Dear LPG,

I am not what I would call an avid television watcher, but during lockdown I watched it a lot more than I usually do. Since I retired I have got into the habit of keeping it on during the day when at home. I live alone and it has become a sort of background to my daily routine, but lockdown left me at home a lot longer and my habit of having it on brought it significantly nearer to the foreground. I bet that I am one of many who found themselves clicking from channel to channel while finding new programmes to watch.

I recently found myself watching a programme on the television which got me thinking, not in my estimation always a good thing. While in the live-alone situation that so many of us found ourselves in, following the governments advice which advocated that keeping busy was the thing to do. But once you have spent time on the phone talking to your friends, considered the next thing you plan to do, worked out what a good spring clean would force you to get rid of and come to a decision as to what to have for dinner, I suspect that many found overthinking taking over and we all know that too much of that has a way of forcing us to consider the distant future, an area that opens up many daunting questions without supplying very many appropriate answers.

I found myself questioning where I will ultimately end up and asking myself what the point of life is in spite of the fact that I have always thought it better to avoid making time for such thoughts.

In short I have become preoccupied with the question of destiny. Is our personal destiny and consequently the world’s pre-set, or are we individuals in complete control?

There are many variations of the two basic trains of thought and many of those are dictated by one’s religious origins or philosophical leanings.

I suppose that those who believe that someone or something else is in control don’t even need to worry about it, but for those who take the view that they have any degree of control over their own destiny, that is just the start of the thinking process.

I have decided what I think but adding them to my message would only colour what readers think and, working it all out is hard enough the first time. I have to concede that lockdown gave me the opportunity to revisit the subject and I find that my answer has changed somewhat as I have got older.

If anyone has any thoughts to offer on the subject, I would love to see them on LPG’s pages in the future. Perhaps it was wrong to overthink, but I have put my thoughts on paper and LPG says that it will publish all thoughts, so here are some of them…

CM, Grove Park