Lockdown Lists

If there’s one thing more frustrating than being locked down, it’s being showered with sanctimonious rubbish of what you might do with your spare time.

With half of the country now restricted in various ways, it’s time, especially for older Aussies, to demolish others’ self-serving lockdown lists and install your mischievous own.

I’m sorry, but I don’t appreciate being admonished at the end of every conversation, radio show etc., to ‘stay safe’. On such high rotation, it’s patronising and patently pointless!

Funnily enough, tell me to ‘take care’ or ‘be careful’, and I’m more likely to listen as safety is a relative term. Little in life is ‘safe’, but many actions can make it safer.

Pedantic, perhaps, but we are also likely to be showered with tips of what to do with this bounty of hours during the suspension of everyday life.

Well-meaning people pontificate about activities with appropriate social distancing guidelines, which might be ‘good’ for us.

A ‘lockdown bucket list’ I treasure comes from a council in the UK that advises the following fun and imaginative pursuits:  have a picnic with your family, learn a new craft like sewing, grow some plants in your garden and so on.
None of these suggestions is in any way wrong, apart from being so earnestly evident and unlikely to spur much passion or excitement.  

So what legal, halfway responsible, and not utterly selfish ideas might get the blood pumping and pass the time constructively?

You must have your own plans, and we’d love to hear from them below. For what it’s worth, here are a few of mine which I have been wisely avoiding for years.

It might be a slap in the face for the ‘stay safe’ brigade, but I really need to take some more risks. Ocean swimming, playing the piano in public, sorting out boxes of old photos, you name it.

What’s risky about prints, slides and digital images, you may ask? In an emotional sense, I fear plenty. To get caught up in people and places from long-gone experiences and wondering which to toss and what to keep?

The older I get, the more risks I know I need to take. Virgin boss Richard Branson, no stranger to risky endeavours in high-altitude balloons, business ventures and near-space craft, summed it up nicely:  “Every risk is worth taking as long as it’s in a good cause and contributes to a good life.”

It’s a lesson our risk-averse authorities seem to deny. So don’t be reckless but don’t fear taking some reasonable risks with your lockdown pastimes.

Act soon, or the lockdowns might be over, and opportunity lost. So what do you plan to do?

Any information contained in this communication is general advice, it does not take into account your individual circumstances, objectives, financial situation or needs.