I will survive (the lockdown): A handy guide to keeping yourself busy, entertained & healthy at home
March 27, 2020
Who we are
Action Digital is a full-service digital agency based in Cyprus offering services in web
March 27, 2020
With Cyprus in lockdown for at least two more weeks, working from home has gone from being a luxury only a few could engage in, to an absolute necessity. The journalistic and business community were quick to list a number of solutions that would make working from home easier, but being isolated and confined comes with a score of other problems, both physical and mental. It’s one thing to simply work from home, and it’s quite another to be restricted in all your daily movements. How do you continue to secure supplies? How do you remain fit? What do you do to fight the prolonged boredom, slowly chipping away at your mental health?
Fear not, Action Digital has got you covered on all fronts! Here’s our Cyprus lockdown survival kit, filled with everything you need to stay sane and productive until the whole thing blows over!
Dune references aside, spice, and by extension all food, is number one on the survival list. But what if you don’t want to want to stand in line at the supermarket or want to avoid contact with other people as much as possible? Easy – you can always get hold of your groceries online!
While most supermarkets in Cyprus have not yet strengthened their online presence to modify their websites for the full digital shopping experience (although, that is bound to change to now) they can still deliver to your home if you call them. Just ring up your favorite supermarket, tell them what you need, and they will deliver to your doorstep. Or, alternatively, if you want to avoid the phone calls, you can always do your shopping on Supermarketcy, a platform for online groceries. Oh, and don’t get that second bag of chocolates. We know you want it, but you are only going to regret it come summer.
Not big on cooking? Crave some fancy food? Luckily, online delivery platforms cater to your every gastronomic need. Foody is one of the biggest ones around, but you could also try Wolf. There are a number of good options, so just sit back, relax, enjoy your meal and don’t go to the Winchester until this whole thing blows over. There you go. Simon Pegg would be proud.
With the gym having already become a distant memory (can you even remember the time when it was socially acceptable to sweat it out where other people were going to sit?), keeping fit has turned into a major challenge. And keeping healthy goes hand in hand with working out, especially in the time of global pandemic. You can always go out for a walk provided that you notify the authorities, but for the most part, you will be stuck at home. Enter YouTube! Fortunately, there are numerous instructional videos by professional trainers on YouTube showing exactly how you can use your time confined at home to achieve that summer body. Or, at least, maintain a level of fitness and health that will help you through this whole ordeal. Time to break a sweat!
While sporting events all around the globe are being cancelled (including the Olympics) e-Sports is going strong. One of the biggest gaming companies in the world, Blizzard, has already scheduled a full tournament weekend of their hit game, ‘Overwatch’. Other games are sure to follow.
Not into watching e-sports and just want to play games? There are a number of options available, depending on your gaming platform preference. If you just want to play games on your laptop or desktop, you can always try the online store, Steam, where you can download pretty much any game available! You can also try Epic Games Store or just visit the individual site of the game you want to purchase. The options are endless!
If you are gaming on consoles (Microsoft XBOX, Sony Playstation or Nintendo) you can always visit their online stores and download the game directly. If you are more of a physical copy person, you can always search for a game store near you. Nearly all of them have delivery options and will be glad to help.
A favourite pastime of many Cypriots is a card game called ‘pilotta’. While getting together with three or more of your buddies is ill-advised, you can always play with them online! Gamesfair has an online ‘pilotta’ option, along with virtual backgammon. The environment is a tad outdated and frustrating to navigate but it is a viable option for an afternoon game with the guys (and girls)!
Don’t want to play games and just want to watch people who are way better than you play them? You can head at Twitch.tv and watch pro gamers stream, or you can try its Microsoft rival, Mixer.
Not into gaming and want a different form of entertainment? Lucky for you, an abundance of streaming options are available. While HBO and Disney+ are not yet available in Cyprus, you can always download Amazon Prime and Netflix and watch countless movies, series and documentaries, from an epic mobster drama directed by Martin Scorcese to an amazing story on how the HBO show Curb Your Enthousiasm saved a man from the death penalty.
But what if you miss watching TV with your friends? We’ve got you covered, as the Google Chrome browser extension – Netflix Party – allows you to watch Netflix movies with your friends as you chat!
The lockdown is an excellent opportunity to catch up on that ever growing list of podcasts you‘ve been meaning to listen too. And if you are new to this, we have a couple of suggestions to get you started! First of all, you can listen to podcasts on any music streaming platform, such as Spotify, Google Podcasts, or iTunes.
If you are looking for suggestions, we have just the thing for you: The Vergecast, a show about everything technology-related, My Favorite Murder, a true crime podcast with a dash of humour, the Last podcast on the left, a weekly show that deals with all things horror, How did this get made?, which is dedicated to bad movies, and finally The Dollop, a comedy history podcast about (mostly) American history!
If you are looking for a more relaxed experience than a podcast, an audiobook is always an option. This specific field has been booming over the past few years as more and more people prefer a book narrated to them, than reading it themselves. If you want to explore this avenue of entertainment then you might want to check the Amazon service, Audible. Not sure if this is right for you? Don’t worry, just downloading Audible allows you to purchase one book for free to test it out!
Still prefer the smell of a new book and want to cuddle with one? You can always check out the Soloneion bookstore in Nicosia, which conducts home book deliveries!
Lockdown mode means everyone will be in dire need of a hair salon by the end of it, but there is no need to neglect yourself while you are cooped up inside! After all, you can enjoy beauty products delivered to your home and weather the lockdown in style. At Action Digital we are fond of Handyspa and their super organic products. Holland and Barrett are also delivering islandwide, and stock a range of creams, hair products and more!
We hope we’ve helped make your stay at home more bearable – have fun, stay safe and whatever you do, don’t go for that third bag of chocolates. That’s ours.
