Further on up the Road: Volume 2: A Journey through Corona: ‘Lockdown’

By Graham Macey

The initial idea for this book was simply that it be a journal of the author’s travels through Spain and Italy in the anticipation that it would be a time of just letting the dust settle from all the ups and downs of the previous seven years – a time of healing and peace and a time of moving on from the past.

Graham J Macy writes: That was the idea, but such was the very pleasant allure of the Spanish sun that the first time I actually put pen to paper was back in England three months later safely cocooned in ‘Lockdown’.

What was intended to be a light-hearted account of sun sea sand and music, now took on a deeper and more pressing timbre, for there was barely enough time to set the scene of the preceding six months before these pages became, not a just a pleasant way to pass the time, but a very necessary lifeline to help me to cope with, and try to make sense of, all the sudden abrupt changes that Corona had brought to our lives.

As for countless others all over the world, the journey described here, the journey which in many ways has only just begun, is a story of stark opposites – of victories and failures – hopes and fears – strengths and weaknesses – moments of wisdom and clarity and moments of doubt and confusion... a journey of freedoms lost and of freedoms found.

Whatever the future holds in store for us – the opportunity that it surely presents to each and every one of us, the opportunity for which there is no sane alternative, is for it to be a time of walking together, a time to recognise and cherish our shared humanity and a time for each one of us to think about how we may find our place in that sharing – yes, even those who would consider themselves to be above it all.

For me, as for many, it is first and foremost a journey of Faith, a time to bring everything back to the bedrock that is the Love of God – the Love whose reality is becoming, day by day, ever more apparent in our lives, both through its presence and sadly, through its absence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chaim Mazo
• Release date: Jun 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463977286

Book preview

Part One

Return of the Citizen

1.

Mi Terruño

Sunday 15th March

As I drove off the ferry the next morning, the skies that welcomed me home were predictably grey and overcast but free, thankfully, from the torrential rain that had been falling without a break, so I was told, throughout the previous few weeks.

I was soon mildly surprised and a little disappointed at how quickly I seem to slip back into UK driving mode – all the exotic ways of European travel falling away without a single backward glance or word of farewell.

I drove up the A3 to Guildford that, unlike my beloved A30, now bears absolutely no resemblance to the lovely old Portsmouth Road of my childhood and youth and, without really planning it, found myself in the car park at Frensham Ponds, no longer seeking my mother there, but just wanting to rest for a bit while I acclimatised myself to the dawning reality of my actually being back in England.

Of course no visit to Frensham ‘Big’ Ponds can possibly be complete or in any way meaningful without partaking of the wonderful homemade soup from the café there – so this is exactly what I did – the effects of which led me to ponder that, ‘maybe England is not such a bad place after all.’

As I sat listening to the latest virus updates on the radio, it quickly became apparent that all my long and eagerly awaited reunions with family and friends were going to have to wait and that, quite apart from it being a busy social time, the next two weeks were going to have to be a time of quarantine as a result of all my exposures over the last couple of days on the road.

By an extraordinary stroke of good fortune, I was offered an empty furnished flat in Guildford for the duration of my self-isolation and within a few hours was stretched out on a sofa with a glass of red wine while watching the exquisitely atmospheric Jesse Stone films and eating my way through whatever cans of tinned food I could find in the kitchen cupboards.

The days passed slowly and peacefully, but as the time of my quarantine came to its end, the ever more stringent rules of social distancing meant that all my hopes of being taken in by family and friends in Surrey were now becoming unrealistic to say the least.

In the nick of time before the imposing of ‘lockdown’ and by yet another stroke of good fortune, I was offered a room by my cousin Dean in his home in Wiltshire for as long as I needed it… which is where I now find myself, accepted and welcomed, sitting in the warm Easter sunshine surrounded by fields and streams and old stone farm buildings and all the creative delights of the small community of artists that live here.

2.

Bull Mill

As the days of lockdown assume their shapeless unbroken existence, here at Bull Mill we live our days peacefully and harmoniously – so far from the suffering that is falling and has fallen upon so many in this world.

We ask ourselves – what is it that we could have possibly done to deserve such favour – but the real question is – what does such favour call upon us now to do.

Whatever it is, it must happen here within our blissful isolation, for this is where we must stay until this season of the virus has passed and our places in the world beyond become revealed to us once more.

Dean seems busier than ever, being able to continue much of his work ‘online’ – his work as a teacher – as a composer and performer and producer… every night I hear him mixing and editing and playing well into the early hours – while his free time, between his daily online classes, is spent preparing the land for the growing of vegetables and herbs and anything else that may help to sustain us through the uncertain days ahead.

To my surprise, the effect of all this activity is not one of ferment or commotion – for everything happens naturally and calmly here – every endeavour has its place in the scheme of things – everything adding to, rather than detracting from, the air of tranquillity that surrounds us… at least this is my perception of it all.

No matter what – time can always be found for a quiet moment of sunbathing by the stream or for a dip in its cool clear water or for a walk in the forest to collect logs for the older members of the community… but in doing so, the people here are not simply making space for Love and Life… for everything that happens here – it is Love – and it is Life.

As for me, I no longer feel the hand of inspiration guiding me to ‘create’ – nothing so self-conscious and self-willed – no – I merely live here – I move through these days of love and light – I breathe in the air and the light pours out of me in whatever shape and form is its delight in that moment… this morning I am writing – later, maybe, there will be music – or the preparing of food or the sweeping of leaves.

It is all coming together