While NHS staff and key workers have kept us afloat during the COVID-19 crisis, the rest of us have done our bit by hunkering down with members of our household—great if those personalities gel, not so great if they don’t! Our property guardians (key workers and young professionals who are used to going to work every day) faced the prospect of weeks in lockdown with an unusually large household. Put a diverse group of people in a confined space for 10 weeks, add a dose of uncertainty that comes with global pandemic, and you might expect that our guardian community would have erupted in nuclear war by now. But, it hasn’t. Far from it! Our guardians have responded to lockdown by strengthening friendships and helping each other. They’ve shared skills. They’ve grown things. They’ve had fun.
This week, we heard from Freddie, head guardian at our E17 location, a former plastics warehouse that we’re securing for the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Freddie sent us some photos and gave us a run-down of what the guardians at the Warehouse have been up to. So today on the Blue Door Blog, in lieu of our regular post, we wanted to let you in on the fun and show the UK how we do lockdown here at Blue Door. Thanks, Freddie, and thanks to all our guardians for teaching us a thing or two about community spirit. (Don’t worry landlords, we’ll be back next week with more tips to help you save money and keep your vacant property secure!)
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and after looking at the pics Freddie sent us, we agree. The photos below offer a wonderful glimpse into guardian life, but we can’t quite match up the photos with the list of activities that Freddie sent us by way of explanation. Maybe you ‘had to be there’ (a sign of truly good times).
Here’s Freddie’s list:
Cocktail class
Acting workshop
Gourmet mushroom growing at home
Make up tips and tricks
Guitar workshop
Gardening club
Computer security workshop
Life drawing
Easter bbq
Now, tell us: does this picture (see below) depict Acting workshop, Guitar workshop or something in between? We’ve ruled out Cocktail class and Gourmet mushroom growing at home, but was that too hasty??
You see the problem we have. So we thought we’d let you enjoy these photos un-captioned. They’re in no particular order, so no need to wait until the end to clap—feel free to break into spontaneous applause whenever it feels appropriate!
If those pics made you very jealous and you’d like to know more about becoming a guardian at the Warehouse or one of our other properties, our Guardians page has everything you need to know. We look forward to hearing from you!