Coping strategies

As I wrote in response to a recent comment on my latest blogpost, “It's hard to believe that just six short weeks ago, we were wandering round Burton-on-Trent, visiting all those smashing pubs, with total impunity and hardly a care in the world.” And it’s that infinitesimally small timescale that really brings home the changes that have been wrought to how we go about our daily lives, our economic outlook and society in general.

These changes haven’t just affected Britain and Europe, they’ve spread across the whole world, from the Antipodes, the Pacific Rim, Central and South-East Asia, Africa and over to the America’s. Freedoms we once took for granted, like popping out to the local, taking a drive to the coast, meeting up with friends, attending a gathering such as a rock concert, a football match or even a beer festival have been taken away from us, along with the ability to head off on holiday somewhere nice or unusual. 

The global pandemic that is Covid-19, seemingly came out of nowhere, catching us all unawares, and with a total lack of any form of immunity within the human population as a whole, individual governments have responded with measure designed to slow down the spread of this innocuous piece of RNA to prevent vital health resources from being over whelmed and prevent as many deaths as possible.

The strategy is clumsy and damaging both socially and economically, but it is designed to buy time for a vaccine to be developed, or to allow sufficient natural immunity to develop in populations at large. I don’t want to get into arguments here about health versus economic benefits, or how long it will take before we get some semblance of normality back in our lives, but strict lockdown and isolation measures do seemed to have worked in some countries and indeed some regions of the world.

What I want to do instead is to highlight how I am coping with the lockdown, whilst wondering how others are managing in potentially quite different circumstances.

The first thing that’s obviously of benefit is the lockdown has occurred during spring and at a time of mainly dry and largely warm weather. Just imagine if we’d been forced into this during February, that month of incessant rain.  I was thinking this as I sat out on the patio yesterday morning, enjoying a plate of scrambled eggs on toast that Mrs PBT’s had knocked up for breakfast.

There was blue sky aplenty and the sun was shining down as we sat looking out over the garden. “Isn’t it quiet?” remarked my wife. I agreed, the background roar of traffic on the A21 was absent, there wasn’t the usual regular whine of jet engines overhead, from planes bound for Gatwick. Instead there was nothing apart from birdsong and the sound of the odd fastidious gardener mowing the grass.

Our garden has been our salvation; our quiet oasis at the back of the house, our sanctuary, respite and escape from the madness occurring in the outside world. It might need a little tlc – and even that’s being dealt with at present, but we’re so lucky to have somewhere to enjoy the natural world, without setting foot outside of the house.

There are moments though when it is appropriate and necessary to leave the house. Son Matthew has been furloughed from his job in retail, so has been accompanying me on a series of circular walks which take us to the edge of suburban Tonbridge. I do find it sad, when it becomes necessary to cross the road or sidestep, just to avoid getting too close to people walking, or running in the opposite direction, however necessary to maintain social distancing.

For better or worse, us humans are social animals, and breaking with habits that have evolved over hundreds, if not thousands of years is extremely difficult. I wrote before about being isolated from the family whilst running our former off-license, back in the early 2000’s, and if anything, this mentally prepared me for what we are all going through now.

Mrs PBT's and I are more fortunate than many affected by this crisis. Our mortgage has been paid off and I’m still working – although if this crisis goes on for too long that could change, as demand for dental materials has fallen off a cliff. Still, due to being prudent, and careful saving, there should be enough to see me through until next April when I reach official state retirement age, even though these funds were designed to see me through into eventual retirement

It’s also important to get into a routine and not let standards slip. For example,  it’s very easy to not bother shaving, and then end up looking like the proverbial “Wild Man of Borneo ” -  a creature of legend to whom I was often compared with by my mother, especially whilst letting my hair grow long, back in the early 70’s. 

This self-discipline especially applies if you are working from home, as otherwise the temptation is to slob around the house all day in a state of undress and general idleness. You will find yourself glad of this advice, once the lockdown restrictions eventually start to be lifted. 

It helps if you’ve got a project or two to be working on, whether it’s de-cluttering that room, sorting out the garden shed or, like m, tidying up a shamefully neglected garden.  Over the weekend I dug our old vegetable patch over, with the aim of once again turning it into a wild-flower meadow. It looks very bare in the photos, but the one below shows last year’s floral effort in all its glory. 

One other thing, before finishing, and that is having this spare time gives you a chance to reflect and perhaps even re-evaluate your life. Certainly, being away from the nine to five treadmill allows you to ponder what’s important in your life. Is it the relentless pursuit of money and material wealth, or are things like health, happiness and general well-being of far greater value?

Remember, as Louis Armstrong sang, “We Have All the Time in the World,” or at least we do until lockdown ends and it’s back to picking up from where we left off six weeks ago.