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General => The Stay Safe Board => Topic started by: ThrelfallYorky on Friday 06 November 20 15:01 GMT (UK)

Title: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: ThrelfallYorky on Friday 06 November 20 15:01 GMT (UK)
I'm so very bored already, this time. Last time I spent most of my time in the garden, which did it a lot of good, and me, too. I managed time out there this morning, but it was too squelchy to do much.
But I'm bored, even with reading, and I'm one of those people who always has a book on the go, in every room in the house.
I seem to be hitting nothing but brick walls in family history research, I've written the letters to the people I usually send letters to with their Christmas cards, doing the letters and sending them on their own, early. I've been doing crosswords like mad. I'm not into jigsaws.
There's nothing much on telly, and I don't like watching it during the daytime, in any case. There's not the lovely obsession of the Rootschat Panto (that seemed to die out last year), I've used up all my stock of sewing fabric, and done all the washing and ironing as a record turnaround. I can't find wallpaper I like, in order to do some home decorating whilst tied to base, although I've been intending to do that for weeks....
The cats think I ought to copy them, and doze in a cosy corner, but that doesn't help. I've even done all the housework I can find to do. And re-organised bookshelves a bit. Oh dear, oh for something to fill my mind with joy.
How are others coping?
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: louisa maud on Friday 06 November 20 15:22 GMT (UK)
In some ways we had a practice run I suppose you could call it lasting 7 months or so, it will be the same for me I think except no gardening as such, it is very cold today and I need to mow my lawn but I guess I have missed it now due to wet grass not drying out quick enough, had a couple of nice cold bright days  but still need the grass to dry out

I must admit I only managed 3 online shops and resorted to going out at 8am on a Friday each week doing all the right things

I didn't get as much done in the first  months or so because my husband was ill, that put paid to a lot of sorting out I needed to do, I did suggest we decorate our bedroom but it fell on deaf ears !!

It is  getting a bit boring I suppose,  it is what I call "same old same old", every day the same but we have to get on with it, chill out and keep ourselves happy and of course those around us as well

We have done 7 months of it and we have just over 3 weeks to go, so I think it should go quickly, I am hoping it does,

The diarists on here keep me smiling from time to time with their humour, some pack so much into a day, puts me to shame sometimes but I am by no means lazy

So, as I said chin up, chill out and get through it

Take care, keep safe and keep warm

Louisa Maud
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Jebber on Friday 06 November 20 15:23 GMT (UK)
Have you written your own life story? We so often concentrate on our ancestors that we forget about recording our experiences  for the benefit of future generations.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Girl Guide on Friday 06 November 20 15:55 GMT (UK)
You're not alone Threlfall in struggling to keep going, not to mention trying to stay cheerful.  Today I am feeling a bit low and hoping to find something funny to cheer me up.

I like cats so I may have a look on You Tube for some cat videos.  Some of them are quite funny so hopefully they will take some of my gloom away.

I think we all feel that this situation is never ending and try and find something positive to do but it is not always easy is it  :(

We are not a hibernating species so we can't disappear into our burrows over the winter and emerge again in the spring.

I believe there is a saying of what can't be cured must be endured.  So true for us at the moment ::)

So chin up Threlfall, there is light at the end of the tunnel, just a case of waiting for it to appear  :D

 
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: magnacarta on Friday 06 November 20 16:08 GMT (UK)
Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?


Friedrich Nietzsche
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: mazi on Friday 06 November 20 16:22 GMT (UK)
I was so bored yesterday that I almost thought of cleaning the cooker ;D ;D ;D,  fortunately it soon passed over.

Excitement today, the postman brought letters, one from TV licensing, and one from the NHS.

I can now go online and manage my TV license, I am a licensed tv license manager.

The nhs turned out to be from imperial college london, I have been chosen at random to (win a million), no actually to take part in their random testing program.

Alas I started to fill in the online questionnaire and became ineligible on about page five.


Well this post has occupied me for a few minutes,

Take care, look after yourself cos no one else will is my old dad used to say,

Mike
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Romilly on Friday 06 November 20 16:42 GMT (UK)
I discovered E books during the last lockdown, and will continue to read them during this one. Just finished an autobiography by Celia Paul, (Artist). Really interesting, although why she chose to have a child with Lucian Freud is beyond me! (I think he had at least 14?). Anyway, I love her paintings, especially her self portrait; which is very reminiscent of Gwen John’s work.

It’s getting too cold to paint in my painting shed in the garden, and so I’m moving lots of things indoors to the spare bedroom...

And of course there’s always family history! I could follow Jebber‘s suggestion and write about my 40 year search for my ever elusive paternal grandfather... ;D ;D

And finally, - I have a stack of seed catalogues, and plan to work out what I want to grow next year, - although I’ve got 2 greenhouses to clear out first!

Romilly  :) ;)
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Marmalady on Friday 06 November 20 16:59 GMT (UK)
Back in the 50s/60s if we complained of being bored Mum either told us to go and stand on one leg in a corner or said "that's all right, it's allowed"

Sorry, not much help!
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Maiden Stone on Friday 06 November 20 17:27 GMT (UK)
I did gardening last month but weather is either too wet, cold or windy or all 3. I'm not physically capable of all gardening tasks I did a year ago.

These are some things I could do.
There are online courses. I saved a FutureLearn history one. I accidently left a part-completed family history one by clicking on "Leave this course" instead of "Go to course".  :-[ They take 2-4 hours a week for about 6 weeks.
Learn a language, it's supposed to be good for the brain. FutureLearn have several introduction to language courses. I was interested in an Irish language and culture one which would be a refresher course for me.
Keep fit, dancing.
Singing.
Plant bulbs. I found 2 bags of bulb fibre. Place I buy bulbs is a mile walk away. I believe garden centres in England are open.
Go for a walk and look at something with wonder. My favourite tree in March was a willow with catkins.
                                                      - - - - - - -
You could volunteer as a telephone befriender for someone else who's stuck at home.
                - - - - - - - -
My mind was filled with joy for a few moments yesterday when I watched a video of a sleepy baby panda in a zoo.   :) Someone posted it last night as an antidote to politics, "a palate-cleanser".
I get updates from a hedgehog organisation; there are videos on it of hogs in gardens. 
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Maiden Stone on Friday 06 November 20 17:36 GMT (UK)

Excitement today, the postman brought letters, one from TV licensing, and one from the NHS.

I can now go online and manage my TV license, I am a licensed tv license manager.

The nhs turned out to be from imperial college london, I have been chosen at random to (win a million), no actually to take part in their random testing program.

Alas I started to fill in the online questionnaire and became ineligible on about page five.

Did you go through a proper tendering application to become a tv licence manager or were you automatically awarded the position (unpaid) by the government?  ;D
There's usually a question I want to ignore or answer "not relevant" or "don't know", or leave and go back to later in an online questionnaire  but it won't let me.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Maiden Stone on Friday 06 November 20 17:48 GMT (UK)
Back in the 50s/60s if we complained of being bored Mum either told us to go and stand on one leg in a corner or said "that's all right, it's allowed"

I watched a repeat of "Our Yorkshire Farm" from summer 2019 last week. Mother, Amanda Owens, said it was good for her kids to be bored sometimes. The littlest one became excited when she found a "ginormous" snail in a field. Somewhere in a field in Yorkshire is a ginormous snail named Michelle.  ;D Good choice of name for a snail as some are hermaphrodite.
The programme left a warm glow in my heart.  :)
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: mazi on Friday 06 November 20 18:02 GMT (UK)

Excitement today, the postman brought letters, one from TV licensing, and one from the NHS.

I can now go online and manage my TV license, I am a licensed tv license manager.

The nhs turned out to be from imperial college london, I have been chosen at random to (win a million), no actually to take part in their random testing program.

Alas I started to fill in the online questionnaire and became ineligible on about page five.

Did you go through a proper tendering application to become a tv licence manager or were you automatically awarded the position (unpaid) by the government?  ;D
There's usually a question I want to ignore or answer "not relevant" or "don't know", or leave and go back to later in an online questionnaire  but it won't let me.


It’s easy, just send off a cheque for £157-50 and your degree comes back by post.

When I have saved a few more pennies I will be a scientist and blind you all with last years statistics  ;D ;D

Mike
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Maiden Stone on Friday 06 November 20 18:10 GMT (UK)
It’s easy, just send off a cheque for £157-50 and your degree comes back by post.

When I have saved a few more pennies I will be a scientist and blind you all with last years statistics  ;D ;D

I've done crash courses in science, medicine and statistics between March and October this year. Do you think I'll be able to obtain 3 degrees if I send off 3 cheques? Although if I had to take an exam I'd fail statistics.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: John915 on Friday 06 November 20 18:21 GMT (UK)
Good evening,

Demolition gang member no 4 (age 6) was both bored and skint. He needed sweets he said. So he got a pile of paper, some plain, some patterned. He folded them all lengthwise zigg zagg style. Wrapped a piece of sellotape around one end and splayed the other end out.

He then took an old storage basket, an empty gravy granule pot which he covered in plain paper. He then took the lot out to the front fence and put them on display. Along with a sign saying "FANS FOR SALE" They were 5p for a plain one, 20p for a patterned one. Daughter went out and bought a patterned one and gave him 25p.

A little later he rushed indoors with a huge smile on his face and said he had sold 2 more plain fans.
Two people had come along and, obviously impressed with his entrepreneurship, gave him a FIVER each. I hate to think what they would have paid for a patterned one.

So with the 50p I gave him for a special edition red one for Grandma he made £10.75.

To top it all, he made it onto "Spotted Crawley", a facebook page for people to post things good, bad or strange on.

John915
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: IgorStrav on Friday 06 November 20 18:35 GMT (UK)
Someone once told me that 'boredom' was a very high level of being.

That's it.

That's all I've got to give.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: roopat on Friday 06 November 20 18:46 GMT (UK)
If not already a member, look up your local U3A, they are running zoom groups. Our local U3A just started an Italian for beginners this week - we had one live session in a local venue on Tuesday (only 6 of us, the leader had split us into 2 separate groups). We all agreed it was lovely to meet each other for real before we go over to zoom next week. My U3A ukulele group meets weekly on Zoom & there are online book groups and all sorts of things.


Pat

Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: pharmaT on Friday 06 November 20 18:50 GMT (UK)
I've only been leaving the house for work, school run and food and been trying to minimise the last one since the beginning.  So many people have disgusted me in the past few months that I struggle to see me going out and about amongst people ever again.  This thought drags me down a bit but I've been trying to unsuccessfully have the house at show home levels so plenty to do
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: mazi on Friday 06 November 20 19:08 GMT (UK)
It’s easy, just send off a cheque for £157-50 and your degree comes back by post.

When I have saved a few more pennies I will be a scientist and blind you all with last years statistics  ;D ;D

I've done crash courses in science, medicine and statistics between March and October this year. Do you think I'll be able to obtain 3 degrees if I send off 3 cheques? Although if I had to take an exam I'd fail statistics.

I would do foreign languages as well. Then you can move to Wales.

You cannot fail statistics, just remember you must take a random sample of sufficient size.
If you only test people who have symptoms you will unsurprisingly get above average positive results. ;D >:( ;D

Mike
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: guest189040 on Friday 06 November 20 19:18 GMT (UK)
We have a dog so an hour each day is me taking her a walk (my Wife take her fr the afternoon walk.

Currently doing external repairs to our house so that is a couple of hours, weather permitting.

Garden is slowly getting tidied up for Winter.

indoor activities
Family research, DNA linking to matches.
Consolidating Family Tree
Checking Family Tree for errors and duplicates
Shortly going to start to write about each direct ancestor in preparation for creating a Family Book
Playing my musical keyboard
Playing guitar and ukulele
Forum browsing (to much)
Baking (putting on to much weight)
Zoom meetings of the U3A Groups we belong to including a Wed night quiz.
Creating Powerpoint Presentations for our U3A Groups
Reading
Drawing, following a book entitled By The Time You Finish This Book You Will Be Able To Draw.
Photography & Editing
Video Editing

My advice would be to think outside the box and try something new.

Or look online at the free instructional courses that there are.

Do also keep a watchful eye on The Shows Must Go On website, in recent weeks we have see Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds, Phantom of the Opera, Alfie Boe in Concert, Being Shakespere starring Simon Callow.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Familysearch on Friday 06 November 20 19:40 GMT (UK)
I have so much on my to do list, that I do not have time to be bored!

I mentioned to a friend some weeks ago that I had tidied out a drawer, thus starting the spring cleaning. Have to confess, that is the spring cleaning for 2020.Having been in semi lockdown since March, I have kept myself occupied most of the summer in the garden - so during these colder, short days, then the house sort out that I have been promising will happen may just do that!!....

I have 8 new books on the bookcase to read as well. There is also the upgrade to the family tree.

FS
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Liam59 on Friday 06 November 20 19:42 GMT (UK)
Maybe try a new hobby, something you've not tried before?  Hobbycraft does deliveries!

https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Mike in Cumbria on Friday 06 November 20 19:55 GMT (UK)
Bored? Chance would be a fine thing.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: bearkat on Friday 06 November 20 20:25 GMT (UK)
You could see if your local Age Concern has telephone befriending service.  You don't have to leave the house but are given the contact details to chat with somebody who can't get out during lockdown.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Ruskie on Friday 06 November 20 23:35 GMT (UK)
Sign up to one of the services like Stan or Netflix - there is likely to be something of interest which you can choose to watch when it suits you. 

This is more long term, but if you haven’t already done so, consider buying yourself a DNA test. It can be time consuming and challenging to find out how your matches connect to you. If you already have one and if funds permit, buy tests for others and manage their kits.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: gaffy on Saturday 07 November 20 00:16 GMT (UK)
I'm very lucky in that I have a high boredom threshold, a long walk everyday fills my lungs and clears my head, a bit of 'Frasier' or an old black & white film on television, a few jobs inside the house or in the garden, some surfing the web, 40 winks every now and then and a bit of 'busy doing nothing' in between, as Mr. Crosby sang. Yep, there's not enough hours in the day...

Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Kay99 on Saturday 07 November 20 04:08 GMT (UK)
One day pre this lockdown my OH returned from finally clearing his mothers house before sale with a car full of stuff.   This weekend will be spend trying to find a home for things.  Then hopefully he will return to clearing out a 50 years of neatly stored papers and stuff that occupy parts of our house including the enormous loft 

It's very much a spectator sport as in the past he has kept everything and he is now constantly amazed to find and read memories from the past!   As a result this is a slow process and I can see it occupying him until after Christmas   This all started as it looked like we might move and although it now looks increasingly unlikely he has realised the scale of the task and continuing thank goodness ;D

Meanwhile I have started reading all the seed catelogues and planning the garden for next year and am even considering a new greenhouse.   I have organised and rationalised much of my craft and art stuff and a new mosaic beckons I hope

Kay

TY - Can you think of a new project - I enjoy the research and planning sometimes as much as the project
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Caw1 on Saturday 07 November 20 08:03 GMT (UK)
The first week of lockdown in March we spent that week sorting out all the paintings & pictures we’d got lying around and finding new places to hang them... it felt like decorating a new house...
The summer was spent outside in the garden, digging, planting, trimming, pressure washing, cleaning paintwork, gutters and many hours of sitting enjoying our outside space....
We walked most days some short some long depending on the heat ....
I started sewing for local group supplying NHS, care homes stock with scrubs... on hot days or tge odd wet day I sewed...
I’m still sewing now face coverings for all sorts of organisations, still making tunic tops for local hospitals... it has been my salvation..... it was my career and I still get joy from producing items that are going to help others...
Bored? Never.... fed up... yes sometimes....
it’s only for four weeks, now three so I think I’ll manage ok....
It’s seeing family I miss, not being able to go out on the spur of the moment....
Just chill out and find a hobby to keep you occupied and time will fly by...

Caroline
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Mowsehowse on Saturday 07 November 20 10:16 GMT (UK)
Thanks for all the great suggestions.
Ty, I suspect you are losing hope rather than feeling genuinely bored. 
A case of "what would be the point?"
Well I do have some sympathy, but I don't want to fall into the Slough of Despond, so I keep a "to do" list.

JOHN #13 What a brilliant story. :D  I suspect Number 4 has a great future ahead!
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: BushInn1746 on Saturday 07 November 20 11:28 GMT (UK)
No boredom here, I'm listening to Tokio Myers on the piano and relaxing, Mark  :)
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: ThrelfallYorky on Saturday 07 November 20 16:53 GMT (UK)
Thanks, all of you. I do suspect I'm actually more fed up with everything, than really bored.
When I've looked through, yes, U3A, that's handy, tried a "To do" list - but that really did rather truly depress me, partly because of its length, partly because almost every entry required that I have some tool or item that I didn't have to hand.
I'm not really a "hobby" person, creativity was a big part of my job for many years, so usual hobbies, card making, knitting, crafting, painting, etc., somehow don't really "grab" me.
I really shouldn't grumble, must've been feeling grumpy when I wrote the original. I've a great deal to be very thankful for, super OH, cosy secure home, etc., not really expecting sympathy, but became aware I was spending too long online, reading, drawing, lazing, between housework, tidying drawers out, desultory gardening, and writing.
Basically - really wish things could move on a bit, and I could see that the tiny light at the end of the tunnel wasn't really a whopping great express bearing down on us all!
Thanks again, all of you. Some good ideas in there. A resourceful lot, you lot!
TY
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: BushInn1746 on Saturday 07 November 20 19:10 GMT (UK)
TY

There will be millions of us in the UK and around Europe (many alone) with a wide range of feelings.

I'm just taking one day at a time now and will think about tomorrow when tomorrow arrives :)

Several times, I've found myself reflecting about how my ancestors must have felt during the previous English Cholera outbreaks lasting from the 1830s to 1860s at various English towns and cities and those of my own family at the family home with Phthisis [Consumption] recorded in records, despite those family being comfortably off.

It was pretty tough going, back then too, mid 19th Century, no heating at the flick of a switch, no electric, no 'phone and no fridge freezer or washing machine and many who were retired and still living in their home only had an Out Pension paid by the local Poor Union.

Take care, Mark  :)
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Romilly on Saturday 07 November 20 19:18 GMT (UK)
Interesting Article in The Guardian today, about boredom unleashing creativity.
Romilly  ;D

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/07/its-reawakened-something-creative-ambitions-blossom-for-lockdown-2
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Viktoria on Saturday 07 November 20 21:08 GMT (UK)
To many for whom the level of boredom they are now experiencing is new,
It might come as a surprise to know there are thousands and thousands of people for whom this is practically no different to their daily lives pre lockdown.
The housebound old of very limited means , a phone yes, but for emergencies only ,not computer savvy and no computer or iPad anyway.
Just the T.V and perhaps radio.
Not many visitors if any .
Family all gone or living a good distance away.
Not wealthy and many on pension  credit ,but having to budget with heating and lighting etc.
This is their lot.
Not highly educated having had to leave school at fourteen to work to add to the family’s meagre budget.
They have not had their intelligence tapped into by further education, so not  great readers of what might be termed “ Good books”.
I am old and many of the criteria I have just mentioned pertain to me ,but thank goodness not all,.
What we are experiencing is every day,day in day out for years ,for a big proportion of our old ,partially or wholly housebound people.
This is not a reproach ,just an explanation , as many have no idea of the daily lives of our old people.
Sad to say, so high is  the level of fraud , scams and heartless dishonesty
that old people are either suspicious or vulnerable.
Not good is it?
So yes I am bored too, but I can use my phone as much as I want, have my iPad, live in an end house with people passing my back garden ,they chat at a couple of metres away over the fence, there are young people living in the other side of the lane who were children at the schools where I worked.
I have a nice moderate walk round  the cemetery and will  chat  to anyone .
I am lucky.
I hope after “ all this” that many more old lonely ,housebound people will be befriended ,perhaps I ought to get in touch with the right people to start a “ Memory group ,” as old customs are being forgotten and simple tools of everyday life only fifty years ago are obsolete and their uses not known .
Such groups exist but as far as I know not locally.
People love to reminisce, we need their knowledge .
“ This “ is tragically hardly any different to daily life for many many people.
It has got to change ,and if it improves because of increased awareness through lockdowns ,well some good will have come ,from Covid 19 , and for our old people not before time.
I will add, I am not talking about those who can afford to live in McCarney Stone complexes, go,on Saga holidays , still  have  a car, good private health care .etc. It is the other end if the spectrum I speak about .
I do not begrudge people what they have worked for and earned , through good chance and / or diligence ,they deserve what they have .
But the odds are not even ,that is life , but they  could be a but more equal.
Anyone of working class parents will have known hard, work some deprivation and the inability often to take up the openings that would have improved their
education  and widened their options.
They needed to add to the family budget ,went to night school if possible ,after a long day’s work .
The price they now pay for having to go to work instead of furthering their education and improving their chances is ,in many cases poverty and
loneliness.



Viktoria.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Mowsehowse on Saturday 07 November 20 21:14 GMT (UK)
Well said Viktoria.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: shume on Saturday 07 November 20 22:45 GMT (UK)
So in Melbourne today we come out of 3 months lockdown/curfew etc and have had a whole week of no new cases. Of course its a only population of about 3 million and then add on 2 million regional Victorians, but its a credit to the majority who just got on with it, developed a sense of community and now that Spring is here, have been rewarded, with strong leadership.
Stick with it, it will be worthwhile in the end.

shume... australia
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Top-of-the-hill on Saturday 07 November 20 23:24 GMT (UK)
  TY  - "spending too long online, reading, drawing, lazing, between housework, tidying drawers out, desultory gardening, and writing."
   This is a pretty good summary of my life at any time! Except that I don't draw and the gardening is a bit more purposeful. ::)
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Caw1 on Sunday 08 November 20 00:01 GMT (UK)
Wow Viktoria....how brilliantly you make the case for such a large population of this country...
I feel quite ashamed now reading your comments when I’ve had days of feeling fed up.... I’ve nothing to complain about in comparison to the people who you are describing and have had a more fortunate life style... one which both my OH and I have worked very hard to give our children something better than we had ...
It will make me think hard in future....
Your words have been inwardly digested...
Thankyou

Caroline
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Viktoria on Sunday 08 November 20 00:09 GMT (UK)
One big difference between then and now ( cholera epidemics etc) is that  it was spread by sewage contaminating drinking water .
Not really person to person contact.
Phthisis is an airborne disease but one person in a family could get it ,others not .
My mother slept with her older sister ,who died at sixteen from TB,but also had Pernicious anaemia.My mother though kept well.
The difference though was more in the social  life, the small narrow streets were conducive to illness and disease ,but also to neighbourliness .
People were in and out of one another’s houses ,older women monitored the whole street ,disciplined everyone’s children and were there for births and deaths.They were valued.Respected.
One of the worst social tragedies ever committed was when Manchester City Council carried out its slum clearance programme .
People were led to believe they would be re housed sort on en bloc ,so neighbours would be near each other .
That was not the case ,people were uprooted ,given limited choice ,  and  two refusals of entirely unsuitable locations — distance from work etc—-
and there was no choice.—
The estates were built but no shops ,families in high rise blocks ,how can a m other supervise playing children from the seventh floor.
Within months  black  mould so injurious to young childrens’ health was on ievery wall as there was nowhere to dry washing but inside.
When I visited the Drs with one or other of my children ,there were always many women on the verge of breakdowns ,pleading with the Dr.. To give  them  a note so they could get out of their  flat which was their prison.
The community and its particular ethos had gone.
People hardly “ neighbour “ any more , mother’s did not always  work, the streets were not so quiet as today with almost every one out at work all day.

The old ladies like me had the keys for neighbours as we were at home most of the time.Saw to the coal man ,paid the window cleaner and took kids in if mothers had been delayed.
So different in those far off days.
But old people were respected and had an importance in the community.
They were nothing like so lonely as nowadays.
But I am sure everyone is coping as best as they can, we are all different ,
and  whilst so much is better materially ,,things are worse in other ways.

But I for one am so glad it does not entail leaving my house night after night
to go to the underground , or the damp cold shelter .
Things are comparitive , if people are not old enough to be able to compare it is perfectly understandable they feel what us happening now is one of the worst things they have experienced.
I can sympathise with that.
Perhaps it will be realised though after this just what lonely lives older people have  very often.
Caroline ,don’t feel guilty ,you have worked hard for what you have and your family have had possibly better than you knew.
My children certainly have , but I was allowed into further education , my OH not so,for him it was seven years at night school ,three nights a week for three hours a night .
Our children have more than we ever had ,because we could let them go to
Uni etc,.I have never had my children come home with a wage packet .
After graduating their jobs were in their Uni towns .
Did not come back home to live,but always ask if I am OK financially .3
Them at Uni entailed sacrifice ,but it was OK as we had known times when there was very little ,we were not strangers  to making do and mending ,no holidays for seven years etc.We could let them do better than we had done .
It would have  been harder had we been more comfortably off .
I had lived in a house with no running water ,that had  to be carried in buckets .Honestly!
Gathering sticks for kindling .Wasn’t I lucky to know  such a simple  way of life

Viktoria.

Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Caw1 on Sunday 08 November 20 00:53 GMT (UK)
Life for previous generations was much richer in terms of neighbourliness and as you say helping one another out, this sadly has gone today... people keep more to themselves and some move from their families so no support...
moving into high rise after living in terraced streets must have been a real shock to the system and broken communities up and causing loneliness to fester... now housing is going back to small communities again so as you say let’s hope some good comes from being shut away over these past months in making people realise the importance of neighbours!
I’ve never minded helping my daughter out and have driven to London on more than one occasion to babysit for them... it’s what you do but unlike if they lived nearer I stay the night!
Both our two went to Uni and only moved back home for about 3. Inths after graduating and moving away for their jobs... although I missed them it was good for them to make their own lives...
Food for thought!

Caroline
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Mowsehowse on Sunday 08 November 20 07:53 GMT (UK)
You do set it all down so clearly Viktoria (#37) and I am sure there are people in their late 50s and 60s who genuinely have no clue about how things used to be.
Also I am glad you highlighted the difference between cholera, and the pandemic we are enduring now, which might be better compared to what we know as the Spanish flu.
When I first lived away from my parents in the early 1970s, I was in a garret room, (a roof space,) but although I had to share toilet and bath facilities with all the people living in the rooms on the floor below, my room did have running water.
Conversely, when the NHS was born, (in the same week as my sister,) the attic bed-sit in London occupied by my parents, had no water, and my mother had to carry water in buckets up three flights of stairs, for all cooking and washing.
I don't think young people ever really empathise with older generations until older themselves, and conditions are always changing.
One of the modern innovations which drives me crazy is the mother & toddler parking spaces closest to supermarket doors. 
In the early 1980s when I had 2 children, I had no car, and there was no bus route where I lived. I walked downhill into town for my shopping, and I pushed it uphill to get back home!
That's progress.
Since nuclear families became far less common in the UK, older people do seem to be considered expendable, and sadly, I am not convinced this pandemic is teaching younger people to value older folk.
Let's hope time shows I am wrong about that.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Viktoria on Sunday 08 November 20 10:19 GMT (UK)
To lighten this a bit, as I say ( said)to my son when he took me shopping and there were no parking spaces ,to park in mother a and child place .
I was his mother!
That comes from a story related by someone or other,Mother and son,  at a supermarket- no parking only in such a reserved place so parked for a couple of minutes.
A big vehicle with lots of child seats  but no children, pulled in next to the mother who had not got out of the car .
Out got an “ Earth mother”—— who sneered saying to the mother of the adult  son just coming out of the supermarket ,”Did they not know they were in Mother and child parking.”
Retort from mother in son’s car :- - “ Oh, yes ,but at least I have got my child with me!”
I like it!
Viktoria.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Mowsehowse on Sunday 08 November 20 10:30 GMT (UK)
 :D  I like it too.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Caw1 on Sunday 08 November 20 11:18 GMT (UK)
Wonderful....good for her, too many young women think it’s their ‘right’.... I remember like MH when I couldn’t drive going to do the weekly shop pushing the pram and loading the under region with the weekly shop and pushing it home... why is it always uphill! Kept us fit though didn’t it....
My OH likes(liked) to do little surveys whilst waiting in a supermarket  ar park for me to shop and come out.... his choices were variable and one I remember was women parking in child friendly spaces... many with out any children... and those using disabled parking who most definitely weren’t... he did remonstrate with someone one day and they got back in their car and moved....

 Caroline
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: candleflame on Sunday 08 November 20 15:40 GMT (UK)
Ty I think my version of being bored isn’t that exactly, it’s lacking motivation. The same old same old others talk of is true,  but even that doesn’t quite capture it. I can read books or online ebooks, but my eyesight is an issue and my eyes get tired very easily and I find small print hard to focus , so  I lack the motivation to read.
I have plenty to do family tree wise, but the enthusiasm I once had is somehow tempered by the current situation. I have really too much time to do family tree, rather than being excited by its proposition, so my motivation is lessened.
We still look after the two grandsons so that keeps us busy three days a week, but the rest of the week is not how it used to be.
I am hoping that when life changes ( I’ll not use the phrase returns to normal) that others things will become easier, but none of us were prepared for what we are facing. Be gentle with yourself.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: ThrelfallYorky on Sunday 08 November 20 15:52 GMT (UK)
And you, Candleflame. I'm actually more or less drawing my way through all this, commenting visually on it all, and that's doing a lot to keep me sane.
I know (vide Viktoria and others) I shouldn't moan, I've really nowt to complain about, but I'm simply so FED UP! - my last word on it all!
TY
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Jed59 on Sunday 08 November 20 16:00 GMT (UK)
The lady next door but one told me that when she was at school, during the “big holiday” she made the mistake of telling her mother she was bored.She had to clean the whole house from top to bottom! Never said it again! Lol
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: ThrelfallYorky on Sunday 08 November 20 16:12 GMT (UK)
.... But I've already cleaned the whole house, from top to bottom, several times, and I'm still.......
TY
(Okay, so that was not my last word on it - I couldn't get it to lock! At all.)
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: pharmaT on Sunday 08 November 20 16:28 GMT (UK)
.... But I've already cleaned the whole house, from top to bottom, several times, and I'm still.......
TY
(Okay, so that was not my last word on it - I couldn't get it to lock! At all.)

You can do mine if you like I am going round incircles cleaning the same wee bit.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: ThrelfallYorky on Sunday 08 November 20 17:16 GMT (UK)
Sorry! Doing my own is about as much as I can stand - and you'd never find where you'd put anything, PharmaT, if I tidied things away! OH is still hunting for a screwdriver he says I must have tidied up!
TY
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Viktoria on Sunday 08 November 20 17:47 GMT (UK)
Dost tha naw folks, th’last time I looked int Statute Bewks  there were nowt  in ‘ em bout bein  fed oop!
It’s not agin th’law .
It would be odd if we were not getting cheesed off,! browned off! fed up and
mizzled .( I am not sure what that means but it sounds downhearted)

The last thing we need is to feel down hearted about being downhearted !
Viktoria.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: ThrelfallYorky on Sunday 08 November 20 17:54 GMT (UK)
That's uplifting, Viktoria!
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Lisajb on Sunday 08 November 20 19:25 GMT (UK)
I do get bored, lost my job in July so don’t even have that to do.

I’m on about the seventh sweater I’ve knitted since March lockdown started.

Read or reread lots of books.

I’ve washed curtains, cleaned my oven a couple of times, decorated some rooms for my mum.

And then of course there is always genealogy...
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Top-of-the-hill on Sunday 08 November 20 19:37 GMT (UK)
  I am getting a bit concerned about my book stock, I think I have read through nearly all of it. May have to raid my daughter's next!
   Viktoria - I suppose I am quite old, but I have always had keys to my nearest neighbours houses and vice versa. It probably won't apply with the young couple who have now moved in to one of the houses. Feeding pets has been the most usual reason for using these keys.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Viktoria on Sunday 08 November 20 19:52 GMT (UK)
Lisajb, Well losing your job is absolutely another matter which sadly for you has come at the same time as all this.
One is enough to cope with but you have two things , so it would be strange if you were not thoroughly fed up.
That does not help does it , but don’t beat yourself up , at least you have not sunk into inactivity , have kept busy and achieved a lot .
I set too high tagets then feel inadequate then think##£&£# it, always tomorrow.Manana !
My problems will come when I have to let people at the door come in!!!
Little by little , set the achievable ,and feel shockingly smug!
Do keep in touch with the diaries, they are helpful,like a friend on the phone .
Cheerio. .
Viktoria.
Top of the hill, I have next door’s key, lady is even older than me and occasionally not well,I check her blinds  and  curtains every morning ,phone if
I don’t hear her T. V, if no  answer  I can get in .
But I think that is the exception when it used to be quite common.
I bet you are a good neighbour.
Viktoria.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: louisa maud on Sunday 08 November 20 21:25 GMT (UK)
I also have a fantastic neighbour,  one reason why we never moved , during lockdown when we could I  would order online shopping  and we would share it, only managed it 3 times, we prefer to go shopping on   a Friday at 8am when I drive her doing all the right things to keep safe
When we started to shop in the little shop we would knock to see if there was anything needed, both of us would come back with  a treat to share,  plus if we make something we share it, yet we don't go in and out of each others house, we have each others keys, we are both good for each other,  she is one of the nicest people I know, she is a treasure

Louisa Maud
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Viktoria on Sunday 08 November 20 21:47 GMT (UK)
Yes, my neighbour is even older than I am ,is not able to so anything for me really but she is THERE .
When I came to view the house she was standing at her door ,I went to say hello, and we ended doubled up with laughing .Like The Yorkshire advert we each decided the other would do!
Viktoria.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Caw1 on Monday 09 November 20 00:07 GMT (UK)
How nice it is to have neighbours you can rely on, share a joke, shop together and generally look out for one another...
Living in a relatively small village our next door neighbour have a spare set of keys just in case.... have been known to get locked out and had to go and ask for the key to get back in!
During this entire time my three other neighbours/friends and I have done shopping for one another, collect prescriptions and anything else that’s required...
It all helps to make you feel more relaxed and caring knowing if anything were to go amiss there’s back up...
So important these days...

Caroline
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: louisa maud on Monday 09 November 20 08:52 GMT (UK)
It is a comforting feeling when you have a good neighbour,

Sun is out this morning but it looks as if we had an awful lot of rain ever night, no chance of my mowing the lawn this today, I need to do it before I get to shaggy, suppose I could borrow a couple of sheep or goats !!

Louisa Maud
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Rishile on Monday 09 November 20 15:47 GMT (UK)
I found a lockdown friend at the beginning of the first lockdown.  I found her through RootsChat and we email daily - sometimes many times a day.  We have helped each other so much.  We whinge, worry, moan, laugh, send each other funny videos or links.  Any friend is a bonus but with the internet, they don't have to live nearby.

She knows who she is.

Rishile
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: Maiden Stone on Monday 09 November 20 17:07 GMT (UK)
Some older people I know were bored during last lockdown. They are usually occupied with voluntary, community and church activities and visits to & from family & friends.
Title: Re: Boredom in Lockdown. Am I alone?
Post by: barryd on Monday 09 November 20 18:35 GMT (UK)
I have my Cat. I have Rootschat. Cat seems happy. Not good is that the Family History Library in Salt Lake City is still closed. However RootsChat is still open.