What are our celebs doing during lockdown?

Television presenter Pamela Ballantine

Because of the nature of my work I cannot exactly work from home so I was worried that I was going to get bored as I am not someone who is very good at doing nothing.

When I first became self-employed 10 years ago I found time management really difficult as I was used to doing everything to the hour, minute and second deadlines so I usually had everything done by 11 o’clock and then wondered how I was going to fill the rest of the day.

I have been saving up all the little jobs I have been meaning to do and rationing them so I only do one a day and at the moment, because the weather has been so good, it is mainly stuff outside like tiding the garden and washing the car.

I hope to paint the shed in the next day or two and the pile of ironing is growing but I am saving it for a rainy day.

I have only been leaving the house for a good walk every day, and going to the shop when necessary.

My culinary skills have improved as I am making the most of what I have in the cupboards, the fridge and the freezer and coming up with all sorts of different dishes and probably eating more healthily than I have in a long time.

I am a TV addict and I love reading but bizarrely I have not been watching as much TV as I normally would or reading as much.

I have loads of films saved on my Sky+ but haven’t got round to watching them yet. Bulletproof 2 is one series I have just watched back to back on Sky, I love Outlander on Amazon Prime and I still have not watched The Crown on Netflix so that is in my plans.

I love reading thrillers and recently I discovered Helen Fields DI Callanach crime thriller novels, real page turners.

Singer Peter Corry

Myself and my wife Fleur have been keeping ourselves busy during isolation a few different ways.

We’ve started a film club which has been great, we choose a film that one of us has seen but the other hasn’t on alternate nights and then vote to see which comes out on top.

I’ve been keeping my Facebook friends up to date with our scoring to hopefully give them all some film inspiration. I am the artistic director for Belfast School of Performing Arts, so I’ve been very busy launching BSPA online to make sure that all of our students are still able to enjoy their singing, dancing and acting classes from home. Music can be such an escape for people during tough times, so we want to make sure that we’re bringing a little joy to students lives and to keep them active.

Another new habit we have got into every evening during isolation is taking a trip to our balcony at 6pm to have a chat with our neighbour who lives on his own, of course from a very safe distance, but it’s been great to make sure we are all keeping each other company.

We have also been doing tasks around the house like clearing out the garage, but I suppose there’s no better time to do those things that had maybe slipped down the list before.

Chef Paula McIntyre

I have started watching Schitt’s Creek on Netflix which is the perfect light relief.

I’m finally getting to watch Fat, Salt, Acid, Heat with Samin Nosrat.

At the moment I’m reading Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen. I met her when she was on the John Toal recently and she was great fun. The book is set in the fictional town of Aghabogey in Tyrone and is very entertaining.

After it I’ve Sara Cox’s autobiography lined up to read. There’s a tome of a book called On Food and Cooking by Harold Magee that I’ve used as a reference for years but I’m going to read it from start to finish rather than just dipping.

I haven’t started any new hobbies - cooking has always been a hobby as well as job for me so it’s nice to play around in the kitchen without the pressure. I’m about to start an online Italian course.

Former World Boxing Champion Wayne McCullough

I’ve taken time to record and share free workouts with my followers on social media which can be done indoors or in the garden as I think as well as for our physical health, taking daily exercise is so important for our mental health especially during this crisis but whilst staying safe.

I haven’t really had time to take up a hobby yet but I’ve been doing some DIY that I’ve been putting off for a while and chilling out watching my old boxing fights on TV.

It was our daughter Wynona’s birthday this week so we watched Tangled together as she’s joking that she’s locked in her tower and I’ve also been enjoying some original Netflix movies as well Love Is Blind and the gripping series Tiger King.

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