Lockdown laughter and happy places

As soon as lockdown came into place, I thought about what it would mean for many of my friends and family and how tough it could be for some of them. I realised that this wasn’t going to be fun for so many people and that there wouldn’t be many laughs. So I decided there and then to make sure that I kept in contact with as many of them as possible, as often as possible to try and keep their spirits up.

From this was born the idea of the daily Bad Joke message. It is meant to be a bit of lighthearted fun to make people laugh, groan or giggle as they see appropriate, but most importantly, it is to let people know they are not alone and they can engage and talk to someone else if they need to by simply responding to the message. I know myself that messaging someone else to say that your feeling a bit down can be a tricky thing to do. Reaching out can be hard. So by having a message that arrives every day that they can respond to, even by sending me a a laughing emoji (or more likely a groaning emoji), allows me to then check back, ‘how are you doing?’, or, ‘everything ok?’ Thus opening a conversation and making it easy to say, ‘I’m not having a great day today’.

This simple message has, overtime, expanded to become a little bit of motivation and philosophy, with a bad joke followed by a good dose of puns related to said bad joke. The inspirational/motivational quote is a genuine philosophical attempt to maintain a positive mood and an upbeat attitude for those days when people’s resolve is flagging. The bad joke, which follows the philosophy, helps to lighten the tone of the motivational message and then the puns that follow the joke are just an opportunity for me to show how daft I am and that I have indeed reached that age were I now have the sense of humour of a middle-aged dad! (I actually couldn’t care less if I am seen as a bit of an old codger with a terrible sense of humour, as long as I am laughing!) I thought it might be easiest to just show you some examples of the messages I have sent every day over the last six or seven weeks to give you a better idea. I will say upfront, they are meant to be bad jokes, that is a deliberate choice. Lol. (I know already you’ll be groaning when you read some of those messages).

So here goes:

‘Hello again. How are you doing today? The sun has risen on another beautiful day. Are you feeling the joy or are you feeling a little fed up and miserable? It’s understandable to have down days but it’s how you behave on those days that makes the difference. You may be unhappy about life right now, you may be unhappy about what you have achieved or how much you have got but remember, somewhere, someone else is happy with a lot less than you have right now. Try and remember that the most beautiful and valuable things in life are not actually things. They are people and places, memories and pictures. They’re feelings, moments, smiles and laughter.

One of the most valuable things I have to give you today though is not necessarily anything that you might want but here it is anyway, just like every other day, it is your Bad Joke Of The Day!

Bad Joke Alert:

Q: What kind of tree can fit in your hand?
A: A palm tree.

That joke leaves me a little disappointed. It grew from a tiny seedling of an idea that was planted in my head ages ago. I thought I would branch out and try something a little different. As you can see it doesn’t always work out. I’ll just have to wait for a better idea to take root. Yew never know, the next joke might be funnier.

That reminds me, I’ve got some planting up to do in the garden, so I’ll catch you later.

Have a wonderful day.

Míceál’

‘It’s a sunny morning here in London and the temperature is going to get high today. I hope wherever you are that yours is a sunny day too.

There is an old proverb that says, “one tree can make a thousand matches, but one match can burn a thousand trees.” The moral being that one negative thought can burn all positive thoughts. So keep your thoughts positive today. Allow no time for negative thoughts. This mindset more than anything will help to see you through.

Allowing only positive thoughts about the Bad Joke Of The Day would mean that we would embrace the Bad Joke as a reminder of how many good jokes there are out there. So in that spirit, here it is, your Bad Joke Of The Day!

Bad Joke Alert:

Q: What did the shark say when he ate the clownfish?
A: That tastes a little funny.

I bet that one got you hook, line and sinker! It certainly had me hooked from the start. I think I need to cast my net a little wider if I am going to find funnier jokes! I do feel like a sprat sometimes when they aren’t funny and as for the cod philosophy too, I am going to have to work on that if I am going to catch your attention. I’ve been told that I should look on the net and trawl the funny jokes section, but that might be a bit of a red herring!

I’m going to check my net for holes. See you later. Remember, don’t go playing with matches, or entertaining negative thoughts.

Have a great day.

Míceál’

‘Good morning. The sunshine has returned here in London, I hope it has where you are too, even if only metaphorically. This road we’re on seems like a long one, so we need to pace ourselves and learn to accept the rough with the smooth. Remember, the best days come for those who make it through the bad days.

The best jokes, however, don’t come for those who make it through the bad jokes, you just get more bad jokes, I’m afraid.
Here it is, what you know you wake up for every morning, your Bad Joke Of The Day.

Bad Joke Alert:

Q: Why did the man leave his job in the shoe recycling factory?
A: Because it was sole destroying!

Well I don’t know about you, but I walked right into that one!
I may be a bit of a loafer at times but I worked hard on that joke!
That said, I think I may have really put my foot in it there.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you gave me the boot for it.

Don’t worry, I’ve got my hiking boots on and I’m off to scale Everest. It’s got to be easier than getting a laugh out of you guys!

Have the best day you can manage.

Míceál’

The other thing I’ve been doing is (tentatively) going for a walk every few days. I’ve talked about this on my precocious blog but for technical reasons these pics didn’t get posted, so I’m using that as an excuse to post them in this blog.

This is were I go when I’m out and about for a walk. It’s only about 5-10 minutes from my house and it’s a conservation area! I’ve lived here for 3.5 years and only just discovered it a few weeks ago! Can you believe that?

This is a happy place for me, it’s not as busy as the local park and I can breathe and relax, as well as stretch my legs without worrying about social distancing, as I do at the park.

So between my ‘Daily Bad Joke’ message and my walk, most feats I’m managing to keep on top of things!

How have you been keeping your mood up? What have you put in place to keep your contact going with friends and family? Perhaps someone you know is doing something to help keep you positive? Why not share some ideas with others on here to help each other to get through this, because the only way for us to get through this is together.

Keep smiling and stay positive.

Miceal