A good way to break the hold of feeling irritable and cranky about our current collective dilemma is to laugh.

The old adage applies - if we don’t laugh we will cry. Well some of these films and books have made me laugh so hard I have cried tears of laughter!

A few favourite comedies suitable for watching with the kids are Mrs Doubtfire, School of Rock and Big.

With older children Meet the Parents and Hot Fuzz are great.

For adults, Bridesmaids and Something About Mary are such cringeworthy, funny films. Also the new movie by Will Ferrell, Eurovision (on Netflix), is definitely funny, cringeworthy, lightweight entertainment.

And then there are some books with humour to help us through. Literally making you laugh out loud while you read them.

• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

• Bossypants by Tina Fey

• Lets Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

• Why not me? by Mindy Kaling.

Finally, let’s finish on a bit of a “Dad” joke:

“What did the right eye say to the left eye?’ Between us, something smells.

Yikes it’s easy to get caught up in negativity on social media of late isn’t it? It’s tricky ‘cos we’re all a bit anxious and cranky. So here’s a little tip -.to help you take that step back.

Just ask yourself, before you hit send:

Peace, love, good vibes and internet happiness neighbourhood friends!

1. The blossom appearing on some of the fruit trees in the front garden at ACC.

2. This message from Prince Charles ‘and his wife’ (who knew Buckingham Palace was thinking of us).

3. That some people who collected and read a ‘Blind Date with a Book’ book from our first week on the street dropped them back at ACC - it wasn’t obligatory but we’re very pleased to be facilitating reusing and recycling!

And also … we got a grant from Yarra Valley Water for a water tank in the front garden … and a whole lot of water-saving plumbing upgrades around the Centre - how unreal! We’ll get cracking on facilitating this when we can be back on site regularly.

My oldest darling India, is in year 10 now … but in Grade 5 she had a teacher (thanks Nicole) who suggested that naming 3 good things each day was a helpful practise for your mental health. And a good conversation starter. Indi brought this advice home. Since then we’ve been doing this pretty regularly. If we sit down together for afternoon tea. Or at dinner time.

When we first started the kids were a bit silly about it, with lists like 1. recess, 2. lunch and 3. home time. But even these responses gave me a chance to ask questions. What happened at recess that was fun? Who did you play with today? etc. Creating a little bit of space for us all to stop and listen to each other. And start conversations that could lead anywhere …

5+ years later the kids can always come up with a good list instantly, and it truly makes my heart sing that the positive is right there front and centre in their minds. They get it that the joy can be tiny, and that actually whatever they say is ok …

So, 3 good things.

This lockdown at our house we have fallen in to just shopping locally, which for us means Station Street. No Coles. No Aldi. No Woolies.

The good things that I think about when I head down there?

1. The walk itself

2. Knowing that we are supporting local businesses, and

3. The chance to (hopefully) say hello to neighbourhood friends along the way!

Also … this lavender in our street cheers me up every single time I pass by.

As we all hunker down even further, perhaps now IS the time to do something just for yourself. Like a workshop or course in something.

If you’d just like to take this idea for a spin (rather than committing to anything full-on) you might like to explore Laneway Learning. Here’s their regular pitch:

Laneway Learning runs cheap, fun classes in anything and everything. It happens on weekday evenings in cafes, bars and other spaces around Melbourne. Classes usually have about 20 people to keep it friendly.

Having adapted to corona-times, they currently have a wide range of things on offer that run on zoom and really are affordable - some started at $9, most I looked at were $14.

Here’s a list of some of the courses coming up:

• Creative paper flowers

• Exploring watercolour pencils

• Slow stitching - enjoying the making

• The pleasure of writing

• Make your own reusable mask

• Self compassion in troubled times.

Sounds good right? Cheer yourself up and check them out!