Up and at it - what is your morning routine? How has it changed?
It has changed a little: instead of heading several mornings a week to the library in QUB or the Linen Hall, I go out for an hour to walk every morning, before starting work.
What might you eat in a typical working day for...Breakfast?
Breakfast is usually granola I make myself, with yoghurt and fruit, followed by some redbush tea.
Lunch?
Most likely home-made soup of some sort.
Evening meal?
Dinner is largely vegetarian during the week, unless I have something fish-based.
Have you been able to work from home – if so, how have you found it?
I have found it works, most of the time, although at the beginning, when we didn't know what was happening, or how long it might all go on for, I found it very difficult. I had been so used to separating work from my home life. Now, separating them within my home is just what I expect to do.
Best/easiest lockdown meal?
Depending on what is in season: baked feta cheese and roast peppers, fennel, courgettes, aubergines and red onion, with a baked potato, and some greens.
Weekend treat?
Coffee.
How have you kept physically and mentally fit during the lockdowns?
I was able to do my Pilates and Tai Chi online, which helped both physically and mentally.
What has been your daily outdoor exercise?
My daily walk of two or three miles.
How do you relax?
When the day is done, I tend to watch on TV some recorded programmes, a film from the heyday of Hollywood, maybe, or a series. I like to read for half an hour before I go to sleep, then listen to BBC Radio 4 until I do.
Teetotal or tipple?
A careful glass or two of wine, usually at some point over the weekend.
What book are you currently reading?
I recently finished the latest Donna Leon, finding Venice more pleasant to be in than Belfast in winter, and then moved on to Claire Keegan's beautifully seasonal Small Things Like These. In December I had an unexpected trip to New York for the launch of Look! It's A Woman Writer, in which I had an essay, so I now have by my bedside some new American literature: Elizabeth Strout's Oh, William! and a collection of short stories by Hilma Wolitzer, mother of the more famous Meg: Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket.
Best Netflix?
The one I most enjoyed recently was Tom Hanks in a powerful film named News of the World - not the newspaper...
Most surprising thing you've learned about yourself?
I found I was able to deal reasonably well with the loss of personal freedom, but then, I knew that, while tiresome, it was both necessary and temporary. As a member of the board of Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann, I have become very conscious of those writers and artists throughout the world who face the loss of liberty for years, often in solitary confinement. What we have had to do seems very little compared to that.
On a scale of one to 10, where have you been in relation to cabin fever and where are you now?
I was at about a seven a year ago; now more like a four - and only at times.
What are the three things you missed most during the beginning of lockdown?
Apart from the company of my children, grandchildren and friends, it had to be the pleasures of browsing in a book shop or a library; travelling on the Enterprise to Dublin; and going out for coffee to one of my favourite cafés, Conor, on the Stranmillis Road - a great meeting place in a beautiful space and once the studio of the artist, William Conor. All through the lockdown, its owner, Manus McConn, kept it ready to reopen at any moment, lifting people's spirits during last Christmas and all through the winter with festive lights and writing seasonal messages into the spring and summer on the blackboard that used to hold the menu.
Where will you go and what will you do when restrictions are fully lifted?
I'll take the Enterprise to Dublin, visit friends and family not seen for nearly two years and go to the National Library to see the Seamus Heaney exhibition again.
Biggest gripe?
It took far too long for the government to deal with the virus.
Have your priorities in life or perspectives changed?
I value my family and friends and my freedoms even more than before. A brush with mortality many years ago when I was 25 - the subject of my essay, Apostrophe, in Look! It's a Woman Writer - pulled me up short and led me to look no further than five years ahead at a time. The experience of the pandemic has not only shrunk my expectations but also reminded me to take nothing for granted, use the time I have as wisely as I can and prioritise the personal above the professional.
Any new skills or hobbies?
I learned how to use Zoom - or at least the basics of Zoom.
What would you like to see change for good when this is all over?
Wastefulness, especially of the Earth's resources.
Has coronavirus changed your attitude towards your own mortality?
Yes, in that it has required me to think about mortality rather more than usual, but with sensible precautions, vaccines and now a booster, I am hopeful I'll keep going another while. In fact, I am determined to do just that.
