What I did in March 2020

[squirmelia]

March started for me in Porto. It was Mission Day and I finished off an Ingress banner I had started the day before and then started on some missions. I started at Se Cathedral and went inside to visit it. I then bumped into some other players outside the cathedral so joined them for the next few missions. We wandered around a park with interesting trees, we walked up hills, we looked at pretty colourful buildings. After that, I had done 5 missions so just needed to do one more. I left the others and headed to Crystal Palace and walked around amongst the peacocks and the blossom.

I did another mission and the rain started, so I hid inside the Hidden House, which is a small building between two churches. I visited the Livraria Lello which is a bookshop popular with Harry Potter fans. I went to the Photography Museum and looked at old cameras and novelty cameras and spy cameras.

I went for a ride on a historic tram through Porto and that was fun. I visited the library after that and looked at the exhibition they had on with some old books. I rode on the funicular again and did some more missions and visited Igreja de Sao Francisco.

I caught buses to Serralves after that. Serralves is an art gallery with a sculpture garden and a tree top walk. I enjoyed wandering around the exhibitions – I saw some sculptures by Carsten Höller, listened to experimental music, wandered around looking for sculptures, went into an exhibition that felt somewhat apocalyptic but had Sit Down by James playing in it. My phone battery ran out, so I ended up buying a ridiculous Tamagotchi shaped battery from the art gallery.

I went to the Casa da Musica after that and walked around and looked at the building.

Back in London, I went to a class at Morley College on Sound Art 2: installations and sculptures.

I went to the fungi exhibition at Somerset House with doseybat and verazea, gnommi, doseybat's mum and Giles.

I went to an Ingress First Saturday in Westminster and helped with measurements and taking people's details at the end.

That evening, glyn and I saw a video game related musical at the Vaults Festival.

One Sunday, I saw my family and we wandered around Crystal Palace and saw the dinosaurs and got lost in the maze. That was the last time I went to a social event. We got drenched in the rain.

I went to the Sound Art class for a second time that month, but didn't go to the next, and then the final class was done online. I made soundscapes from sounds inside my fridge, and old TVs and beeping from electronic devices, and bus-stops. I tried out Reaper.

One Friday night, I wandered through a park in the dark in Gravesend, looking for a cold war bunker. I found it and was given a tour, which was interesting.

The last event I went to was on the Saturday though, as I had booked a ticket to go on a Hidden London tour of Moorgate and walked through tunnels that aren't normally open to the public and saw an abandoned Greathead tunnelling shield, still in place. I played some Ingress after that and wandered around past some of the tourist attractions in London, which at that time were still busy.

The Monday after that (the 16th) was the last time I had to go to the office and I've worked from home since then. That was also the last time I went on public transport or even left my borough. That was the last time I had a face-to-face conversation with anyone. (Colleagues).

What I've done since the 16th:

I've been on walks to places close to where I live on some days, for my daily exercise - Richmond Park, Ham Common Woods, Marble Hill park, Moormead park, Old Deer Park, Richmond Green, by the river, and many walks around the block looking at trees that are blossoming. I saw deer in Richmond Park and walked through bogs and brambles and nettles. Some days I see parakeets and squirrels. One day it was windy and like it was snowing pink blossom, ahh.

I did heavy metal yoga, via Zoom.

I went to goth drinks at the virtual Winchester, via Zoom.

I went to a talker party on Monochrome BBS.

I started doing Zombies 5K and running away from zombies.

I wore a tutu one Tuesday.

I went to an Interaction Design Association (IxDA) remote movie night and we watched some classic clips of things like copying and pasting, and some fun videos like one where you get to be an object like the Roomba! Or the fan!

I played A Short Hike and enjoyed standing on top of a pylon and then flying off it. I played Life is Strange and wandered to the lighthouse.

I baked cupcakes, various things with chickpea flour and cooked recipes from recipe boxes from Mindful Chef. I drank coffee cherry tea from a coffee farm I visited in Panama 2 years ago and found in my cupboard. The Coffee of the Moon. They farm in tune with lunar cycles.

I briefly listened to an Isolation virtual club night and danced to a few songs.

I heard loud clapping, as people were clapping for the NHS. I also managed to see a few fireworks from my living room window!

I went to kiss_me_quick's birthday party for a bit via Zoom and laid in my ballpit.

The Ingress NL-1331X van came to visit! Instead of going to a pub with friends and getting excited about seeing a van parked outside, it just appeared inside the game and made a cute beeping noise when you clicked on it.

If you know of any cool virtual events coming up, please let me know!