A day in the life of a drinks journo in iso

If you’re anything like me, life has blurred into a Groundhog Day-like routine during COVID-19.

I get up before 7am to walk the dogs to the coffee shop and order my strong flat white with half a sugar.

I start work early to get a few uninterrupted hours before the kids wake up.

I don’t notice when it hits 9am, so I have no idea whether the kids have woken up to start their online schooling.

My ex woke the youngest yesterday at 9.30am with a phone call.

I’m sure he thinks I’m doing an excellent job.

I type and type and type and type and type all morning, punctuated by trips to the pantry cupboard for mini chocolate bars.

But yesterday was a bit different. Little things happened. And, after so many weeks of nothing happening, little things seemed much bigger.

There was a knock at my front door mid-morning from the bloke who’s been trimming next door’s hedges. He’d dropped some branches in my backyard and wanted to retrieve them. Oooh, visitors! I noticed as I opened the side gate for him that it was a bit wonky. DD put a new lock on it a few weeks ago – in the dark – and it looked like he’d either missed a few bits or someone had tried to force it open – loose screws and a bit of cracked timber. Probably nothing to worry about, unless you’re an over-thinker …

I texted DD and said the gate wasn’t quite right.

I eat leftovers for lunch every day. Yesterday it was some Jamie Oliver Singapore Noodles I made on Wednesday night. The dish has great potential.

Then I type and type and type and type all afternoon, punctuated by trips to the pantry cupboard for mini chocolate bars.

At around 3pm yesterday the youngest broke the monotony by asking for a lift to the local takeaway shop to meet two friends. This is a relatively new thing, both kids have been complete hermits since March 23.

When I got back there was a delivery of alcoholic ginger beer on my doorstep, a new release from James Squire. Oooh! DD loves ginger beer, so he was stoked when I sent him a snap. He also informed me that he was coming over to fix my gate.

And that’s when my day started getting interesting. I love an unexpected opportunity to perv at the boyf. It’s awesome to be do-lally at the sight of someone after almost six years together.

Fortunately all his drilling and electric sawing finished 10 minutes before I started a virtual mixology class with a mob called Batch & Co via Zoom.

It was fascinating to see the other people in the masterclass, as everyone was at different stages of Mona Lisa quarantine.

One woman at stage 3 accidentally left herself unmuted the whole way through the class and we got to hear her every clink, chop and guzzle. The PR posted messages asking her to mute herself, but stage 3 iso-ers aren’t terribly aware of their surroundings.

It was an excellent reminder that if you make noises during Zoom meetings you’re the person who goes full screen. My tip: stage 3 iso-ers shouldn’t be full screen.

We made three spritzes and one gin highball during the class. I was dubious when the stuff was delivered, but Batch & Co has produced the most delicious little cans of alcoholic wonder. My unexpected favourite was the Bondi Spritz with Strawberry, Guava and Rose. All the varieties have 8% alcohol in them, apart from the Strawberry, Guava and Vanilla fizzy drink in the big bottle. But I fixed that by mixing it with 30ml of gin, a squeeze of lemon and some rosemary.

I was fairly befuddled by the end of the class – my fellow home mixologist and society journo Melissa Hoyer had sensibly invited a friend to share the ABV – and it was only 5pm.

I tried to take a selfie of myself with the highball and I looked like I was 80, deadset, even though I’d carefully applied make-up and spray painted my grey roots. So I’ve hidden the worst of my wrinkles with the glass.

And then I tottered off to make meatballs for dinner. As you do when you’re a drinks journo in iso with two hungry children to feed.

I’m not sure being a drinks journo in iso is the healthiest of occupations, but it beats trimming hedges in the gouting rain.

Cheers to the weekend!

PS Batch & Co’s delicious RTDs are available at Dan Murphy’s and BWS online. Two thumbs up.

Song of the day: Pink “Raise your glass”