Pieces That Fit Together

Six Word Photo Story: Freestyle

Puzzling How To Complete The Jigsaw

I am a dissectologist — a person who enjoys jigsaw puzzle assembly.

For the second Christmas of the Covid pandemic, my son, just as he did for the first, bought me a jigsaw puzzle. As did my wife. My birthday didn’t escape either. I’ve ended up with six lovely presents inside a twelve month period.

I don’t mind as it is believed jigsaw puzzles give a person a good mental workout, improving problem-solving skills, attention span, and exercising the left and right sides of the brain at once.

They help improve short-term memory and visual-spatial reasoning. If you want time to yourself, they enable you to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the modern digital world.

Since Covid lockdowns began there has been a boom in sales of jigsaw puzzles — in the UK up 38%, reaching £100m in 2020 — with more puzzles being bought for adults than children.

The German toy-maker Ravensburger has seen its overall sales increase by more than a fifth to £546m in 2020, when it exported over 28 million puzzles to the UK alone, a 33% increase on the year before.

I’m reminded of Ellie Jacobson’s latest Flint & Steel prompt about hobbies — Sparks #22 January Is National Hobby Month — are hobbies a distraction or a waste of time?

For me they are a relaxing way to spend twenty or thirty minutes each day. I’m in no rush to finish the jigsaw. They’re not a waste of time, but a welcome distraction from the stresses of everyday life, and just another of the hobbies that have helped keep me sane during successive lockdowns!

Thanks go to head-stander extraordinaire Mary Chang Story Writer for creating the Six Word Photo Challenge. I’m sure some of these writers have interesting tales about their hobbies, pastimes and zany things they did coping with lockdowns… L Burton Dennett Randy Runtsch Alex Markham Kevin Alexander Nicole Anders James Jordan and Zsófia Vera