The past year has been fraught with difficulties for us all and has shown how dependent we truly are on one another. In spite of social isolation, it has been fundamental human connection that has helped us navigate the loss, boredom and anxiety of three frustrating lockdowns. The Varsity team write letters of gratitude to our lockdown heroes: the small acts of kindness, moments of joy, friends, family and total strangers who made the last year a little easier to get through. 

Georgina Buckle, Varsity Editor

Going through a winter lockdown has been bleak, and the thing that I am most grateful for is Home. Although not one specific hero, Home encapsulates the feeling of familial love and stability which has been keeping me afloat. Home is the four walls that flank me on all sides, and have unfailingly been there to help cushion stress and loneliness. It’s the small, everyday things: being asked if I wanted a cup of tea, having surprise Saturday morning pancakes, and hearty Sunday roasts. But, it’s also the big things: always having someone to turn to, to go on walks and have a laugh with. The world can sometimes feel like a relentless stream of noisy, crackling, audio feedback, and Home mutes that for a while. It has been my place of solace. I couldn’t thank it enough for always enclosing me in comfort, and never, ever, letting me down.

“Let’s not forget the UberEats drivers that deliver me a sense of normal when I’ve not left my flat for 3 days”

Isabel Sebode, Vulture Editor

I truly cannot define a single person that has helped me most during this time. I have spent the last three lockdowns in three different locations: Berlin, Cambridge and London. From being received back into the open arms of my parents for an unusually long time, to being in a bubble with my best friends and then moving into the chaos that is the third lockdown - a stable circle around me is something I definitely did not have. Therefore, I want to show love to all of my lockdown heroes. My boyfriend who I feel lucky to spend time with after lockdown 2.0, my parents, who, whether right next to me or in a different country, are always there to send me love, and my friends, wherever they might be…and let’s not forget the UberEats drivers that deliver me a sense of normal when I’ve not left my flat for 3 days. Thank you!

Elizabeth Haigh, Deputy Editor

When I reflect on lockdown, it’s often hard to see past the downsides, the hardest moments. But those moments are also the ones when my lockdown heroes were most present. I’d like to recognise all the friends who have supported me and given me love, and who I hope I’ve been able to give it back to. Whether they’ve been living next door in our (now scattered to the winds) household bubble, or on the other side of the country and have just been on the other end of the phone, they were always there if I needed them. I can’t wait to see them in person again!

Meike Leonard, Deputy Editor

My lockdown hero is most definitely Ann Patchett. Can honestly say her books almost single-handedly kept me sane, entertained, and inspired. Bel Canto, based on the Japanese embassy hostage crisis of 1996 in Lima, Peru, is a lockdown story to undermine all others - and certainly put my own in perspective. State of Wonder is escapism at its finest, and gives topical insight into the pharmaceutical industry. The Dutch House just made me cry. Would whole-heartedly recommend dipping into a Patchett novel (Commonwealth also gorgeous) during any future swathes of empty time.

Other heroes include my friends (obviously), Blondie, and Michaela Coel.

Alfie Eltis, Senior Features Editor

My lockdown hero, or antihero perhaps, is The Sopranos. Unlike Captain Tom Moore, or the key workers who fed, cared for and inspired us during this pandemic, the Sopranos has very little reassuring to tell us about human nature. David Chase’s HBO series follows the lives of a New Jersey mafia family who, despite constant talk of family and codes of honour, are petty, vengeful and jealous, with little impulse control for violence or infidelity. Although the gangsters ‘whacking’ each other was less troubling, part of the game they had all signed up for, innocents fall victim to their loan-sharking, racketeering and the crossfire of their feuds. I discovered The Sopranos during a fourteen-day isolation in my college room, when I needed to be somewhere else for an hour at a time. I guiltily found myself laughing at the mobsters’ jokes, engrossed in their plots and rivalries, and satisfied when hated antagonists were finally gunned down. Trying to square this affection with their reprehensible actions was a moral dilemma, but ultimately another welcome distraction, whilst the show’s early-2000s swag – velour tracksuits, baggy suits, flip-phones and gold medallions on hairy chests – made it feel comfortingly far from 2020.

“As a doctor for the NHS, he has worked so incredibly hard”

Isabella Addo, Deputy Features Editor

I could have picked many different lockdown heroes, but the one closest to my heart is definitely my godbrother. As a doctor for the NHS, he has worked so incredibly hard while also continuing to care for both my godparents when they both got COVID at home. He was working at the hospital during the day and then coming back to look after my godparents in the evening. Throughout this time, I found his strength inspiring as he worked double time to look after other people. Thank you!

Akshata Kapoor, Deputy Features Editor

There is no way I would make it through lockdown without my friends! Rather counterintuitively, being away from them for so long made me realize how constant their presence was – weekly texts to check-in on each other, random calls that were usually missed and forgotten, extensive zoom birthday celebrations to make up for the lack of real interaction – all these little things were my source of comfort during lockdown. Every blurry snap that had absolutely no connection to the caption of the snap, every random meme that unnecessarily called me out, and every spontaneous “how are you doing” became newly important. I think I realized that I don’t always need to meet or physically be with or talk 24/7 to maintain friendships, but rather be there in the important moments, as they were for me <3