Who knew my childhood would be such good training for these times?

I seem to be the only one for whom it's more or less 'business as usual'.

I work from home, translating. The day before all the schools closed here in Germany (14 March), I landed a massive translation. Massive. The deadline? 20 or 21 April. The restrictions here in Germany are supposed to be lifted on 19 April. And other shorter texts are still dribbling in, too. Mainly about the coronavirus pandemic.

Every day, I sit in front of the computer working for 10 hours at least. The fact that all my evening classes have been cancelled is a blessing. I'd never cope otherwise.

What I find strange is all the people who, after one week, say they are suffering from cabin fever and are bored.

Boy, you never had a childhood in North Wales a couple of decades or so ago. At my primary school, I had one friend: Ceri, who lived miles away from me, up in the hills behind Conwy. I have one photo that shows her at a birthday part of mine. Apart from that, we never saw each other outside school. Those were not the days of 'play dates'. For a couple of years, there was a group of boys in my street that I used to play Batman and Robin, cops 'n' robbers, cowboys and Indians, and 'petrol stations' with but then they moved away and I went on to secondary school.

My secondary school served 7 villages. My three friends (Alice, Gwen and Helen) were all in different villages and two of them had no cars in their family and one had no phone. In 7 years of secondary school, I saw one friend outside school twice (my 16th and her 18th birthday) and the other two maybe 3 times each. Summer holidays, Easter time, Christmas, I didn't have school friends to socialise with. And my village had nothing for children - except for a Brownies group, which I didn't fit into. Held in the pokey back room of a Presbyterian church hall, I couldn't figure out why anyone would want to spend time there.

Monday to Friday, term time - back and forward to the school, something to eat, homework, TV, reading, bed.
Saturday - in town to do food shopping with mum by 9, back home by 10. Housework, homework, TV, radio, reading, bed.
Sunday - Sunday school until the age of 11. Housework, homework, possibly an afternoon walk, TV, radio, reading, bed.

For years, and years and years. 

Little did I know that such marvellous training would come in useful now. I can amuse myself even if I'm stuck indoors all by myself. Whoopee! 

Reading still gives me the greatest pleasure, and then there are the hobbies of crocheting and cross-stitching, which I've been doing since primary school. And with the Internet, I have access to UK TV and radio programmes still. 

Libraries have audio books, DVDs and music CDs. You can play games online, download out-of-copyright books onto an e-reader and universities all over the world offer free short courses. Free! And now that I do sketching and drawing classes, if I did have too much time on my hand, I just need to pick up a pencil and some scrap paper and start practising.

How can one not be amused?