I have come to the conclusion in the past week that if Tasmania had undergone the same level of quarantine conditions as other places during Covid, I would’ve gone stark raving bonkers. Due to the nastiest of rear-end gastro bugs I have ever had the misfortune to suffer, I isolated myself the minute it was obvious something was definitely amiss. That was eight days ago, and only now am I feeling human enough to dare to bring my hibernation to an end and leave the house tomorrow and venture out to replenish the cupboard. How on earth did people survive months of quarantine, the mind boggles.
Not even having the energy to go for a walk around the block which was permissible under Covid guidelines, Jason Bourne and Mrs Winterbottom got me through the week, along with a few other movies, Escape to the Country, non-upsetting bland food and megalitres of fluid to keep myself well hydrated. I’m well and truly over the sitting and lying around, stir crazy comes to mind, and my body is itching to be released.
And who is Mrs Winterbottom do you ask? Or maybe you didn’t. Either way, she is the main character in Joanna Nell’s Mrs Winterbottom takes a Gap Year, another in the growing collection of Joanna Nell novels featuring a vast array of senior citizens from all walks of life. Through her humorous and insightful writing, issues such as adjustment to retirement, ill health, loneliness, grief, feelings of redundancy, loss of independence, retirement villages and nursing homes are all approached with her characters navigating this stage in their lives and working out whether it is still possible to maintain a good quality of life into old age.
Age is something that doesn't matter...unless you are a cheese.
- Billie Burke, American actress
Joanna Nell is an author, GP and advocate for positive ageing. We often cope with the stresses of life through humour. Life can be serious and hard enough without compounding the problems, so looking at it from a lighter side or from outside the box has a way of opening our eyes to new possibilities. Her books brought to mind the Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds and Old People’s Home for Teenagers TV series. Seeing both young and old who would not normally cross paths step out of their comfort zones and deal with fears, preconceptions, self-doubt, was a real education in the benefits of interaction between the generations and how the process can bring about positive outcomes for all involved.
Reading Mrs Winterbottom also brought another issue to the fore. Why do other people keep writing the books I have stashed somewhere in the back of my mind? I had this fantastical idea of taking a Gap Year in my retirement, I mean why should the young ones have all the fun, heading into the sunset and writing a Grandma’s Gap Year Blog from here, there and everywhere. Like many of my writing ideas, they remain just that, fantasies, illusions, delusions sometimes, never actually translating into something real and tangible.
Maybe that’s why I’m sitting here clacking away on the keyboard, my first foray back into writing after more than a year of being consumed by work to the detriment of any sort of creative pursuit. It’s easy to think I could become the writing machine I would like to be if I was in a different environment, but looking beyond my little world to what I think might hold more promise comes with no guarantees.
The grass may look greener over the fence,
but if you water your own grass,
it can grow just as green.
Joanna Nell
Mrs Winterbottom takes a Gap Year
Removing yourself from what you believe is holding you back is not always the answer. Unless of course it involves a year in Tuscany, or a stone cottage on some windswept mountain in Scotland. Sometimes you just have to dig in, do the hard yards, or maybe think a bit more laterally, find another approach, be gentler on yourself as you navigate getting back in touch with the dream that refuses to die.
And there it is.
The start of another year and the beckoning finger of the elusive dream.
