Writing for UK paper The Sunday Times, Lawson declared that after many weeks of being alone she has become “entirely unfit for society” and has “gone feral”.
“I went into lockdown before it was legally enforced — as did many people who had been watching the news and were in the privileged position of being able to do so — and the idea of emerging from it is making me anxious,” she wrote.
“Yes, a part of that is a fear of the health risk involved, but I know really it’s because I have become utterly content with my desocialisation. I have gone feral.”
The 60-year-old cook and food writer says she is going to limit interaction with others following quarantine, with plans to only go out twice a week as social distancing restrictions continue to be eased.
Lawson referred to this new method of social interaction as a “5:2 diet with people”.
“For two evenings a week — or maybe just lunches at the weekend — I will pretend to be a normal person, letting those strange entities, people, into the garden, and apply myself to learning how to have a conversation again,” she said.
“For the other five, I will continue, greedily and gratefully, to feed on solitude and silence.”
Lawson confessed that lockdown had led to a “descent into squalor”, as she struggled to find the motivation to tidy up after herself while people weren’t paying her visits.
