Greetings, Directors Of The Bored,
Monday again, as we enter Week 2 of Lockdown, and if you’re still working I’m keen to know whether you get dressed for it, or, you’ve mastered that TV newsreader trick where the top half has to be all business, but down below is jammies and slippers?
You probably wouldn’t even bother with the top half were it not for the prospect of an unexpected video call from the boss, the working from home equivalent of their head appearing at your office door at 5.15 to ask “have you got 5 minutes?”
This is the blog that brings mirth to the madness, enjoyment to the everyday, laughter like a beacon of light in the darkness.
OK, that last one was a bit much, even for me, but you get the gist.
Our aim remains to spread laughs faster and for longer than Coronavirus.
I mostly sit back here typing and curating, occasionally creating something to add to our daily blog, and I’d love for you to get involved too. Grab your phone and record something. You telling a joke or funny story, or something comically weird happening outside your flat window – when I stayed in a block it was like a soap opera every night out there!
Then, share the video with us and we’ll zip it around the world to prove #LaughterSpreadsFaster
Today, some brilliant examples of work in “People. Are. Amazing.”
Also, useful words of advice from a member of the Royal Navy who knows exactly what it’s like being cooped up for 12 weeks at a time in a space far more confined than your home.
And, as always the funniest stuff we’ve spotted online since last time.
First though, this.
Finding it difficult to keep the kids entertained or to tire them out during Lockdown?
Here’s a novel fix.
I spoke briefly about the ingenuity of small disparate Scottish communities on Saturday. They’re not entering Coronavirus from a standing start. They have to be creative and watchful for each other all the time because of the nature of their environment. Imagine this scenario, for instance. The great toilet paper shortage of 2020 finally becomes real to you, at your remote home in the Borders, miles from the shops or the nearest neighbour. What do you do? The answer lies here.
Next, suggestions yesterday that we may be locked down until June. If this first week’s been trying, 12 weeks may seem like a nigh on impossible thought to consider. So we’ve sourced some advice from people who are entirely used to exactly this sort of caper.
No, not the prison population. We’d like to thank the Royal Navy sailor who found the time to compile this.
“Been seeing a lot of posts from people struggling with lockdown and missing loved ones that they can’t be near. In the RN we’ve lived like this for years, so we thought we’d share a few tips from the professionals.
If this is your first time living in isolation, or perhaps your first time living on top of people that you’d usually have a a good breather from, and only really interact with for a few hours a day, then it’s easy to quickly lose your mind and start winding each other up. A couple of things can help to prevent that.
- Respect – respect each other, respect communal areas and don’t pick fights. Respect personal space and don’t intrude on others. We do this at sea with a simple rule ‘your pit is sacred’ – allow someone’s sleeping space to be their private place, never sit, stand, lay or place anything on another’s bunk. If someone is in their bunk, never disturb them.
- Hygiene- just because you can’t be hooped to wash as you’re not going out, doesn’t mean anyone else needs to smell you; keep clean, keep tidy, teeth, breath, deodorant, clean up after yourself, ditch your own gash!
- Don’t be jack! Making a drink, grabbing some scran? Offer to everyone, share. Don’t be greedy either, who knows when your favourite goodies will be back in stock!
- Look after each other & pull your weight. Warships don’t carry passengers, neither should families, cooking cleaning and laundry should never fall to one person, we all contribute to making the mess, we all need to contribute to cleaning it. And if someone has cooked for you – bloody well eat it! – even if it’s not your preference.
- Enjoy your situation, don’t dwell on the negatives, your kids are only little once and you’ve probably moaned about missing them growing up, now there’s no excuse!! Enjoy every single day, lots of us are working through the lockdown to make sure it’s lifted quickly, stay indoors and enjoy your kids so we can get back home to ours!
- If you’re missing a loved one that you won’t be able to see for a while then write a letter, send a card, a text, have amazon drop a random present, FaceTime! Try not to rain down on them with all your problems that they can’t fix, it only causes worry, share your happiness (without bragging that your environment might be a bit more comfy than others) not your fear!
- Smile, have a laugh and learn when to stop. It’s very possible to find space in a crowd so offer others the respect and freedom to do so. If they’ve got headphones in or a head in a book leave them be!
- Someone at sometime will flash you up. Walk away, you don’t dislike them, you’re just at your limit listening to nasal breathing or chewing. Go back to your pit and put some Netflix on your headphones.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m 1, very much 4 and 5. My wife would tell you she’s number 7.
Take heed and let’s all make sure not to hit 101, 111 or 999!
Not long after finishing studying radio broadcasting at college (in the early 1900s!) just into my first real job at Moray Firth Radio in Inverness, I interviewed the sister of a school pal, who’d seen footage of war torn Bosnia, and simply decided with her training and background she would take off with a friend, Magnus, to deliver aid and supplies via lorry, to try and help out wherever they could.
Two things struck me at the time. The difference between the two Julies I encountered. The ‘Before Julie’ was a shy, slightly bewildered girl, uncertain of how things would work out but driven by an internal force so immense it overpowered any of her misgivings about what she was to undertake. The interview beforehand was a hand-holding exercise on my part, where I would take the chat where it needed to go in order to facilitate the answers I knew she wanted to give that would play well in the news and show her campaign in its best light. This entire experience was all new, and more than slightly unnerving.
The “After Julie” was a completely different animal. In she bounced, a newly found confidence and joie de vivre, nestling in the bedrock of her utter conviction she’d done the right thing, was on the correct path, and ready to utilise this opportunity of speaking to me a second time to help publicise and ultimately fund what she required to continue her work with Magnus. I started the tape rolling (yes, it was that long ago), but I’ve yet to ask a question. Our natural conversation (which continued as the tape started whirring) flowed seamlessly into the recorded interview where Julie spoke and painted pictures with such colour and so vividly it was if you’d been standing beside her the entire time. Even now, I can recall how she described walking into homes where shoes were still at the front door, the table set for dinner, a meal in a pan on the hob – but the home had been deserted in an instant, by a young family which had to try and flee in terror from the wave of genocide which was marching ever forward towards their door.
The change in Julie was astonishing, and in a fairytale-like fashion, she went on to marry Magnus, and those early fact-finding charitable trips took on a more formal presence when they set up Mary’s Meals
The change in her was one thing I found fascinating. The other was how she’d sat there watching and listing to news reports and felt – this is my job. I have to go.
It’s the same thing with those volunteering every day right now, to be in the thick of it, in the front lines of the battle, not because of their work commitments, but because they choose to be there.
I’ve always found that drive, those people, to be endlessly fascinating, and that’s why I like to find stories here every day that speak of a similar nature and tone. Those few folk who go a little bit or a lot extra to make the difference to the many.
The everyday heroes, because – People. Are. Amazing.
This first guy would probably be embarrassed being mentioned after the build up I’ve just written, but he falls into that category all the same.
At a time where we’re all being told to stay inside, he’s visiting every house in the street with letters and parcels. Never underestimate the commitment of your local postie. Especially this guy who’s dressing up in a different costume to deliver every day specifically to delight the younger stay-at-home audience he’s all of a sudden catering for.
This is probably my favourite one to date.
This, took my breath away.
OK, time for the funnies!
Try not smiling at this. You’ll fail.
Love this.
Take 10 minutes and enjoy some absolute legends, all three.
And finally, the “News In Brief”
My wife ‘joked’, “Not that the social isolation is getting to me but this’ll be me in 3 days asking the bin guys if they could uplift an old carpet.”
And finally, let’s play out with some music. This is beautiful. Who says I never bring you culture?! Also, reminder to self, get bread.
Stay safe.
See you tomorrow.
#LaughterSpreadsFaster
Sociable Distance 