One Small Thing: Raffaella Barker

The smallness of daily experience and the hugeness of everyone sharing it saturates time in lock down.It’s not so hard for a writer to be isolated, but to be isolated with everyone else is new and very convivial. So convivial that I haven’t done any writing at all. The wild weirdness of life - grown up children living at home , none of us going anywhere anytime soon, the four walls of home and it's surroundings our world now, is both secure making and also unknown. 

I am developing  a new relationship with each of my belongings  - sometimes a slightly resentful one, as they all need cleaning, dusting, polishing or putting away. Clothes that have nowhere to go flaunt themselves from my wardrobe, but this silk scarf is different. Wherever it is, it enhances; I bought it from eBay early in lockdown, thinking it could make a good face mask. And it does, cowboy style. I don’t suppose it’s any protection at all, but it offers a glamorous take on Face wear for Summer 2020, and it also functions as sunhat, dog lead, belt and general life enhancer.

This morning I found it on the desk next to my computer as I sat down to work. The peach silk, Seventies cool pattern and sensual slide of it is bound in a soft knot of chic to me. It’s already taken on a waft of my favourite scent, and it reminds me of going out, dressing up, lipstick, laughing with my friends, whom I miss so much. It’s feminine and portable. It will see me through this crisis and out the other side. And when I find it later, in a pocket or a pile of clothes,  it will remind me of the best of now. 

You can find out more about Raffaella's work here, and her books are available from Bloomsbury Publishing. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter. 

Stay well, stay safe, stay home.