When you think about it, this lockdown isn't actually so bad. By staying at home and doing literally nothing, you're doing your bit in the fight against Covid-19, and in reality, there's plenty of things to keep us entertained.
Sure, I could keep mentioning figures, but there's little point in constantly sprouting percentages over a series of articles and then this would turn into the news, which isn't what anybody wants at this moment. Instead, we want feel-good stories and things to do during this lockdown. In an article from a couple of days ago, I touched on some of the things that had been going on, but didn't really discuss them in detail.
One medium that we can all get behind is music, and this virus and associated lockdown has unfortunately seen the cancellation or rescheduling of concerts of your favourite artists. From Harry Styles to Jimmy Buffett, everyone's been on a touring schedule, or was about to embark on one, and has since had to reschedule concerts, possibly causing inconvenience for some. Luckily, the World Health Organisation and Global Citizen have been in partnership for a few weeks now, promoting concerts from home, through the #TogetherAtHome tag. These are all uploaded to the Global Citizen YouTube channel soon after, and at the time of writing, there's 52 videos in the playlist, but plenty more across the website.
As well as this, other brilliant artists have been doing concerts from home, such as resident artists in Liverpool's Cavern Club, namely Jonny Parry, Clark Gilmour, Tony Skeggs and Jay Murray, amongst others. Shows range from around forty minutes to a good few hours, and as they're usually all-request affairs, there's a good chance you'll get to hear some of your favourite, lesser-known Beatles songs, or just let these very talented individuals belt out the classics.
In-keeping with the arts, it brings us to the much-adored medium of dance. Anton Du Beke,
one of the suavest men on the planet, best-known for his time on the ever-popular Strictly Come Dancing, has taken to YouTube at eleven o'clock most days in a stream entitled #ElevenesesWithAnton. He's been teaching every dance from a foxtrot to a jive to a tango, in half-hour slots each day. As well as that, the Strictly star is also starting to post his pre-show routines for some proper exercise, so if you've ever wanted to take up those dance lessons but never had the time, who better to learn from than Anton himself?
Obviously one of the greatest traditions this country has is getting a bit too merry around various establishments nationwide, and usually one of the main things that accompanies getting sozzled is a good old quiz. Fear not, even though the pubs are shut, it doesn't mean that the quizzing doesn't go on. Former Top Gear and current Grand Tour presenter (and all-round nice bloke) James May took to YouTube recently to present a wickedly difficult pub quiz, which drew in a fair few viewers. In addition, going back to music for a second, Marillion keyboardist Mark Kelly took to Facebook on Friday 10th April to broadcast a Marillion quiz, so, whatever your tastes are, there's sure to be a quiz for you out there.
Even if you're just wanting to sit down and watch your favourite celebrities answers questions in a Q&A session, then there's stuff for you too. Keeping in with the Marillion theme, former lead singer Fish has been running a Fish On Friday segment on his Facebook page where he answers questions from fans for around an hour and a half each week. It's a great opportunity to hear some interesting stories from the Scottish songsmith and makes for a brilliant start to any weekend.
With all this lockdown stuff, there's plenty of live events to keep us all entertained. From pub quizzes to live concerts, there's sure to be something for everyone. All that remains to be said in these troubling times is that everyone should stay home. We've all got plenty of stuff to watch, listen to and get involved with, so if that's not a good enough to stay in and do nothing, then what else is? You'll be doing your bit if you do, that's all people are asking for.