#LivingInLockDown
Day 4 (Part 2) – Thursday March 19th
It’s a big night in the lockdown calendar because I am hosting my first Zoom video conference meeting and I have no idea what I’m doing. This is an event for Costa Women Madrid, a group I whose social events I host. The idea is instead of meeting in a bar to socialise we stay in our lounges with our own drink & tapas and socialise via video conferencing.
I get ready like this is any other night out. Bath, dry hair, make up, get dressed, some ear rings etc. Possibly over the top given I wont be leaving the apartment, but It feels good to do. It feels normal. Then I make myself some cheese and biscuits (lovely mature cheddar brought back from the UK, another treat) and pour a glass of chilled white wine. Sitting at my desk in the bedroom I start the conference call on my computer.
First snag of the night I can’t launch the conference call from my computer without downloading an app that the computer refuses to download due to my security settings. Arghhhhhh! I do not have time for this right now. I quickly grab my iPad where the app is already download and launch the conference from there. Few! Disaster averted.
Fortunately only one lady had logged on and we chatted whilst 5 other ladies joined us. One had a problem with the mute button and we couldn’t hear her initially, another had the video option switched off, but these were quickly resolved. Not too bad for a first go I feel.
It was a lovely night. Of course we talked about the quarantine and how everyone was coping. We’re all in different situations and there are tough decisions being faced by many. There is undeniable anxiety here in Spain and we are not immune to it. However it was wonderful to come together, to be able to see other people and to just chat. It is also a great excuse to have a drink. That may sound silly but I am a social drinker and have no desire to be sipping wine at home alone. It just doesn’t feel right.
The conference lasted about 90 minutes with 7 of us in total. To be honest if you had many more it would be really difficult to hold a conversation. I will definitely be hosting these conferences regularly and will limit the number to 8. I may need to start introducing topics as time goes on but at the moment I’ll leave the conversation to flow naturally.
After the conference I finished off the bottle of wine and watched a series on Amazon Prime before going to bed a bit tipsy and very contented.