week off from work going to be spent staring at the 4 walls of our house combined with the 4 walls of our TV screen? We had cabin fever, were bickering with each other and desperate for a change of scene, but where could we go? Boris’s £5000 fine put to death any foreign travel plans we may have had, UK-based accommodation isn’t yet open and we still can’t stay with friends and family. When Hubby suggested paragliding lessons, I didn’t immediately dismiss them as I might’ve done previously. Frustrated at not getting our annual skiing fix due to border closures, trying another adrenaline-fueled sport seemed like a good plan, though I barely dared believe it could go ahead. Surely there was some clause or rule we hadn’t factored in that would prevent us from paragliding. With only a few days until our week off, Hubby phoned a paragliding school located in the beautiful Derbyshire dales. He enquired about lessons week-commencing 29th March and they said that this was the first week that they would be operating after lockdown and that, incredibly, they still had spaces left on their beginners’ programme. We booked without hesitation. On Sunday evening, we phoned about going on Monday, but were told that the wind would be too strong. On Monday evening, we phoned about going on Tuesday and waited for the verdict with bated breath. This time, we got the green light — all systems were go.
Paragliding
I barely slept a wink that night because I was so nervous about paragliding. I’d never done anything like that before. However, lifting my heavy eyelids in the morning, I was greeted by a beautiful sunny day, part of the unseasonal UK heatwave. Hubby and I were soon bombing along Derbyshire’s countryside backroads, enjoying great weather and incredible scenery, barely any other cars or people in sight first thing on Tuesday morning.
An hour or so later, we were standing in a sloping field, strapped into harnesses attached to the lines of our gliders, which look a bit like parachutes. I was nervous that first time when our instructor gave me the go-ahead and I started running down the field, but all fear left me as I took off, sat back and started soaring through the air. It was both exhilarating and relaxing, all at the same time. I was airborne for a matter of seconds before losing the wind and landing, but what a feeling, flying without the confined space, restricted views and roar of an aeroplane.
Later, sitting on a grassy knoll eating my lunch with hubby, our instructor and 2 other beginners, I couldn’t believe that, after a year of lockdown, here I was on a random Tuesday, 2 counties away from home, eating my lunch in a field with the sun on my face whilst learning to paraglide. How many other people were doing that at that exact moment? How many other couples celebrate 9 years of marriage by going paragliding? I later learned that the rest of the British population were saturating the public parks, breaking social-distancing laws, littering, drinking, brawling and defecating. I was so glad to be where I was, in the peace and tranquillity of a Derbyshire field, even if I’d had to scale a steep slope to get down there, armed with both my weighty rucksack and heavy paragliding equipment.
Paragliding demands a lot from you, especially as a beginner. There’s so much to learn, including: how to lay out your glider, how its many lines and steering work, when to run, how to fly, how to land. Unlike when skiing, there’s no lift to take paragliders from the bottom of the hill to the top. When you land, you have to gather up the lines and your heavy glider, put them over your shoulder and walk back to where you started from. You then have to lay the glider back out, check that all the lines are correctly positioned and not twisted or tangled, strap your harness back on and wait for the wind to be right before you can set off again. That first day nearly killed me but I was glad I did it, and after a good night’s sleep, I was back in the same field the next day, doing it all over again.
Thanks to our 2 days spent paragliding, I’ve got my motivation mojo back. Thursday saw Hubby and I taking a long walk with my parents in South Yorkshire and yesterday, I took my bike out of the shed, where it’s been gathering dust and mould for the past year, and cycled round a local field.
Our future in sport
Since paragliding, people have asked me whether we’ll continue with it. Hubby is keen and whilst the rush you experience when flying is incredible, I’m unsure whether I can be bothered with all the trappings and trimmings. The equipment is expensive, cumbersome and high-maintenance. As an efficiency-freak who’s about as technical as a tadpole, I’m just not sure that I can be bothered with it — I’m just not sure I’m passionate enough about it. True, there was a time when I felt that way about skiing, but now I love it and only wish I lived in France, Italy, Austria or Switzerland so that I could go more often, but I don’t know whether I will ever feel this way about paragliding. And with so many other sports to try, why should Hubby and I commit to one now?
When lockdown gives you lemons, make lemonade. As it’s unlikely that foreign travel will be a reality for most this year, Hubby and I have decided to sweeten our staycations by ensuring that, each time we go away, we try a new sport. The ones we’re currently considering are kayaking in the Lakes, pony-trekking in Cornwall and cycling on the Monsal Trail. I actually think Hubby is more excited about doing this than going somewhere far-flung like Fiji, and learning an adrenaline-fused sport together is a great way to rekindle a relationship. I may well write more about our adventures soon. In the meantime, wish us luck!
