Saturday 14 March 2020

Entertaining yourself at home

is something that many more people are going to have to do. There won't be any football matches to go to and there might not be any to watch on the telly either.
Now this won't bother me because I don't go to football matches and I don't watch them on television either. It will  bother people like the Senior Cat's cousin who is devoted to the Downunder version of the game.
I thought about this yesterday when I couldn't get out because the mobile bicycle repair man came and gave my tricycle a thorough clean and shine and adjust. I had prepared for a day at home. Today I will need to buy bread and milk and a couple of other items but even if I could not do this we could cope. 
As for entertaining ourselves...I had work to do of course but when that was over?
The Senior Cat was engrossed in searching for something on the internet. I did not interrupt. He was muttering incantations over a page of diagrams. His "magic mate", a fellow conjurer, was here earlier in the week. They were plotting something - not bad for a 97yr old.  When that was over the Senior Cat was fiddling with paper, pens, scissors and more. He watched no television. He never does. His "screen time" is spent searching the internet but some days he doesn't do that. He reads a lot and, at his age, sleeps a little as well. If the weather is good he will prowl slowly out into the garden and pull weeds from the pots we have put at waist height or do some watering when I put the hose in the right place.
He is not bored, simply frustrated when he wants to do things and no longer can.
And me? There is the writing I need to do...only other writers will understand that. I have an enormous pile of books that still need to be read. I have more knitting and other craft to do than I can hope to do in my lifetime. (I suffer severely from SABLE - Stash Advancement Beyond Life Expectancy.) There are things I want to design and things I want to make.
Did you mention television? I might get around to it one day. There are things I am sorry I have missed - like Michael Palin's trip to North Korea and some other travelogues and some assorted documentaries. Still, I don't need television to keep me amused.
There is something I would miss though - contact with the outside world if the internet failed. No, I don't mean the doom and gloom news but the little snippets from friends overseas and the immense pleasure of seeing what other people have created. That is more important than ever.
So, if you are reading this, please leave me a note and tell me how you plan to entertain yourself in isolation.
 

4 comments:

kayT said...

I'll be reading blogs, mostly from knitters, posting from all over the world. So please keep on blogging!!

Anonymous said...

I rarely see tv (we do not have one at home) but would miss being able to borrow library books. On the other hand, we have lots of books here that would bear re-reading. I am seriously considering my stash, as it may outlast me...and no one else knows my (many) plans for it. And there’s the very little garden I could greatly improve. I guess walks will be possible, as I suspect many people will stay indoors or drive to places so the streets and parks will not be crowded. We can probably last a few weeks without visiting the shops, relying on what we have in the cupboard and fridge/freezer. We even have the usual amount of toilet paper

Because I am recuperating from a recent operation, I have seen very few people and stay at home, and my husband has also curtailed his activities. However, the over-lapping circles that nevertheless exist (me, physio, another of her patients, and her son who returned from India) mean that person-to-person-to-person etc contacts widen and widen. I am in the elderly group, so more vulnerable.

I have being thinking recently about the wide range of topics you cover. Sometimes your view is different from mine, but I am interested in other views, especially if the writer has more/different information from mine. Something interesting to start the day with!

LMcC

Sheeprustler said...

I will be knitting socks while watching tv (I like a good drama or documentary); reading; researching and probably starting to write the historical novel I have been researching for more than a year. I have more books and more sock yarn than I am likely to get through in the remainder of my lifetime, no matter how long that may be!

catdownunder said...

I will endeavour to keep blogging KayT even if LMcC doesn't always agree with me! :) And my stash is large - like Sheeprustler's it includes sock yarn - and the house is full of books. I think we are set for the foreseeable future.