With weeks, months, cooped up at home, whether in a mansion or high rise flat, many people are bored, trying to find ways of spending the long hours, to relieve mind numbing restrictions and to find time consuming distractions
Reading and games, of course, but the main sanity saver has been television and radio, a 24 hour remedy, entertaining and educating us, encouraging us to keep fit and active.
Television (and its on-demand siblings iPlayer and Netflix) has brought ‘binge viewing’ of streamed drama with millions whiling away whole days.
One of the most popular and more beneficial pastimes are the keep fit and healthy programmes, with fitness trainers making a name and fortune keeping us puffing and perspiring, and feeling proud of ourselves.
Then there are the ubiquitous food shows, a parade of chefs and the ubiquitous cookery competitions
Programme makers, stymied by safe distance rules, have ingeniously conjured up remotely controlled shows. Symphony orchestras have reappeared on air with plenty of air apace between the players. And travel programmes remind us there is an interesting world out there.
The BBC has excelled in its comprehensive education programmes, covering all groups and subjects for all ages a boon, especially to young people and their worried parents.
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| Pastimes to pass the time |
How different it was in my early days and for my parents’ generation in war time. It was simple pastimes: games, arts and crafts, needlework for the women. (It's no coincidence that traditional crafts have boomed again during the pandemic.)
But we were not locked in our homes; we could at least escape outdoors, to the park, the cinema.
An exciting life compared to the grey today.
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