The joy of killing time

Rediscover forms of fun that are supposed to fill hours

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to rediscover some old fashioned forms of fun.
Many of these were deliberately about filling time, or some
might say killing time. Modern sorts off and feel we

(00:26):
don't have time for such things. But over the past
few weeks, well we've learned otherwise. The circumstances aren't ideal.
But the good news is that on the other side
of the world's lockdown to slow the spread of the
coronavirus will have expanded our repertoire of fun. If you've
read much literature written before the advent of radio and television,

(00:48):
you've probably noticed something. Authors such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen,
or Herman Melville wrote stories in a slightly less economical
fashion than modern authors. The plots longer, the sentences are
more involved, but honestly, why not. They weren't competing with cable.
People didn't have other things to do to fill the

(01:10):
hours after dinner and before bed, so length wasn't a
downside in the way that modern publishers sometimes consider it
to be. Length was often an upside anyone listening to
this podcast presumably still has access to the internet, but
with school and activities canceled, many people have more hours
to fill than in the past. Screens fill some of it,

(01:33):
but even the best shows get boring after a while.
So it's time to recall how people used to kill
time and realize that in many cases, killing time isn't
a bad thing at all. One of my favorite hour
filling activities is big puzzles. Well, a two piece puzzle
might fit in a busy day. Long days call for
big ones, a thousand pieces pieces. Why not gather the

(01:58):
family around a big table and chat as you each
work on your sections. I'm also a fan of giant
lego sets. Over the past few months, my ten year
old and I have been working on a replica of
the Empire State Building. We flexed our lego building muscles
on a Christmas gingerbread house set, and now we're feeling
more capable of bigger things sets that take more time,

(02:20):
because taking time is kind of the point. Baking can
feel lots of time. My husband's been baking bread. I
collect magazines from the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties, and
some of the recipes and old issues of good housekeeping
literally require all day. But if everyone's around the house
all day, this might be less of a downside then

(02:41):
it seems at first glance, of course, you can really
get into the little house on the Prairie lifestyle and
take up sewing or other needle crafts. Every time I
read the Laura Ingles Wilder books, I picture the family
sitting in front of the fire, with Pa reading or
playing the fiddle and Ma stitching something. Sewing clothes for
a family of six certainly takes a lot of time.

(03:03):
We don't have to make our clothes from scratch these days,
but cross stitching and elaborate pattern can fill many a
happy hour, especially now that no one is supposed to
be going out of the house for happy hours. There
are really all kinds of old fashioned time killing options crosswords,
card games, long board games like Monopoly, or risk scrap booking, quilting.

(03:26):
When we're running around from place to place, it's easy
to assume we have no time, and so we feel
the time we do have with the easiest thing available.
Hence the two hours daily that even people with full
time jobs and kids clock watching TV. If you're trying
to work from home while home schooling, your kids are
chasing toddlers all day. You may not have energy for

(03:48):
anything else. I get it. But if you're not in
that situation, these long hours present an opportunity to try
something else, and maybe, just maybe, when life gets back
to normal, we'll remember that a great many other projects
are possible. What sorts of old fashioned time killing fund

(04:08):
do you enjoy? You can let me know at Before
Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com. In the meantime,
this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to

(04:28):
hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,
then breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media

(04:48):
dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio.
For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

(05:10):
your favorite shows,