Dusting off Parlour Games for Modern Families
These are strange days with the global crisis around COVID-19 and I’ve been feeling compelled to write it out (as I ride it out).
This is what I’m worried about as we go into lockdown:
- The elderly and vulnerable in our midst getting sick and dying, the health care professionals getting burnt out and ill, and the health system totally collapsing.
- People having to shut down businesses, losing their livelihoods, and becoming vulnerable and destitute.
- People stripping the supermarket shelves and being arseholes to each other because of (an admittedly understandable) fear.
- Getting bored and grumpy and restless and anxious and slightly purposeless as the social isolation measures kick in. This is at least something I can control. Trying to look at the positives, set up rituals, and give myself a stern talking to when I catch myself spiralling down. About to dust of Parlour Games for Modern Families; planning to watch more cheesy movies with the fam that involve 70's music, daggy dancing and bad acting; hope to read lots of books; to keep writing that novel I’ve been talking about for a decade; cook lots of improvised meals from what I have to hand…oh, and keep working remotely and finding ways to be kind to my fellow human beings!
What I’m not worried about:
- Toilet paper – if all else fails, there are leaves, newspaper, soap and water and even rocks (yes, my dad said he used to wipe his bum with rocks out in the fields). I think we will manage if the soft stuff runs out. Amazing what we are choosing to focus on in times of uncertainty…
- Running out of food – been cooking a little extra, shopping a little extra and stocking up slowly and surely for a month or more now – felt a bit strange at first, but now feels like it was the right thing to do. Avoided the big supermarkets and shopped at the smaller providers. Bought staples like beans, canned tomatoes and some rice/pasta. Been cooking up all the odds and sods of vegetables into stocks. Lots of prepared beans in the freezer. Slow and steady. Hope that by thinking laterally and improvising and sharing and maybe even bartering if all else fails we will be good. If my grandparents survived wars and a depression, surely we can survive a few months (fingers crossed) of adapting.
- Losing touch - phone and internet means we can still talk to the people we love - not the same, but hopefully it will do for the short term.
- Staying active – put the gym membership on hold and enjoying lots of brisk walks by myself and with various members of the family (with smiles and nods to people as we pass each other at a good distance on the street). Sun and air and movement critical to a strong mind, body and spirit. This one's not negotiable in my book.
- Getting sick – don’t want to be flippant about this but feel strangely resigned that if this happens, my family and I will try and weather the storm. We are doing our best to avoid it, as well as do all the right and sensible things to stop spreading infection but if it happens, it happens...
As I write, I’m reminded of what 4th Century philosopher Heraclitus wrote, “There is nothing permanent except change”.
And what my beautiful late friend Katerina used to say when she encountered difficulties – “This too shall pass”.
Sending best to all to find ways to weather the storm.
