Helen Chandler

A Life More Ordinary

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April 17, 2020 helenlouisechandler

Pressing pause

April 5, 2020 helenlouisechandler

Guest blog: William in lockdown

March 27, 2020 helenlouisechandler

Home Sweet Home? – Day Ten

March 19, 2020 helenlouisechandler

Home Sweet Home? – Day 3

March 18, 2020 helenlouisechandler

Home Sweet Home? – Day Two

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#blackouttuesday
Privilege versus perfection. I used to be defensive about my privilege, feeling that the word implied that my life was as perfect as this cottage (see the tenuous link there), and if it wasn't then I wasn't privileged. I am trying to unlearn that, and understand that there are many types of privilege - gender, race, orientation, class, ability, to name a few - and that you can benefit enormously from one type, as I do, without possessing them all. White privilege confers on me all sorts of benefits I have never even had to think about - hence the privilege. I wasn't 5 times more likely to die in childbirth just because of my skin colour. My husband isn't 8 times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police as he goes about his daily life just because of the colour of his skin. I am not raising my children to try and understand that they face a world of prejudice, violence and discrimination against them just because of the colour of their skin. I benefit from white privilege in thousands of ways every day, some tiny, some large. I am racist even when I don't intend to be because of this privilege, because of the system, because I benefit from the system without fighting against it l. I am sorry, and I know I need to do more, learn more, educate my children more, shy away from difficult conversations less. #blacklivesmatter #whiteprivilege #whiteprivilegeisreal #antiracism #useyourvoice
Playing lockdown bingo - we just rearranged half our furniture! Decided to put the dining table in the middle of the room instead of by the patio doors so it was easier to access the bikes stored in the side return. But our old round table didn't look right there, so we swapped it with this one which was in the garden office. Then we needed to move a toy storage Kallax out and upstairs to 5yo's room, which meant moving the sofa bed in there, and getting rid of a little chest of drawers. Then we decluttered the hall, and gave the ivy in the side return a massive haircut. If course we decided to start this at 5pm on a Sunday evening! However, it looks pretty good now, and will be much easier to get the bikes in and out, and a takeaway has just arrived! #lockdownlife #lockdownbingo #rearranging #housefaffing #creatingspace #ortryingto
We went to Italy today. My 5yo decided last night that she wanted to go on holiday (don't we all!), so this morning she patched her little case with swimming cossie and sunglasses, then we took a surprisingly turbulent flight on the sofa, and arrived in time for an al fresco bruschetta lunch. Not sure what the Italians would make of our gelato (Cornettos from the freezer), but my homemade pizza was on point for dinner. And out of the blue 5yo announced she wants to learn Italian, so homeschooling this week is going to be courtesy of the @duolingo app! #staycation #lockdown2020 #italiophile #learnitalian #being5 #homemadepizza
Today has been a mixture of pottering round the garden in the sunshine feeling reasonably content, but also battling with hideous PMT, exacerbated by all the sadness and anxiety and anger of the Covid situation, the political situation, the institutional racism situation...and the fact that I haven't had a break from 24/7 parenting for 10 weeks and am a bit knackered. #lockdown2020 #lockdownlife #pmt #pms #mygarden #wineoclock #tomorrowisanotherday
Sharing this post by @simon_goff1 because white people need to use our privilege to try and be allies and speak out in the face of this horrific injustice and systemic racism. #georgefloyd #blacklivesmatter #bethechange #standuptoracism

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