In this strange new world, where do we find purpose?

Perhaps we are at least past the beginning of this crisis. The phase where the hunt for multipacks of loo-rolls briefly became the national sport. Now we are into the second, perhaps even less glorious stage, in which we all have to sit in our solitude and hope that the storm blows over us. And if this passivity is the great demand of our generation — a demand that brings its own ironies — then now is a good time to ask the question: ‘How do we spend our time well?’

The question is one we ought to ask more throughout our lives. But the truth is that most of us tend to ask it only at moments of personal crisis: when a job or relationship suddenly ends, or a loved one dies. By asking ‘How do we spend our time well?’ I do not of course mean simply ‘How do we keep ourselves busy?’. There are home exercise videos for that. Even DIY, if you must. I mean: how ought we to use this time meaningfully?

An immediate urge will be — ought to be — to hold our loved ones close. Or at least as close as we can in an era in which we cannot hold them. We will satisfy the need to call each other more, wave to each other more and leave supplies — even luxuries — where we can. And if this crisis provides a surge in the strength of our networks of friends and family, then that is no small boon to stockpile.

Even an engagement diary as empty as the roads can be rescued. I have taken to arranging virtual drinks with friends, diary-ing them in as I would in normal times. So I have drinks (or tea if the hour is not yet six — a rule especially worth adhering to now), with friends around the world.