“Oh boy, do my feet ache!” That was my weekly moan, to myself, every Wednesday night circa 10pm. How come?
Well, I have a bit of a problem, which is this: my psychological age is roughly a third of my chronological age. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, it’s my mental age which makes all the decisions. That’s why it seemed a good idea at the time to sign up for a writing course on Monday nights (7:40pm to 9:40pm), a literature class on Tuesday afternoons, a history of nature writing course on Tuesday evenings and a film studies course on Wednesday evenings.
As I like to make good use of my time, I also use Tuesday for meeting up with people (both friends and business contacts), most recently H, and before that M, either before my first course or between the courses. Also, for looking around bookshops to discover more books I don’t really need, or to visit the London Library.
As a silly treat to myself on a Wednesday night after my last course of the week I am known to walk down Brick Lane (full of vibrancy), take photos (one of which appeared in the Hackney Gazette) and visit a bakery, then walk to Liverpool Street station, where I must have a browse around Smiths (the newsagents) and then return home. By the time I get in, I’m knackered.
The difference between now and my long gone youth (I was pals with Methuselah) is that in those days I could manage 15 or 18 hour days without a murmur. In fact, I was “told off” once by a colleague for setting a bad example to the people I managed: we had all met at 7am to visit a school in the north of England, and while we were travelling back on the 7pm train I was still full of energy so I was catching up on work while the others (all much younger than me, incidentally) were dozing or chatting.
But nowadays my energy starts flagging after around 12 hours. How pathetic!
Well, now with the closure of numerous institutions, courses and social isolation rules, I have been forced to ease up a bit. This is not an easy thing to do, and because she realises my difficulties in this area my other half has very kindly given me a list of tasks which need attention. So thoughtful!
On a serious note, though, I do think it’s important to keep as mentally and physically active as possible, and to have a good attitude towards mortality. I went to a centenary concert recently — and I intend to go to the next one, which will be in 2070! And why not? A friend from the literature course just sent me this video of an interview with a lady who is 110:
I’ve always had this view. In my 20s I decided that I’d like to live to 100, and then evaluate the situation. Two of my favourite poems are Let Me Die a Young Man’s Death, and Do Not Go Gently Into That Goodnight. My heroes are the journalist Michael Freedland, a journalist who died at 83 while working on an assignment, and John Lee Hooker, a blues musician who also died aged 83 after a gig.
It’s true that Covid-19 might get me or you, but assuming it doesn’t, here are some ideas for what to do during this enforced vacation.
Follow the official websites for your country about Covid-19. If all the people pontificating on Twitter or current affairs chat programmes about what should have happened, what the government should be doing, what’s going to happen, etc etc know so much, how come we’d never heard of their expertise before?
Call yourself a writer? Then write! Heaven knows the evolving situation is giving us plenty to write about if we can avoid getting too depressed and worried by it. If you haven’t already done so, you can start a blog. Here are some reasons to do so: 7 Reasons Writers Should Blog
Writers need to read. I have a huge stack of reading that “I’m going to get around to one day”. Maybe that day has come. I have to review some books too. If you don’t have any books, look at this list of free and low-cost ebook websites.
Keep in touch with friends and relatives via Skype or something similar. A few of my friends and I are hoping to share writing with each other.
Join a Facebook group dealing with Covid-19 — there seem to be plenty available. Just look for Covid 19 groups in the FB search box. Similarly, my local council has set up an online group to share information and volunteering, and another local group is doing the same.
If you’re a certain age, and live in the UK, explore the University of the Third Age (U3A). I think that might be a good way for older people to maintain some social contact. I don’t know because I haven’t looked.
Do a course online. FutureLearn run free courses, and there are lots to choose from.
There are some more suggestions here: Reflections On Covid-19 And Writing: Endings And Some Practical Tips