by Daly Naughton
On March 23rd, Gerda Gordon sat down at her computer. It was the first day of Lockdown. The whole country, the whole world, was scared. We were confused. We had absolutely no clue what was going to happen. In the face of so much abnormality,
Gerda decided to do the one thing the made her feel normal: she decided to make others smile.
It began as just a short post in a facebook group. A message to a handful of
friends. Gerda joked about her fear of being trapped indoors for an unknown amount of time with her husband. “The dweeb,” she called him, though he would soon adopt several other nicknames through Lockdown. She warned of the unusual inhabitants in her tiny village. Finally, she predicted that her Prosecco habits would increase heavily over the weeks – a glass manifesting into a bottle into two and then a dozen. Living with
the dweeb, she explained, required a fair amount of fortification.
All Gerda wanted was something to keep her busy. To make her, and others,
laugh during these unprecedented and frightful times. Over the course of Lockdown, Gerda unwittingly grew an audience. Her daily installments moved from the private group to her main page, where all her friends could comment and share. The word was spread. Here was a light through the darkness, a reason to smile each new day no matter what breaking news was riddling you with anxiety. In the morning, if Gerda did not post her newest update fast enough, she would receive excited messages. Pictures
of people hunched by the computer, a mug of coffee in hand, waiting.
And Gerda remained faithful, updating regularly throughout the days, then weeks, then months of the pandemic. The myth of her tiny village morphed and grew. New characters were introduced. A blood thirsty feud developed between the dweeb and the owner of a local tea shop. No matter what cartoonish violence befell the dweeb, no matter what gravity defying antic or hilarious costume or just down right bad luck occurred, one thing remained consistent through all the posts: they were making people laugh.
Somewhere in the midst of TP shortages and endless Zoom meetings, Gerda
caught Ringwood’s attention. Now, we are proud to present Lockdown Laughs: The Bathroom Book, a collection of Gerda’s best and most hilarious installments over these 200+ days of Lockdown. Lockdown Laughs was designed to be read just as Gerda’s Facebook posts were: short injections of humor and fun, to be picked up and flipped through whenever you need a reason to smile.
The best part? Ringwood and Gerda are teaming up to donate all proceeds of Lockdown Laughs to charity! We’ll be working with Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Cancer Research, Children in Need, and Alzheimer’s Scotland. Lockdown Laughs is the perfect stocking stuffer this holiday season, and you can give to those in need while also giving a hilarious gift that will have everyone
laughing as they read it aloud around the Christmas tree.
While the world still faces so much uncertainty, we can say one thing for sure: Gerda Gordon’s Lockdown Laughs is a must-have. Order your signed copy today and join us on December 7th for our book launch event as the final installment of Ringwood’s online book festival, Bloody Ringwood.