b'This is your time. All those sci-fi novels and real-world Dear Nathanarticles in newspapers and magazines; all that time spent pondering the future and practising survival skills; all that self-isolation and independence; all that practicality and Now you are gifted with time to make the most of. Those perseveranceis for now.film marathons and streaming binge-watches; those model kits unbuilt or abandoned for 20-some years whilst you were refining those little projects called kids; the pleasure of a fire built and a meal cooked upon it; long walks bathing in green with your loyal four-legged Time to help others who cant help themselves. Time NATHAN DUCKfriend beside you.to put something back in to the community because you can, not because you are paid to. Time to be compassionate, because that is the human thing to do.And time to prove that for all the years, all the arguments and fallings-out, sullen silences or strops, your family arent so bad after all. In fact, they are the best.Remember all that.NathanThe Glad GameA letter to my Younger Self about LockdownDear SarahLockdown is a word with which you are probably not familiar!? At the time of writing, it is a word, now translated into many languages, that the whole world understands.The first two weeks were the worst; wandering from room to room, unable to settle or focus on anything. I didnt want to work but didnt want to do anything else either. I cleaned the house as a distraction and binge-watched Gavin and Stacey on TV. Curiously, it was a chance email from the schools Education Psychologist, which evolved into a long discussion about acceptance, that altered my view.Running. Every morning there was the chance to run. Skies were blue, aeroplanes grounded, cars garaged. The world was calm and quiet. Roughly calculated, Ive run 250 miles since this all started. Then yoga. Initially to stretch out those super-tight hamstrings but later for pure indulgent, meditative pleasure. Ive now perfected my crow, and my flowering tree stands for as long as I can be bothered.Find something about everything to be glad about. My Pollyanna* epiphany. There are so many things on my glad game list: not setting my alarm for 5.35am but waking with the birds and dozing until I feel like getting up; drinking tea; lying in my hammock reading and re-reading new books and some old favourites; taking the time to enjoy cooking the evening meal, and eating it; trying out new ideas for art in the studio and practising drawing. Ive even learned how to Zoom, Skype and have WhatsApp video calls!The notion of normality waxes and wanes. Will lockdown ever end? But if Ive learned anything at all, Ive learned acceptance; allow things to be exactly as they are for now.* Pollyanna is a novel written in 1913 by American author Eleanor H. Porter7'