Time out

I don’t mean to downplay the seriousness of the problems that the world is now facing, but even the worst situations can have their compensations. There are those who are quite looking forward to cancelling all their diary commitments and cocooning at home. Of course this will present challenges, mostly in the form of other family members, but it is also a unique opportunity to stop racing around from one thing to the next and just hide from the world for a while. And, let’s face it, the world’s not looking that appealing at the moment.

The people who are able to work from home are finding that they have more free time now that their commute involves walking from their bedroom to their laptop. And we’ll all have time to fill now that we’re not out and about, getting on with daily life. Whether these changes are welcome or not, we will have to decide what to do with these gaps in the day. Read books, play games, do crossword puzzles? Or perhaps dabble in a little self-improvement. Maybe start the book you always meant to write, take up watercolour painting or finish knitting the jumper that the cat’s been using for its bed. And maybe other things. The extra time could always be spent enriching your brain with one of the many online learning platforms. MasterClass intrigues me – for £14 a month you have unlimited access to its courses. Where else could you watch Margaret Atwood giving you tips on writing, Martin Scorsese sharing the secrets of film-making and RuPaul teaching ‘self-expression and creativity’?

Online exercise classes are readily available if you’re concerned about maintaining your level of fitness. You can even access Jane Fonda’s original fitness class on YouTube if you have an urge to relive the heady days of leg warmers and poodle-perm hair. For a real dive into the past, try watching old videos of the Women’s League of Health and Beauty from the 1930s and 1940s, headed by Lady Prunella Douglas-Hamilton, no less. Their display of synchronised exercise at Wembley Arena in 1939 is a wonder to behold. Apparently it lasted 3 hours and it was all very ladylike – they must have been pretty fit, but unsightly muscle development was obviously frowned upon. The music is carefully chosen, ranging from Jeepers Creepers to the Lambeth Walk to Land of Hope and Glory. This video contains enough material for countless PhD theses on women’s role in society and the fact that it takes place in 1939 adds a whole other dimension. Although their exercise outfits look a bit more comfortable than Jane Fonda’s wince-inducing leotard.

Will people actually do any of this? I think we’ll intend to and may even launch ourselves enthusiastically into an exercise class or register for online learning, but we all know that the default option will be to sink in front of the TV to catch up on all those Netflix series that everyone’s been talking about, but you never had the time to watch. I’m planning to watch Grace and Frankie with Jane Fonda to see if all that exercise paid off in the long run and if her wardrobe choices have become a little comfier with age.