Diary Entries

I've decided that social isolation is just a fancy term for my normal life. It hasn't been so very hard to adapt to the restrictions we have to live by now. Though I do miss buying fresh fruit from Wayne who has the kiosk on Market St. I miss going to club meetings for Birding NSW and just going a little further afield to go birdwatching; I miss the thought of being able to sit down for a bowl of laksa or catch up with a friend for lunch, where someone else had prepared it. I don't miss crowds on the train coming into work - it's rather special having an entire compartment for yourself. Yes, I still get to come in to the bookshop I've worked for for 20 years, though the hours have changed and we don't allow customers in; the phone and web orders have kept a skeleton staff busy, even if quite a few calls have been about the slowness of delivery (poor Australia Post, guess that's what happens when you gut the staff numbers and all of a sudden your delivery services are called upon again). I do wish the joggers would step aside on the paths which suddenly half the suburb have discovered. I've seen more dogs taking their owners for a walk (a vet friend tells me he is frantically busy - doggy injuries from too much walking! and gut-aches from too much food!) And the camellias are particularly magnificent this year, the views west from The Bridge are wonderfully clear, and the gloaming glow after Autumnal sunsets are especially beautiful. Sure, the world is beset with anxieties, overseas politicians play distraction games and The Second Wave will break when we least expect, but at the moment, it aint all bad.

I'm not going to lie. I've broken some of the social isolation/distancing regulations that the state has implemented. I've had a few friends over a couple of times recently. The rest of the time though I've observed social distancing regulations. I wound up basically refurnishing my apartment in social isolation. I'd needed to do this anyway but the lockdown sped up the process. I also bought a few appliances I hadn't planned to such as a breadmaker, a sandwich maker and a coffee machine. My home now resembles a gym with a couple of pieces of home fitness equipment. I had to adapt after gyms were closed. Before lockdown I'd bought a kitten and got her about six weeks before lockdown begun. Since lockdown started I've been working from home. There are some things I'm looking forward to when lockdown ends. I'm looking forward to going to bars with friends again and I'm looking forward to concerts. I'm also looking forward to overseas travel again. I want to keep working from home though.

Although self isolation restrictions are being rescinded (slowly) I still don't want to leave home. I've been incredibly lucky to have kept my job during this time, but I'm still scared to go places. Obviously I am kinda going crazy not going places, but... I don't know there isn't really a but to add in there. I finished all my assignments for my degree, so there isn't really anything for me to do. Although I have become obsessed with my spotify account making, sure my playlists are up to date. I will say having nothing to do is making me find things to do, like Chloe Ting workouts, cleaning the house, actually taking time to look after myself and helping my family, its been nice. My Sister is a graduate nurse and has been flat out during this pandemic, its incredible the amount of people she has helped in the few months since she began her job. While my sister has been off helping save lives my Mum has stepped up to teach the students in her school continue learning. While teachers are not allowed into classrooms the teacher aides have taken on the role of guiding the learning of their students, she is stressed, but the kids she works with absolutely love her. Its weird to know I've been living through a major part of modern history, and I've been coping through memes and tiktok videos. I wonder how this will change how we interact with each other, I love the no touching thing (especially working with kids). But I would like a steady toilet paper supply back. Like in a few years I could be teaching students about this pandemic, and tell the kids about my own experiences and the experiences of those around me.

Have just heard about this site on the ABC news. As 74 and 75 year old retirees we are enjoying isolation! It is so nice not to have a calendar full of appointments and places to be by set times. We may be alone, but are far from lonely! We have a nice daily routine, and I don't know where the day disappears to. I am doing more cooking, we are eating well, Woolworths and the Chemist deliver to us - we have plenty of food and toilet paper 😀 We are eating vegetables from our long established vegetable garden every night for tea. We stay in touch with our son in Sydney by text, email and phone, and enjoy Whatsapp texts, photos and videos from our son and our grandchildren, who are isolating in Germany with Daughter-in-law's parents. They are unsure when they can return home to Glasgow. I watch our weekly church service on line, and I email friends, or phone them, catching up with at least one person every day. As long as the governments are working together to control the spread, and keep every one safe we are happy. I do feel for those poor people in the nursing homes - there was obviously a monumental stuff-up there. They should have been checking and testing all who entered long before this. Our local nursing home instituted these protocols even before the governments rulings - no Covid19 cases there - well done!

I started writing Log Notes in the form of a Star Trek Ships Captain for the amusement of friends and to pass the time in isolation - here a some samplers. Captain's Log In my Isolated Pod detached from the main ship, the NCSS Pyrmont, out in the dark black hole which has become known as the Corona Constellation. I and my colleagues have been busy trying to avoid Space Cabin Fever and the COVID virus. My approach has been to keep busy with domestic duties like re-tiling the space bathroom and modernizing the galley bench tops. Lucky for us the Klingon's have been observing the Federation's Isolation directives which has given us the time to indulge our diversions. Life has become very repetitive and each day is starting to melt into the previous. Out here in the Isolation Pods life is going on, and on and on. The days like gum on the bottom of your shoe are stretching from one step to the next. Food wise I have become so lazy that I can no longer be bothered pushing the button on the replicator and I feel like I am living on almonds and cashews. The cashews would be nice if I had some stir fried beef to go with them as well as some fried rice. This morning the Editorial Squadron now all in isolation from the mother ship still docked in stasis in the middle of the COVID black hole in Pyrmont, had a SLACK meeting [not a slack meeting but a meeting via the Slack App - who names these thing?]. The meeting was cheerful and it was nice to hear the voices of colleagues even if they were just icons on a phone screen bobbing in and out as the NBN failed the unfailed.

Starting week 7 of working from home, I am thankful that I am in an industry that can easily accommodate such working conditions. I do miss the interaction of my work mates and even travelling on public transport to and from work. As for family, we were fortunate last weekend to see our 91 year old mother, who is going extremely well considering the current conditions. Isolation (or social distancing) is difficult, but I believe it's the only way to get on top of this virus. Be safe everyone.

I have a secure job, but my vocation - the thing that gets me fired up each week - is acting and the theatre. Through several difficult years it, and my theatre family, have kept me sane and balanced. Now it's completely unavailable in its usual form and I've been feeling the loss keenly. But the truly wonderful things about Creatives is that they have to keep creating, no matter what. So we've moved all our activities online. I'm a member of a Facebook group of actors, musicians, writers, artists....every week we set a new challenge to keep us engaged and active. We've written and filmed monologues and short plays (filmed in isolation). We've recorded radio plays. We're working on a podcast series....I recently joined "Streamed Shakespeare" and am excited to be preparing some audition recordings. Every week, prestigious theatre companies and artists make recordings of live performances available for free to entertain us in our isolation and raise awareness of the valuable contribution the arts make to our lives. It saddens me that the Arts - an industry that contributes $111 billion to the Australian economy each year, and which is now keeping so many of us sane through the streaming contributions we're consuming like crazy - has been largely forgotten in terms of support.

As an active and healthy retiree, the Covid 19 Pandemic has not had any negative effects on me personally. While I feel strongly for those many Australians who have lost their jobs, struggling to feed their families and pay rent or mortgages, I so very fortunately don’t have financial problems. Prior to these social isolation days, my weeks were very busy Like many retired Australians I am involved in voluntary work. I also play ukulele with a group of other musicians, attend Church services and a Bible Study group, exercise with yoga, Tai Chi, and tennis. I swim every morning, read avidly, and enjoy various crafts. Although I miss socialising during these activities, I can amuse myself quite well at home while social isolating. This pandemic has given me extra time that I wouldn’t normally have to engage in projects I have had on hold for so long. I have completed my Family History, written it into a readable form and distributed it to family members. I have cooked and shared the results with neighbours. I have lists of people from my various groups that I phone or email regularly. I have been in contact with long lost friends and those I haven’t seen for a while. I now have my garden looking very spruce, and due to my wonderful local public library delivering books to my home, I have been able to continue reading. Most of my peers I am in contact with feel much the same as me. One friend commented that she will be too busy to start socialising again when the pandemic is over. We baby boomer generation recognise how fortunate we have been through life, and even now don’t consider ourselves in the over 70s group vulnerable to this coronavirus. Sandra Wingrave Central Coast, NSW

I am stuck at home amidst this corona pandemic, it was my 17th birthday 2 days ago and it wasn't the same, lockdown is taking it's toll on humanity and people are slowly spiralling into insanity, however a lot of very cool hairstyles and colours have come out of this.

A moment in bliss The air is so clean. Visibility is to the distant horizon. Never have I seen so far towards the beaches of Newcastle, or such detail of the trees and rocks of the Broken back range yonder. Will I see again in this life time, the beauty of nature in such crystal clarity? I have had the rare privilege of glimpsing a heavenly paradise that hitherto was veiled with pollution, politics, greed, fear and consumption. A deadly virus and the human hyper reaction brought about this momentary transformation. Will we learn from this event and change our ways of avidya to vidya before it is all too late? Will we understand the wisdom of Carl Sagan’s ‘Pale Blue Dot’? Will we return to the old ways and veil it all again? Will I be among the last of my kind to have glimpsed this heavenly paradise in all its clarity, beauty and worth?