Lockdown / Furlough boredom, anyone?

[Deleted User]

We haven't seen DD2 and the three grandsons since before March and although we skype regularly and I read them stories on face time I haven't been able to hold the baby since he was 4 months old and he's almost twice that now.  I speak to DD1 most days and have actually seen her and the baby granddaughter at a distance but not been able to give her a cuddle either.  We aren't bored because we're used to the slower pace of life that has come with retirement and we keep busy with many things and enjoy the garden and allotment but it doesn't mean we aren't as changed by the situation as all of you, we hurt because of it and wish it either hadn't happened or was over entirely. I miss my family, I miss my charity shop pals and being there on the till, I miss being able to walk to the shop for what I want when I want it and the freedom to buy it myself,  I miss Sunday morning coffee at the garden centre and our country drive after but we are all deprived of what we normally have in our lives together and I know it's not just us which somehow makes it bearable.  

MovingForwards

@Blue_Doggy stick around. I've only just stepped into this part of the forum and started posting.

All of us need to find a way to cope, accept things are difficult at the moment and realise it isn't forever, we have technology at our fingertips to enable us to have that human contact but in a different way.

My life is more exciting, in a way.

I love chatting away on forums and have quite a nice close circle of friends, not just in the UK. Proper friends who do help each other out and support one another.  Some I meet up with throughout the year, others I may never see unless taking up an offer of a holiday and being shown the sights either here or where they live. 

Now I'm older as I can't handle being in groups of people. 

I've been in my home for a few weeks and the old one is almost a like a nightmare from a previous life. Now I can and have made plans. I've two gardens which are currently undergoing a transformation.

I've always wanted a vegetable plot to grow my own goodies. I've always loved the rural / cottage type gardens as a peaceful place to sit and relax. Never once thought of having a greenhouse, but I'm entitled to change my mind and now have one.

I'm not bored, my days are filled with working, unpacking, pottering around the garden, planning the changes to my home and working out the priority order to have them done.

Due to the circumstances I have a work / life balance and it's allowed me to see what I want from my life, appreciate the even smaller things, rather than just the small things.

I have had a change of direction a few times over the last 5 years, marriage breakdown, starting over, relocating, giving up my career and trying to work out what I wanted to do. Now, I feel I'm on the right path, there may be some steps to the left / right along the way, but I know which way to head. 

For once I feel I can bake, paint, do photography, grow things etc and that's the positive of this situation. I won't be the first to only think of the good that's come out of it, whilst thinking of the friend I've lost and the ones I came close to.

suki1964

annieb64 said:

We haven't  seen our eldest daughter and her children since Christmas either. I'm  not bored but miss things like working in the charity shop , my craft groups and WI. It's  hard to remember what day it is sometimes. DH is working  from home so I only see him at mealtimes and in the evening. We do go for an early morning walk and are beginning  to know the other early walkers by sight. We usually  pass the time of day with a couple of people-at a 2m distance, of course- but I do miss my family and friends.

Are any of your craft groups  or WI doing online meetings? Im going the crochet through messenger as they are crochet alongs - done at ones now pace, but there are a lot of separate groups that have evolved from those, where you can keep in touch, Im also part of a messenger group with members from here, because we all keep getting banned but like to keep in touch

Facebook messenger is the most basic and the easiest to get to grips with, if no one in your real life groups have started one, its really easy to start one yourself

annieb64

One of the craft groups does have a facebook page and we post if we've  made anything or just want to keep in touch. Quite a few members have switched to making scrubs or scrub bags at the moment.  
Our WI doesn't  do online meetings.  The president  sends out an email each week but about a third of our members aren't  online. We phone each other and try to keep in touch .At the beginning  of the lockdown the committee  went through the list of members to try to identify any who had no family  locally and who might need extra support.