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NECESSITY is the mother of invention and right now, in the pandemic lockdown, it has plenty of people thinking about the way they do things.

It’s intriguing but in many cases old ways are becoming the new way.

For one, lots of people who were stocking up on food in recent weeks are now at home trying to work out what to do with it all. This is especially so with younger households that used to live on takeaway most of the week and are now taking up cooking.

I’m also hearing of families digging out old recipe books, and experimenting in the kitchen out of necessity. Recycling and inventing.

People with time on their hands are going to garden/landscape/handyman suppliers to stock up on materials for all sorts of home renovations. Many people are starting vegetable patches.

Then there’s all the people visiting fitness stores to buy equipment to work out at home. Some are pretty clever about it. One family I heard of wanted to keep doing reformer pilates but without the expensive machine, so they bought a cheap skateboard, which they attached to an octopus strap to mimic the actions of a pilates machine.

Funny, but great thinking.

Another intriguing development is the new community spirit growing amongst us.

In our modern society, especially with social media, people have become more and more insular. They keep to themselves in their houses and have less interaction with neighbours than we did in the past.

Everyone is worried about security, they’re all working hard and have busy lives.

We’ve tried very hard to counter this at Villawood with clubs, gyms, pools, parks and playgrounds at our Armstrong community in Mount Duneed.

Recently, we’ve partnered with Geelong’s Aamir Qutub on a website designed to build a sense of community by helping neighbours assist one another during the lockdown.

It’s at angelnextdoor.com.au – check it out and lend a hand if you can.

Coronavirus is clearly going to re-set a lot of expectations in our community.

It’s already changing our behaviours and I think for the better. We might live in an age of super-fast technology and social media but people are getting back to a few basics and some oldfashioned ways.

I think when we come out of all this, people will be more understanding and patient in helping each other rebuild our economy