Six months ago, it wouldn't have been even possible to imagine what the last 6 weeks or so has thrown at us - these really are bizarre times that we're living in! The idea of a new virus emerging which threatened life like this, prompting governments all over the world to act in the way they have was the sort of thing you'd only read about in fictional books.
But we've arrived here and in the last few weeks, we've seen high streets, schools and non-essential service industries all closed down completely and generally speaking, the only people out and about are health workers and essential service providers like bin men or police officers (although there's been no real shortage of examples of other people working and loudly defending their decision to do so on social and mainstream media as they face social pressure to "stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives)
How long has video calling been a reliable option now? I know that I was interviewed over Skype for a podcast around 10 years ago now and I know it was around for a while before then, but slow internet speeds and stuff like that meant that it was always easier to just call somebody so I've only really tried video calling out for the first time over this lock-down period - and it's worked well!
As a member of my local Round Table group, we held a group social event over Skype the other week (we stayed in for a curry and a few beers) which was really good fun and will be followed up next week by a similar event in which we will conduct the more serious business of sorting out some of our charity work and holding our AGM. We'll be holding votes and all sorts of things on line without the need to physically meet.
I wonder how many businesses will realise that they have been wasting loads of money on sending people abroad to attend meetings whilst this technology has been sat there waiting to be used? In the past, whilst living in the UK, I've attended meetings in France with large car manufacturers that have involved a full day out of the office, two flights and a fist full of expense receipts for food etc and whilst Skype wasn't available then, I know others that still work to those very inefficient, unproductive and pollution causing practices in their line of work. Now it's been forced to stop, I wonder if it may have stopped for good?
Likewise, as a self employed business owner, I've always run this business from home but I now have several employed friends who are doing the same - again, if this could continue after the lock-down, it can only bring positive benefits in terms of reduced congestion and pollution.
With 35% of crashes on the road involving people who are driving for the purposes of work (and that excludes commuting to and from a place of work), a business making better use of home working will see reduced insurance and maintenance costs as well as reduced sickness pay and general hassle associated with having one of their employees involved in an incident on the road whilst working for them.
But what about other benefits?
The government has been very pro-active and generous in setting up financial rescue packages and most of us are looking at receiving around 80% of our usual take home pay whilst we're on lock-down.
As generous as this is, with most of us running our lifestyles so lean these days and with so few of us being able to save anything, it's undoubtedly caused many of us to feel squeezed and question some of our purchasing choices.
I wonder how many of us are now eating better and I wonder how many of us feel better or are actually losing a bit of weight as we avoid spending £50 a week on takeaways? How much were you spending on coffee in a week before the lock-down? At £3 a cup, it's probably more than you thought... will you go back to that now you've broken that cycle you were in?
And then there's the exercise - I've never seen so many people walking past my house! Going for a walk, particularly in the kind of place where I live, is one of the best forms of exercise you can do to maintain a reasonable level of health, keep the weight under control and unwind. Okay, it's not going to build fitness on the same level as training for a marathon, but it's much, much better than sitting around all day.
Finally, this lock-down has been a welcome opportunity to spend some quality time with the kids. I've found myself talking to them about things I haven't spoken to them about before because of in addition to other reasons, a fundamental lack of time. Not all of that time problem has been down to me working long hours either! Do you ever find that your "life diary" is so full of family commitments and other people wanting you to be places that you don't feel like you've had a day off? I've always been the kind of person that quite likes time alone. My personal time is often used up doing things like reading, listening to music and fishing - generally solitary and introverted activities that are good for peace of mind, but you work long hours because the bills need paying and you visit your mum on your day off (because she won't be there for ever) when you should be seeing your own kids (who won't be kids forever but your mum is more important) and you suddenly realise that you've never seen them excited about seeing Butterflies in your own back garden before.
This lock-down has really made me think!
Of course, at the moment, there is a lot of talk about businesses being unable to survive the lock-down and for those people it will be a stressful time. Some of the potential lifestyle changes I've mentioned here may also bring about some extra business failures too - for example, if we DON'T go back to drinking coffee several times a day or having a few takeaways a week, surely some of those businesses that rely on us to do that will not survive.
The corona-virus outbreak would make a great work of fiction and that makes it an incredibly interesting time to observe... I wonder how what the world will look like in 2021?
Nick Heath Driver Training is located in Rode Heath on the Staffordshire / Cheshire border and provides driving training services to those looking to either improve their driving or learn from scratch. In addition to media work, we conduct Taxi Driver Assessments for local authorities and offer Advanced Driver Training and Testing, Motorway Training and Fuel Efficient Driver Training alongside refresher courses and learner driving lessons. We are ORDIT registered to provide Driving Instructor Training and are listed on the DVSA's register of Fleet Trainers so we can help you with your business needs.
More details are available on our website www.nickheathdrivertraining.org.uk
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