Keeping fit
Posted on by dave

Day 98 of (new balls) Lockdown – the ‘wot, no Wimbledon’ edition

Anyone for tennisDay 98 of (new balls) Lockdown

On Day 98 of lockdown Wimbledon doesn’t start, yet another sporting casualty of the pandemic.    A few topics today, most addressing your mental or physical fitness:

Museum from Home

We’ve reported on Colchester Museums’ Museum from Home initiative before but they keep coming up with new activities so it is worth a reminder.  Some of the newer ideas are:

  • Make a Zoetrope, a 19th century device to produce an animation.
  • Animal Pairs, a print-at-home pairs game.
  • Build a bird feeder &
  • Make a dancing Woolly Mammoth:

Why not explore their ideas?

Keeping fitKeeping Fitness Levels Up

Active Essex encourage us all to to keep active and well whilst many of us spend more time at home.  They reckon that almost one-third of adults have been doing 30 minutes or more of physical activity 5 days or more a week.  Is this enough though?

If you need the challenge, they’ve compiled a number of ideas and videos to help you achieve this in the following categories:

  • Gentle Exercise
    Low impact exercises are easier on your joints and improves balance and stability. There are lots of ways to keep active within the home itself. Whether that is doing seated exercises, stretching and walking around the house more or challenging family members to a step challenge.
  • Active Families
    Keep the whole family active with these simple steps. Now the kids are off school, it is important to keep them active too, so why not get the family together to keep moving!
  • High Energy
    High energy activity makes you breathe hard and fast. If you are working at this level, you will not be able to say more than a few words without pausing for breath.
  • Health & Wellbeing
    For our mental health and wellbeing we need to keep active. It is so important, that during these uncertain times we stay active and connected. For positive mental health we need to keep moving, but understand that our anxieties, stress and worries are heightened. Take some of the steps below to keep in a positive head space as well as participating in some physical activity.

Library booksLibraries reopening

Essex Libraries have been temporarily closed over the past few months in line with Government guidance around COVID-19.

The plans for a phased re-opening of sites will see an initial group of libraries, including Colchester, re-open from 6th July. These sites also provide Registration Services so allow this important service to be more easily delivered as well.

A further 44 libraries will reopen on 13th July including Earls Colne; the remaining vaguely local library, Stanway, does not yet have a reopening date.

Services

The services offered at Essex Libraries will look different in order to support new safety measures and social distancing guidelines.  Residents will be able to return and borrow books, as well as have some limited time to browse the shelves.

The number of customers allowed in a library at any one time will also need to be reduced to help people stay safe. To help colleagues work safely, customers will be asked to use the self-service machines to issue and return their items and make payments.

Unavailable

Public computers, printing facilities and additional services such as recycling bags will be temporarily unavailable, but these services will be reviewed frequently so that they can be offered again as soon as it is safe to do so.

Parking reviewParking Consultation

Colchester’s proposed #parking strategy for the next five years is out for a 3 week consultation (deadline 20th July). View the proposals at http://www.colchester.gov.uk/parkingstrategy and share your views.

The strategy includes ideas and suggestions to influence motorists’ behaviour to have a positive impact on air quality by reducing congestion and CO2 emissions. For example, the strategy highlights that if motorists in the town centre make one small change just one day a week, this could reduce traffic during peak times by 20%, improving air quality and reducing congestion and CO2 emissions.

Other Ideas

Other ideas within the strategy include innovative measures such as changes to payment methods, offers and incentives to support steady footfall in the town centre throughout the day, as well as improved methods of customer communications.

The proposed new strategy also supports the national Positive Parking Agenda (PPA), which aims to raise standards, improve communication, encourage innovation and promote transparency in the delivery of parking management and prioritises improving traffic congestion, safety, air quality, accessibility, technology, working together and fairness.

Any comments, observations or representations that you may wish to make on the framework can be e-mailed to [email protected].

Wimbledon in Music

Wombles

BBC Wimbledon Music

 

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