Diary Entries

Every day is the same, wake up, eat, get dressed and begin my online schooling. At first, I was excited. It was something new, I wouldn't have to go to school, I could binge watch and relax. I would accomplish things and go to the beach. How wrong I was. Every day is the same now. Nothing new. I see my friends through the screen. I can't touch them. Hug them. Comfort them. I am trapped. Trapped in a world that has gone mad. I feel trapped inside myself. My house had become an alien world. School feels like it's on another planet. Every day is the same. The same. The same... I miss connecting with people. Now I only connect to the internet. Nothing new. It's all the same. Boredom is life now. I can no longer leave the house unless it's necessary. The pixels on my screen are all I have to remind me of my friends. So much I could have done. The best months of my life are being wasted. By doing the same thing. Everything is the same. The same. The same. Nothing new. Nothing different. It's all the same...

Our prime minister mentioned on Friday that we can’t keep hiding under the covers, but today that is exactly what I’m doing. I feel so fortunate that in this country we are able to now talk about the way out of this time, when so many others haven’t been so lucky, but I’m also not ready. My partner and I are now planning our wedding for a third time, after being affected by both the bushfires and COVID-19, and had things gone the way we had hoped, then we would be honeymooning in Europe right now, having the backpacking trip we had dreamed of and saved for, before coming home to start a family together. I feel frustration and sadness that these parts of my life are in a holding pattern, whilst also gratitude and excitement that I will hopefully still get to have these things in my future. The probable reason why I’m hiding today is because more kids return to school, and today I’m feeling like a fraud. It is my job to counsel children who are scared but right now I am scared, and most of the time I can find a way to put my own feelings aside and help them, but as I write this with broken-skinned hands I know that my OCD behaviours have returned in ways that will be both adaptive and maladaptive for me during and beyond this time. So while I’m so thankful for the way that our country responded quickly to this crisis, I’m also sad, angry, and scared that the things I wanted most were missed and the thing I needed most, time to hide away, wasn’t possible as a frontline worker. So today I stayed in bed at home, as others celebrate being able to leave theirs soon.

Week 9 of WFH . 9 things i've learnt so far 1: What started as an routine of get out of bed , exercise , get changed for working and head to my living room... has now turned into box set binging and a continuous uber eats . #fun times. 2: My "how to cross stitch" sits where I left it, as does our 3 week home made pottery gathering dust on the kitchen shelves . Who were we actually kidding paying 100 quid for pottery !?!?! 3: The fun COVID roller coaster means I never know which me I'm going to be today . #good luck housemates 4: Jimmy brings always brings. I'm pretty sure I'm the ones keeping them in business. 5: TikTok. a 2 hour dark hole that I've just emerged from and scared to enter again 6: Cocktails and walks. The new manly Friday party . Is that a coffee or espresso martini in my cup #you'll never know 7: Covid is probably the only time I'll ever wash my bedding once a week #you'd be proud mum #fresh sheets keeping me sane 8: Dating. Who ARE you people hooking up in COVID? seriously, if anyone comes out of this looking Skinner, healthier and with a bf they met online whose is actually decent ; head back in for another 90 day stint! 9: #MUTE THE ZOOM LINE

MOTHER'S DAY 2020 This year was different. The day before, in the supermarket I join the carefully separated shoppers with sheafs of chrysanthemums in the tops of their trolleys above the boxes of chocolates. It feels like Christmas eve: the tone is festive, anticipatory. Women in mid-life manoevre trolleys deftly, scanning their lists with practised eyes. The seafood counter’s busy. Fathers with sons stride past un-trolleyed, intent on getting in and out, or stand in checkout lines with just Mum’s favourite sweets in hand. ‘That’ll do.’ Relieved. Me? I gather my Saturday papers, my favourite bread, and see the packaged chocolate cakes, a printed icing slab on top: ‘Happy Mother’s Day’– and find my eyes brimful. My mum is a long time gone– over thirty years ago. How can it hurt so much? I furtively wipe my eyes and head towards the fruit. Later, I head back against the flow, and defiantly pick up one of the chocolate cakes festooned with fondant love. It is unexpectedly heavy. I’ll share it with my kids. In the car I let the tears flow. How life continues to surprise us. Grief has no timetable, no neat ending. But salt water’s always healing. I wipe my eyes again and feel the sunlight warm me through the windscreen, snug in my driver’s seat, grown up again. Mostly.

I thank God I live in this wonderful country of ours. It may not seem it to a lot of those not lucky enough to own their own home or have a secure roof over their heads, but our statistics tell us that to date, we have escaped the full force of this surreal pandemic of COVID-19. At first I was scared, really scared that I might not survive. I have a heart/lung condition that means my outlook would be bleak if I contracted the virus - but - one has to eat, and visit the doctor, and chemist, so my wonderful partner and I, donned up with good masks and white cotton gloves, venture out to our nearest supermarket, as infrequently as we can. Problem is that fruit and vegetables only last so long. The streets are so quiet - so few cars. The noise of jetplanes flying overhead so infrequent as to be novel now. I stopped listening to the news on radio or watching the endless TV programs - all about coronavirus - ages ago. I get a quick update every now and then. But it is just too sad. I had planned a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the UK for the middle of 2020, but as it became more and more obvious that this wasn't going to happen, I 'bit the bullet' and cancelled everything. OK Qantas, when do I get some indication of a refund? I have changed from being scared for myself now, to worrying about my loved ones. I just hope everyone is taking the good advice to wash their hands, keep your distance and wear a mask if you need to (I do!) even though it seems a lot of experts say it's not necessary. Ya' reckon?

As a 12 year old kid I've been going through this pandemic like any 12 year old kid. We get up every morning doing the same thing every day. There's some pros but there's always cons as well. I think 2 of the many pros would be learning more things about my family and sleeping in. Some of the cons are not being able to see friends and not being able to see other relatives.

Covid-19 Before Covid-19 my life was, get up at 6:40am, go for a run, come back home eat breakfast, get dressed for school, catch the bus to school. After school is over i catch the bus home eat some food and go outside, but now it's... Get up at 7:40am go down stairs and eat breakfast, go upstairs and go online for school. Once school is over I go downstairs and eat food, then go outside and go for a walk. To sum it all up, This experience has made me realise that we should be so thankful for the freedom we have in this country.

COVID 19 Before Coronavirus we went to school normally and everyone was there. There was no social distancing. Everything was normal Now, there are not many people at school and we have to social distance. We are all at home looking at computer screens. I, personally like being at home because it is more comfortable.

Something I haven’t liked during this period of Covid-19 is that I haven’t been able to spend time with my family and friends it was a challenge as I’m Italian and whenever we gather with people we kiss them and hug them automatically, but of course we have to follow the social distancing rules. This year’s celebrations are a little bit different as we are not aloud to gather with other people so Easter, Mother’s Day and other celebrations were very quite. But something I’ve loved during this time is that it’s getting me ready for high school, I have also been able to spend more time with my family and I have been able to go through my work faster. I’m looking forward to when the restrictions ease as I can see my friends and family. At this point in time I feel a little bit captured and I felt like the world was going to end, when thousands of people were dying due to the Corona Virus. I thought 2020 would have been a great year but it has started worse than I thought it would have. I wasn’t even able to see my grandparents but now I can only see my nonna as my other grandparents live in a nursing home so only people over 16 can see them so they are not very happy that they can’t see their grandchildren. I can’t wait till we can live a normal life this is basically the new normal for us. Our school was only open for those parents kids who were essential. I have missed being able to socialise. This experience will go down into history and we will be able to tell our kids when we are older and say this is what happened... By Isabella

Hello there future generation what year is it for you 2025? 2030? 2040? Have you ever heard about The Corona virus? Well you see right now I am in the middle of The Corona virus pandemic I am in quarantine right now and it’s been a bit rough for me. My birthday was the 3rd of April right now it is the 11 of may. I was going to have a birthday party but we are not allowed, I wasn’t even allowed to see my family. I spend my time in quarantine by doing school work when it is finished I would play games go for walks around the street and that’s pretty much it I have nothing to do! You should feel grateful for how much you can do, I probably can’t do as much as you can. The virus is slowly going down and going up in different countries. We are only allowed to go to the shops for essential items and that’s it. I really do hope that this pandemic is gone soon! #StopTheSpread