It's already depressing me

i'm 72 and have no intention of staying at home for months on end. the virus where i live is not rife so i'll continue to go out until it is.
i have appointments to go to so i'll continue to go to these. my daughter who works lives with me and her two grandaughters one of which goes to college. any of them could bring the virus home with them.
i've got to go out later and will visit at least one supermarket in a quest for loo roll as we're running out (as i suppose a vast number of people are thanks to the selfish people who have stockpiled).
so until i really have to it's business as usual for me.

A lot of museums and art galleries are online now, so you can spend a few hours there.
parismuseescollections.paris.fr/en
www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours

My husband is in his seventies and I have CFS/ME. I only get out of the house once a week or once a fortnight as it is. It will affect my husband much more. Fortunately he loves gardening and growing things. He also loves cooking. I think we’ll need to stock up on crossword books too ?

Apart from not having visitors it will be pretty much the same for me. I do need to rest a lot of the time but rarely get bored. I download books and magazines from the library - a great service. Chat on the phone and online to my family and friends. I love sewing but can only do it in short time stretches but love creating something.. I have also been knitting ventilator hats as my niece works in a neo natal unit. It has taken me a while to accept my new way of life...

Sorry didn’t mean it to be such a long post. It’s just a matter of adjusting our thinking - it’s much worse knowing we can’t go out even if we wanted to.

Thanks for this Minnow0

I usually ballroom dance but now it's too risky ..it's what keeps me well and sane. I am already getting more and more isolated .....but I will walk and do housework for exercise talk to friends online. Most important to me is that my children and grandchildren stay well. It will pass in a year or so ....or less

The Plumbers are here today for two weeks ripping out the old bathroom and replacing with a wet room plus installing a new boiler. The noise already can be heard down the road and 3 of them are running up and down stairs all the time! No water or heating at the moment and I already feel like a spare part as really can’t do anything. I feel like I’m in isolation already- this is going to be a very long two weeks and with what’s in the pipeline about self isolating not a lot to lift the spirits. I’m not 70 yet but have underlying health conditions as does DH. We cancelled going up to see our son next weekend who’d arranged a Mother’s Day meal for me but him and his wife are both in the travel industry and completely overwhelmed working long hours and weekends trying to help people get home from abroad etc so are absolutely shattered anyway

I am 68 and I am await the first person to approach me in the street and say 'should you be out dear'. Ahhhhhhh. I am fit, love going for long walks and do not feel my age but the truth is to the younger generation once you get to 60 see you as ancient and in your dotage. One good thing I am not 'retiring' by nature and if I should be asked the question they will soon learn that us oldies still have a voice and I shall use it.

For many it will be soul destroying. No health issues but in the dangerous age category. Had planned flying at start of Easter break with GD to collect GS (different families) then taking them to Longleat for an escorted behind the scenes in a land rover treat. Accommodation for 2 nights. All will have to be cancelled. At least airline is offering new flights with no alteration costs. Not heard from Longleat or accommodation about cancellations. This was organised as a Make a Memory for us all following DDs death last April. Just gutted, depressed already, never mind the 4 months of restrictions. Will go for walks as often as possible and get some decorating done, possibly.

Another 2 weeks on a balcony in Spain is now not so appealing! not allowed to go out only for essentials and only by yourself. Police patrolling and barking orders. Got shouted out and ordered home yesterday for walking my neighbours dog too far. No guarantee we will be allowed to drive through Spain to get our ferry ..if it is still sailing by then. And the prospect of putting my husband into isolation because he is over 70 when we do get home, I am not looking forward to. But the sun is out!

Hope someone has a big enough shovel to scrape me off the ceiling after 4 months.

There is a link to a friendship line here-

www.oasisuk.org/coronavirus

We decided to cancel our one annual holiday to Portugal based information from friends who live there. We won’t get any money back so we won’t be able to afford to go away later in the year. I lost my mum at the end of last year after looking after her for 6 months and I am now struggling to recover from surgery so I was so looking forward to some heat on my bones. I am struggling with tears.

Let’s look at this time as an opportunity. While we are home let us pray for those on the frontlines, doctors, nurses, caregivers, school leaders and administrators, those making decisions. We can write notes of encouragement, prepare pies, bread, food for children that are not getting breakfast at schools or overworked parents. If you are a former teacher or administrator offer to help guide parents who are having to teach their children at home. In this time of isolation we are given an opportunity to help. We are more free as grand parents and retirees to have the time and wisdom to provide hope and practical help.

25Avalon Otherwise how about writing up your memoirs - memories of when you were a child, or tales that your parents and grandparents told you that will be lost for ever unless you write them down.
I've been saying this on a few threads. Write your life story or your parents' life stories, add some photos. It can be as long and detailed as you like, or just something fairly short. It's very therapeutic and you will leave behind something of value for the grandchildren when they're older.
You'll need a file and some plastic pockets to hold the pages and photos. You can make this a work of art if so inclined!

Nice to hear something positive GramCC.. Whilst we are griping medical staff, carers etc are working under great pressure to help others.

I keep seeing and hearing references to the over seventies being allowed out as if we are a group of dangerous animals

yes isolation is used as a form of punishment,but it can be an opportunity to sit back and witness our thoughts racing through us,most of them don't come true! A lot of the great thinkers spent a lot of time alone, it might do us some good!

The main thing that I am really down about is the holiday in Wales booked for the end of May. I have taken my granddaughters every year for the past 10 years and we all look forward to it so much. In my mind it was going to be the last one with all of us going as my eldest granddaughter is 17 this year so we were going to make it extra memorable, we had lots planned. Unless a miracle happens I have a feeling that we won't be going.

Like others very fed up so looking forward to seeing AC and teenage grandchildren over Mother's Day, OH's birthday and Easter, now almost certainly not happening as the AC are more paranoid than we are, still I will be reading, spring cleaning and no doubt too much tele. I have promised myself I will do my physio exercises more as goodness knows whether any appointments can be attended. I suppose its trivial at present but it occurred to me that when we are finally allowed out many of our favourite shops and restaurants will be no more. I am normally quite a cheerful person ........ really.

I'm like you aggie - I have plenty to do but I'm too jittery to stay on task long with things like knitting and crochet.
I'm doing some baking today, I thought some home cooked goodies might cheer up my family. Our DD is housebound normally and higher risk and is struggling to get any shopping, so we are taking what we can tomorrow, so I'm making bread and bakewell tarts to go with.

DH is high risk, and it's his last day at work today, for the time being, maybe permanently, he's been working past retirement age part-time. He has to go to the opticians today as he has somthing nasty looking growing on his eye. The gp gave him antibiotic drops a while back but they didn't work. It's awful having ailments at this time because you don't know what to do for the best. Was reading a post on mumsnet by a pregnant lady who is having breathing difficulities and had started coughing up blood, and was on hold for 2 hours to 111 then cut off. Really hoping she's getting some attention soon. People were telling her to go to 999 but nobody is sure what to do about things right now. I wish they'd give us proper guidance.

I'll just be relieved if he can get sorted and then we can work on the self-isolating thing. We plan on quiet walks as often as possible, have some dvds in and some board games. And DH has just started rock painting, so going out collecting rocks is on the list. I have my yarn crafts to do to keep him company. Plus I bought some colouring books.

Like you Lclaytonuk555 I am used to being housebound due to ME/CFS but I had started getting out a bit more lately, although I'm vary variable and often crash and need a week in bed.

At the moment I'm not too bothered about isolation. My husband and I don't go out much (out of choice, rather than illness). Art class, shopping & walking the dog. I do worry about those who enjoy a more active social life, especially when their family can't or won''t visit them.
My younger daughter, who renovates houses to rent found the elderly lady who lives in the house next door to the one she is working in at the moment looking out of the window very glum because she wouldn't be able to see her grandchildren who live a distance away. She has a phone but no computer. So my daughter has taken round an old laptop no-one at our house uses any more, set it up and has
gone to the shopping centre to get a wi-fi box for her. She even harangued the terrified young man behind the counter into arranging for everything to be set up immediately. Not everyone has access to a computer, certainly not round here where there is a lot of real poverty.

Personally I am most concerned about the homicide rate. My OH is unlikely to survive for four months if we can’t get a break from each other.
I bet they haven’t taken that into consideration!

I have a husband and son living at home, my son also works but is trying his best not to bring it home, so total isolation is not possible for me.
but i intend to still go out in open spaces weather permitting for local walks
I'm also working out with my daughters how in the warmer weather we can all meet up again in the open, have a self prepared picnic, sharing nothing not even cups, doing our own food etc
Then we can enjoy a day out together without much of a risk
even if it's in their gardens or on our terrace perhaps be safer than going in to use public toilets as we can disinfectant all our own surfaces.

So have a think everyone I'm sure lots will have different ways
of keeping safe, but making it more bearable
Take care x

Thankyou for the link Meta.
Millymouse,
sorry you have lost your house purchase, we were going to try to sell ours this year.
Theoddbird
Your garden sounds lovely, a real haven. Mine is overlooked by everyone’s loft extensions!
The robin has been hopping about the garden today and the squirrel keeps me entertained doing his daily acrobatic routine on the bird feeder!

Loretta Bruening ( innermammalinstitute) has a good podcast and video. Sorry , I can't do the link.

As I am in Scotland things may be different and I am not quite 70 yet.
But My husband and I live separate lives and I cope by doing a lot outside the home to get some space. I know that being trapped in the house together would badly affect my mental health, though he wouldn’t even notice.