Dear LPG,

For all the individuals reading this, and the billions on lock down because of this global pandemic, I would like to start this message with a wish that you and yours are safe.  My hope is that as many people as possible are around this time next year.  I have no doubt that next April those of us who are still around will spend a lot of time recalling what we all went through in the spring of 2020, and reflecting on how much difference one year can make.

There is the illness itself and the personal anguish and loss that has been its consequence, but so many of us will focus on our memories of having to cope with the confinement that resulted.  As we get older, so many decide to downsize which is not a bad thing when we consider that the consequence of doing that means less cleaning at least, and as long as we can get out during the days, it is quite nice to have a cosy space to come home to but, for those who never moved house and whose children have flown the nest, home can become a relatively large and empty living space.   I have tried to imagine the opposing affects that those two very different challenges offer and the devastating effects on us at this time…

Call it lucky or forward-thinking, but about ten years ago I converted one of the spare rooms I found myself left with at home, into an office come workshop and now I have a bolt hole where I am able to be alone and pursue all those pastimes that have become my ‘work’ since I retired; writing, reading some small DIY ventures and computing amongst other projects.    My other half has done the same and so, while we are very much together, we also have our own special space where we can develop our personal escape from the rest of the world. 

With the present situation, and if there is room, I think that every home should have a den or two and lock down has enforced that feeling.  Our personal spaces have done a lot to ease that ‘cramp underfoot feeling’ that could have been truly heightened during this crisis. 

A personal space is something that many young parents cannot afford for themselves while most of their children have their own rooms to escape to, and keep their gadgets in.  So, for those of us elders who now have their own personal space, be it their own smaller home or that spare room come den in a larger one, while loneliness can be hard to deal with, sometimes it is nice to have your private spot in this big world of ours.

I assume that it all adds up to the fact that in a crisis such as the one we are living through, most people now find themselves really lonely, or overrun with too many of the same people constantly grating on each other.  How fortunate are the ones who have been lucky enough to have the best of both worlds…?

Rudy Morgan