“Life is an adventure and a challenge,” said the wise man, and although he said it long before the current crisis, his words ring truer than ever today.

That man was legendary jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, someone whom I knew very little about until the other day, when I watched a film about his life.

If fate has to confine us to our houses in this weird isolation, and as long as we have our health, it’s time to do some of those things we never quite got around to doing before. So I’m finding out about the music and musicians who have passed me by, started reading some of the hundreds of books I always meant to read but never did, and more besides. I’m not alone.

Lots of others have decided they might as well make the most of the situation.

A friend of mine, who has long since mastered the bassoon, has decided to also teach herself the cello. Another, who teaches French, is on a mission to learn Spanish.

And another still, who has been threatening to write the story of his life and his father’s for a while, will have to make a start. If you don’t do these things now, you never will.

I’m sure, too, that since it was announced that we would be allowed a maximum of one session of exercise per day, more people than ever have decided to set it as the minimum. Me too, although my wife doesn’t quite see it the same way.

While others were wondering how they would fill the void between now and when the virus is conquered, she immediately began thinking the way she always does when we are going to have some time on our hands.

She made a mental list of all the things that can be cleaned, tidied or sorted out – until I took the wind out of her sails by reminding her that it would be futile to declutter when we are unable to take anything to the recycling centre.

So she thought again and set me on the task of building that new fence we need at the bottom of the garden, and all the back-breaking digging that goes with it. At least it set me on the other plan I have for filling the isolation/lockdown/quarantine period, which is to get fit.

As a 58-year-old, weighing in below the high-risk age bracket but still of an age when I might pick up something else and burden the NHS when it least needs it, I feel that staying as fit as possible has become a duty. I quickly discovered that having a fork, spade or shovel in your hands is an effective way of doing it, although nowhere near as much fun as cycling.

This time last year I was writing a series of articles for this paper, encouraging people in Swindon to take up cycling, but I think it was premature.

Cycling has always been a good idea, but I believe it is now literally the best time there has ever been to get on your bike. It’s allowed, it’s safer because there is less traffic about, and you will start feeling better from Day One.

And like those other self-improvements people are setting their sights on, or practising old and new crafts and skills - what you do in the coming weeks (and possibly months) may just turn out to define the whole of the rest of your life. Rise to the challenge, if you can, and make it an adventure.