Dear LPG,

We have all had a hard couple of years.  I have yet to meet anyone who has not been affected by pandemic fall out of one kind or another.  Seeing friends get ill is something that has affected us all while the world of work has also been shaken to the core but, for the older members of the population, perhaps the second thing that has really affected us is the lack of liberty. 

This pandemic, and its lockdown aspect, has given so many people who would have only heard of other people’s loneliness the opportunity to experience it for themselves.

But what do you do when you are lonely and locked down?

We all either listened to more radio programmes or watched more television to keep up to date with what was going on, and that for me became so depressing that I actively stopped watching news programmes.  We phoned more people and many of us, who would otherwise never have learned how, learnt to use the video calling platforms (Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, Face Time etc.) but there was still that time when there was just you and the four walls to keep you company.  

I worked out how to play patience on my mobile phone and, for me, it has become my addictive pleasure.  I have no idea why and I cannot even say that winning has any other effect on me than leaving me wanting to play another game.   I cannot count the number of times that I have realised that I should have been doing something else, looked at the clock and thought to myself ‘… just one more game…’.   When I get to the end of the day I often look back and can count at least half a dozen things that I was going to do, which have not been done again because I spent far too much time playing that silly game.  I know that I am not the only one, I have a friend who is addicted to her Word Search book and another who spends far too much time watching films repeatedly, and the thing that we all have in common is that guilty feeling at the end of the day because we did much too much of that, instead of things we really should have done.

None of these things are bad but now that we can get out again, have you found yourself looking at the clock and telling yourself, ‘… just one more game…’ as you continue to indulge in some activity which should really be a ‘time filler’ rather than a ‘time waster?  

When there is the opportunity to do something you need to do, especially if it involves safely getting out of the house, getting some long needed fresh air and exercise, and meeting others, please remember that that ‘just one more time’ habit that lockdown has taught you will always be there when you get home or when you have done the thing that you really need to do and put it off a bit.

 DP, Lewisham.