Obviously, the best thing to do when you’ve got an unexpected delay is to use the time for meditation. However, especially if it’s a traffic standstill or train breakdown, it’s not so easy to get into the zone.
Instead of letting frustration boil over into rail rage or worse… try turning to your phone for something to pass the time.
Dull moment yoga
OK, it might not be exactly the thing for a busy train – though you might clear yourself some space with a nifty downward dog. The very lovely Yoga With Adriene has published a short sequence designed exactly for a dull moment. What are you waiting for?
A difficult spell
Actual Scrabble is more than a bit tedious – tedious and spiteful, in my experience. But the online version Words With Friends is something totally different. Competitive and satisfying. A neat triple-worder can be the perfect way to turn round a tedious commute. Though be prepared for conversations that start ‘OK, smartarse, what exactly does LOQ mean anyway?’ or similar.
A little flutter
There are numerous ways to wager a few quid and maybe even win a few more. There’s a range of online games all over the internet. Whatever you’re into you’re bound to find a game that takes your fancy.
Shop till you don’t want to shop any more
Ebay – make a tiny little bid and, you never know, what treasures might end up on their way to your front door. Even more cost-effective is the practice of putting things in your virtual basket but never actually checking out. Almost as good as the real thing.
1010! Out of 10
Addictive? Yes. But also quite soothing too. 1010! just fit shapes into the grid until the lines disappear. Go on try it.
#lookatmydinner
I’m not really an Instagirl. Most of the time, I’m too busy scoffing my dinner to remember to take a pretty picture of it. My approach is to look through my photos and then try to think of something interesting to say about them. Still, it fills in a few minutes.
Decluttering
The most satisfying half hour I squandered recently was going through the apps on my phone and deleting the ones I don’t use before organizing the rest into folders. Happy sigh.
Your hard-earned
Used to be just the banking apps, now – after open banking – there are several ways of tracking your spending. How’s your money doing? Where did it go, on what? Probably better for your wealth than many of the other suggestions.
Every cloud…
It used to be the situation that you looked out of the window then decided to take a coat/brolly and sunblock, just in case. Not any more. The weather app has landed. It’ll tell you exactly when to nip out for lunch and how many layers you’ll need for the trip home. Only, the thing is, if you look again later, it’ll have all changed. Weather’s like that.
Snooze, you’ll be recorded by your phone!
For a while I was obsessed by the Sleep Cycle app – it used some sort of magic, or the phone’s mic to record my sleeping habits. I was forced to accept that, occasionally, I do, actually, snore. But it didn’t take long before the interesting snooze-based trivia was not as rewarding as a good night’s sleep. So I now leave the annoying phone quite a long way from my bed and I sleep much more deeply. #funnythat
Read me a story
Possibly my favourite thing to come from the digital revolution. Audiobooks on my phone. I can have someone reading me a fabulous story, into my very ear, whenever I want it. And with tiny little headphones no one needs to know I’m not really listening to them.
