Showing posts with label Pandemic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pandemic. Show all posts

Monday, 21 December 2020

How We Live Now: Scenes from the Pandemic | Bill Hayes

 

I had no idea that Bill Hayes was working on another scenes of New York book that would focus on the March-April Covid-19 lockdown of 2020. If I'd known, I may have experienced fewer angsty days of my own, knowing that Bill was going to somehow make it all right!
It’s a little like losing your life while still being alive, this experience.
How We Live Now is presented in a very similar way to Insomniac City from three years ago. A lovely hardback edition, with black and white photographs scattered throughout. Photographs, or more precisely portraits, that Bill takes of strangers as he is out walking around New York (with their permission). You can see some of them here. The photographs are usually accompanied by a vignette - whether it's what was happening on that particular day or a little personal story about his meeting and conversation with the stranger in question.
Behind me a small line had formed....A family was looking for books for their kids to read. I felt like I was in a metaphorical breadline - a breadline for feeding the brain and the soul.
Insomniac City was a love letter to New York and to his recently deceased partner, Oliver Sacks. How We Live Now continues this theme. Losing Oliver is obviously still a painful memory for Bill, but three years later, his stories are fond reminiscences rather than emotional outpourings. While his love for New York continues unabated, despite the changes that lockdown brought.
When you look out & see the empty streets & sidewalks & shuttered shops, a friend tells me, see it as solidarity - everyone doing their best to keep themselves & everyone else healthy....Even so, I can’t deny how sad & disorientating the absence of life in these once busy streets seems.
It's only a small volume. A slim slice of life as we are living it now, by someone who has a tender eye for detail, for the unusual and the routine. Hayes is a thoughtful man who reflects on how is feeling throughout this time as well as documenting the impact on some of those around him.
In the enforced solitude and silence, you can sometimes hear yourself replaying moments in your life, things said or not said, done or not done, love expressed or not expressed, all the gratitude you’ve ever received, all the gratitude you’ve ever felt.
He captured some of the feelings and moods that I also experienced during our Sydney lockdown. The moments of anxiety as well as the odd moments of peace - being able to listen to an individual bird sing, watching a skateboarder roll down an empty street from his apartment window...
Because I’ve worked at home for years now, the mandate to stay home and work from home is, I imagine, a little easier for someone like me. I’m also a loner and an introvert (except when it comes to strangers), which helps too.
Even so, there are times when I feel spooked - not scared but spooked.
However, what I found most endearing or comforting as I read How We Live Now, was the sense of solidarity that we are all in this together, and the reminder to live our lives now. Our collective here and now may not be the one we planned for or expected, but this is what we have right now. 
Because what IS is what matters most. What was will only make you blue in New York.

This is our life. We are living it. And that's all we have ever been able to do - to live in the world we are in.

Wishing that things were 'normal' or talking about when things go back to 'normal', will only lead us to despair. This is our normal now. We're living it. Whatever happens afterwards, will be different to what went before. This experience will change us all, in big ways and in small. We don't know what or how yet, but change is one of the few things guaranteed in life. Covid-19 has simply been a real in-your-face reminder that this is so. If we fight against it, we can become bitter and disappointed. However, if we accept it, and let go of our desire to control everything (one of the hardest lessons I've certainly had to learn as an adult) we can learn to roll with the punches and find some grace in just being, here, now.

And like Hayes, I am curious to see what's on the other side. 

I am climbing the walls here. But I also know I am among the most fortunate: I have a roof over my head, food in my fridge, and my health to be thankful for. So, if this is how we have to live - with masks and gloves and almost no human contact for several more months - then so be it, this is how we have to live. I just want to see what's on the other side of this f***ing mountain.

My Previous Plague/Pandemic Reads:

My Current Plague Reads:
  • A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century | Barbara Tuchman (non-fiction The Black Death)
  • How We Live Now | Bill Hayes

Up Next:
  • Pale Horse, Pale Rider | Katherine Anne Porter (Spanish Flu)
  • The Decameron Project: 29 Stories from the Pandemic | The New York Times (Covid-19)
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Saturday, 19 December 2020

The Covid Chronicles #9

I cannot believe the last time I sat down to write a Covid Chronicle was back in July.

Melbourne was at the beginning of it's second wave, while the rest of the country held it's collective breath. Would the outbreak spread? Would we all have to go into another lockdown?

Numbers steadily increased around the three hotspots in Sydney and by August most of the states had closed their borders to each other. Anyone coming or going from one state to the next, would have to self-isolate for two weeks. A very tricky situation for long haul truck drivers, in particular, to manage.

Melburnians went into a hard stage 4 lockdown on the 2nd August when their Premier announced a state of disaster. They had a week or so of 600+ positive cases a day, before the restrictions started to take effect and a steady decline in positive cases set in.

I began wearing a mask to work and anytime I had to be in a shop. It wasn't mandatory in NSW, just highly recommended by health officials. I was dealing with the public every day, so it seemed like an easy and simple thing to do to keep me from catching a virus that I'd rather not catch.

By the end of August the few hotspots in Sydney were all under control, with contract tracing and self-isolation doing the trick.

Interstate travel was still almost impossible, so we all enjoyed our spring break closer to home. Mr Books and I had a lovely week in the Port Stephens area, walking along the beach, reading and relaxing. We have been holidaying in this area for over 20 years now; it was the busiest we have ever seen it. 

Our holiday home in the Blue Mountains has been booked out every single weekend since July when state-wide travel reopened. We have never been busier.

By the middle of September, NSW basically had zero community transmission. I was able to leave the mask at home again, much to the relief of my hearing impaired colleague who had been unable to lip read during the whole mask-wearing phase.

Melbourne was getting on top it's second wave and it seemed like their tough approach was turning things around. By the end of September, they were able to finally ease restrictions.

A Trans-Tasman bubble came into effect in October between New Zealand and NSW, the ACT and Northern Territory. There were a couple of hiccups at the start, but it seems to be working well now.

On the 24th October, Victoria recorded 98 active cases; this was the first time since the 19th June in which Victoria had under 100 cases. Two days later they recorded zero new cases and zero deaths - a double doughnut day - as another new phrase entered our Covid-normal world!

November saw most of the states reopen their borders to each other as state by state we continue to achieve days and weeks with no new locally acquired cases. Melbourne has had no new cases since November 23rd and Sydney has enjoyed a similar story...until this week (see below).

A scare in Adelaide a couple of weeks ago, reminded us how quickly things can change. Lockdowns were announced and borders closed, before officials discovered that one of the key new cases in their cluster had lied about where he was and for how long. They were not dealing with a new, more virulent strain of the virus after all; just a quarantine hotel worker who didn't want to declare that he had a second job elsewhere.

Once again, government officials, and the media, were caught unawares by the economic realities of one of our citizens. 

But we can never completely breathe a sigh of relief. 

We watch in horror as Europe and the US descend back into a Covid disaster zone. We may grumble about our government officials at times, but most Australians are happy with how our Covid crisis has been handled. Overseas travel may not be a sensible thing to do right now, but as long as we can travel interstate, we're happy. Business is booming in every single holiday area - coastal, mountains and the outback. Towns known for their wineries, food, water activities or bushwalking are booked out months in advance. The local tourism industry is back in business with a vengeance. 

Will this last?

No.

Three days ago, a community case of Covid popped up in and around Avalon and Palm Beach, on the northern beaches of Sydney (home of 'Home & Away' for those of you in the UK). 

Yesterday, the number of positive cases jumped to 28 with the areas of concern stretching into Cronulla (down south), Penrith (western Sydney) and Woolloomooloo (city). Residents of the Northern beaches area are being urged to get tested and stay at home for three days, to give the authorities time to track down the source and ramp up the contact tracing for those being identified as positive.

Our fragile borders with other states became apparent once again, as WA quickly quarantined any incoming flights from Sydney while the other states nervously consider what to do next. Our Christmas guests from Victoria, planning to stay in our holiday home, cancelled last night due to the uncertainly of the situation once again. Northern beaches residents planning to go interstate for Christmas, will no longer be granted entry to other states. Anyone who has booked a holiday house to play in 'Summer Bay', will no doubt be seriously reconsidering their options too. 

This is how we roll now. Plans can change in the blink of an eye. We are all learning to be uber-flexible. Any reprieve is short-lived. We all live in hope that the new vaccines will be successful, with no side effects. Although, it will be March 2021 before we start any vaccination proceedings in Australia.

Until then, 

Take care; take heart.

And please let me know how you're going, wherever you are in the world.

The Northern Beaches suburbs:
  • Allambie Heights
  • Avalon Beach
  • Balgowlah
  • Balgowlah Heights
  • Bayview
  • Beacon Hill
  • Belrose
  • Bilgola Beach
  • Bilgola Plateau
  • Brookvale
  • Church Point
  • Clareville
  • Clontarf
  • Coasters Retreat
  • Collaroy
  • Collaroy Plateau
  • Cottage Point
  • Cromer
  • Curl Curl
  • Currawong Beach
  • Davidson
  • Dee Why
  • Duffys Forest
  • Elanora Heights
  • Elvina Bay
  • Fairlight
  • Forestville
  • Frenchs Forest
  • Freshwater
  • Great Mackerel Beach
  • Ingleside
  • Killarney Heights
  • Ku-ring-gai Chase
  • Lovett Bay
  • Manly
  • Manly Vale,
  • McCarrs Creek
  • Mona Vale
  • Morning Bay
  • Narrabeen
  • Narraweena
  • Newport
  • North Balgowlah
  • North Curl Curl
  • North Manly
  • North Narrabeen
  • Oxford Falls
  • Palm Beach
  • Pittwater
  • Queenscliff
  • Scotland Island
  • Seaforth
  • Terrey Hills
  • Warriewood
  • Whale Beach
  • Wheeler Heights

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Monday, 26 October 2020

Intimations: Six Essays | Zadie Smith #NonFiction

 

This slim volume of essays grabbed my attention thanks to it's Covid-related lockdown content. Lately, I've been reading a number of fiction titles about plagues and epidemics (see below). This was the first one, however, that considered our current Covid situation.

I've been meaning to read something by Zadie Smith, ever since 2000 and White Teeth, which almost everyone I know has read and loved and says I should read too. The most I've managed so far, though, are a few introductions that she has done in other books or passing references made by other authors who admire her work.

This was a fine start, showing her obvious intelligence and thoughtfulness. Two things I usually appreciate a lot. However, in the middle of a pandemic, I guess I was also looking for more warmth. 

I found it curious that she choose an epigraph by Marcus Aurelius to lead us in, as I also found Aurelius intelligent and thoughtful, but lacking in warmth, when I read him twenty odd years ago. At the time I put it down to a translation and passing of time thing, but perhaps it can be hard to intellectualise and emote at the same time? 
It stares you in the face. No role is so well suited to philosophy as the one you happen to be in right now.

The second epigraph was by Grace Paley, who according to wikipedia was 'a writers writer', fuelled by idealism and activism. Perhaps with this quote, Smith is saying she is prepared to look at what is happening 'in the face...right now', but that something more is needed for 'an active moral life.' Perhaps developing an excellent soul requires more rigor and virtue than most of us can summon up right now?
My vocabulary is adequate for writing notes and keeping journals but absolutely useless for an active moral life.

However, Smith realised that there were two things she could, indeed, do. In her Foreword she embraces the notion that:
1. Talking to yourself can be useful.
2. And writing means being overheard.

The following six essays went on to explore death, control, denial, resistance, restraint, vulnerability, creativity, destruction, distance and social justice. She talks; and we listen. She posits; we ponder.
Below is what I pulled out of her essays.

1. Peonies: or tulips, or how nature, real and imagined, can heal, connect and soothe our souls. 
  • Walking is what got me through our lockdown in NSW. It was autumn, the weather was glorious, and I walked for hours through parks, and past gardens in their final flush of flowering. I took solace in the changing of the leaves and the shortening of the days, even in a built up inner city suburb. Splashes of geraniums and chrysanthemums would catch my eye and lift my spirits. The sun would sparkle on the harbour and reflect in the glassed sky scrapers across the bay, along with the blue skies and clouds. 

How experience 'rolls over everybody' - sometimes we resist, sometimes we submit. The creative process is about trying to create some order out of the chaos. 
writing is control...writing is all resistance...to write is to swim in an ocean of hypocrisies. 
  • I was surprised by how quickly and easily I submitted to the changing circumstances. My control, my creativity found expression in photography. I captured the autumnal changes and posted them on instagram. I didn't need my tulips to be peonies. For me, any flower would do!

2. The American Exception: 'I wish we could have our old life back'. 
  • Curiously, I don't. There was absolutely nothing wrong with my old life; I loved most of it, most of the time. But even back then, pre-Covid, life changed and evolved. Things shifted. Good things happened; bad things happened. And we moved onto the next thing. This is the next thing. It's a bit bigger and more drastic than is usual, but it's what we do. Life changes and we can never go back. There is only a constantly changing now.

Death absolute is the truth of our existence as a whole, of course, but America has rarely been philosophically inclined to consider existence as a whole....

  • Every time I read something about the American health system, I am so grateful to live in a country that has basic free health cover for all of it's citizens. 

war transforms its participants. What was once necessary appears inessential.

  • I've realised I don't need to go out as often as I did. I'm an introvert and staying home, quietly, is pretty easy for me. But I do miss art galleries. It's not necessary for me to go shopping or go out every night. I don't need hustle and bustle or endless stimulation. But I do need beauty. And I need my local community. I need to know we will have cafes and restaurants and local businesses going forward. I now only shop local; no online megastores for me.


3. Something to Do: or how we fill our lockdown days. How conflicted we feel about this new liberty and/or captivity...the only way out is through...love is not something to do, but something to be experienced, and something to go through.
  • Once I got over the distraction of lockdown and all the Covid news, I rediscovered reading. I've always read, but now, I'm reading more than ever. Creating little projects for ourselves is a good thing. We do need to keep busy; it can keep the demons at bay. And if it's something you also love to do, or it helps those you love, then bonus! Bake bread, solve a puzzle, create a potted herb garden, clean out your cupboards, paint the deck. Yes, it's busy work. Yes, it's something we do, because most of us really have 'no idea what life is for', so surely it's better to being doing something, than glumly doing nothing. The older I get, the more I realise there is no meaning of life. Life is simply what we make of it. 

4. Suffering Like Mel Gibson: or how lockdown affects us all differently, depending on our circumstances. Privilege and suffering have a lot in common. They both manifest as bubbles, containing a person and distorting their vision.
  • I acknowledge all the good fortune that I have experienced during Covid so far. All my family are still working. Some now work from home or have reduced hours, but they're all still working. For those with reduced hours, our government JobKeeper program has buffered any pain. Our lockdown (in NSW) was brief and moderate. Our social lives are curtailed and I miss hugging close friends (I don't miss the cheek kissing or hand shaking though). I only know one person who has had the virus, although most people I know have been tested once or twice. Our state government seems to have nailed contact tracing. Any outbreaks are quickly contained. We feel safe but quiet. The restrictions we live under now are occasionally irksome but not onerous. I am fortunate. 

5. Screengrabs (After Berger, before the virus): I assume she means John Berger and is referencing Ways of Seeing. She draws mini-word-portraits...of a man with strong hands, a character in a wheelchair in the vestibule, a woman with a little dog....you get the idea.
  • I liked how this helped Smith to focus on her local community, and how different people are coping with Covid and lockdown. Covid has also concentrated my gaze onto the local. I'm doing all my grocery shopping locally, I eat takeaway from our local restaurants. I could have coffee at home, but I'm getting it from a rotating set of local baristas on my walk to work instead. I'm not the only one. Many of those new to working from home, are taking their laptops to local cafes for the company. We've lost a few businesses, but they were struggling before Covid. I see more people reading books, in cafes, in the parks, and in the doctor's surgery.

The enviable style of the young is little protection against catastrophe...their style is all they have.
  • It's not easy for the young. B20 is home more than out. And when out, he and his friends cannot dance, sing or walk around. They must sit in a pub, at a designated table. They are usually home again by 1pm. B20 is mostly philosophical. It's all he knows. They have social media to keep in touch. At least he isn't heading off to war, like many previous generations of young men his age. It could be worse.

6. Intimations: acknowledgements and shout-outs, or as Smith called them 'Debts and Lessons' to her family and friends.
That my physical and moral cowardice have never really been tested, until now.

A number of the essays tackled Black Lives Matter concerns. Racism as a virus. Class contempt. Plagued by poverty. I suspect Smith will have a lot more to say about this in the future. I look forward to it. 

Intimations felt like a beginning. A germ of an idea that hasn't quite reached fruition. It's the first reaction, a first response, by a thoughtful writer. It's a reaching out to test the waters and to connect. To see if anyone is listening. 

Judging by sales, lots of people are listening. Lots of people are looking for someone to help them make sense of what is happening to their world, to find a common cause, to stand on common ground. Together. To feel connected in our isolation. 

Royalties of my edition of Intimations are going to The Equal Justice Initiative and The Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund for New York.

Previous Plague/Pandemic Reads:

Current Plague Reads:
  • A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century | Barbara Tuchman (non-fiction)

Up Next:
  • Pale Horse, Pale Rider | Katherine Anne Porter

Plague/Pandemic Books On My Radar:
  • Station Eleven | Emily St John Mandel
  • Blindness | José Saramago
  • The Last Man | Mary Shelley
  • The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World | Steven Johnson (non-fiction)
  • Nemesis | Philip Roth
  • Love in the Time of Cholera | Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • The Years of Rice and Salt | Kim Stanley Robinson
  • The Dog Stars | Peter Heller
  • The Children’s Hospital | Chris Adrian
  • Severance | Ling Ma
  • The White Plague | Frank Herbert
  • The Passage | Justin Cronin
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Saturday, 10 October 2020

A Journal of the Plague Year | Daniel Defoe #Classic


For the first half of this year, I was avoiding plague literature, like the plague! 
But since reading Camus' The Plague during August, I seem to be verging on obsession. What are the signs, I hear you ask? First up, how many people do you know, who take plague literature with them on a holiday to the beach?

I did.

For a week at the beach in September, I packed Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year, Emma Donoghue's The Pull of the Stars, Katherine Anne Porter's short story collection Pale Horse Pale Rider and Barbara Tuckman's A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. Enough said!

I think if I had read A Journal of the Plague Year prior to 2020, I may have found the story a bit difficult to follow and maybe even a bit dull with its attention to detail, death lists. laws and regulations. (See Nick @One Catholic Life who read this in 2017 and said, 'Not a bad read, but not something that I plan on rereading again'). However, reading it whilst in the middle of an actual pandemic, has been another experience entirely!

Like my reading of Camus, I was particularly fascinated by the thoughts and feelings and actions of other people throughout history, in coping with plague events.

Once again, it is all there, for us to see (and learn from), if only we would look. 

Everything we are going through right now, has been gone through before. The people just wore different clothes!

With all our wonderful advances in technology and science, we still make the same erroneous assumptions, the same mistakes are made and we go through the same psychological trauma. 

Happily, the same causes for celebration and hope also reoccur with every plague. The hero helpers, the medical staff, and the carers. The law makers who take the time to get it right, who regulate for the common good yet find a way to act humanely and kindly to individuals, the regular folk who do they right things and make personal sacrifices for the greater good. Every time, there are more of these than of the others who rebel, deny or ignore.

My reading of A Journal of the Plague Year was about finding the common experiences.

The rather shambolic structure of the book, can be seen to reflect the chaotic nature of the plague. The fears, the rumours and the disbelief that spread, as the plague approached, the changing laws and (dis)information as the first cases were diagnosed, the grief, loss and suffering that ebbed and flowed with hope and relief at different times. Defoe describes it all, in great detail, several times!

A lot of the rambling style is taken up with the numbers game. 

Just as we watch the daily news and listen to regular updates about how many people were tested today, how many positive cases, how many deaths, how do we compare to other states and other countries, in 1665, they had the Parish Bills posted on the local church board and Bills of Mortality. Defoe tracked the Plague through the various boroughs and counties of England and he also listed the various trades and jobs adversely affected by the Plague. 

The city of London is a central player in this story. Defoe did a lot of research to accurately recall the layouts of streets and shops during this time. His character walks the streets and describes what he sees. This was not an easy thing to do. The streets of the city were crowded, confusing and dirty. And everything changed, the following year, in 1666, when the Great Fire of London gutted most of central London. Defoe had to work on memory and old reference books to bring pre-1666 London to life again. 

Below, I've included a number of quotes, that show the progression and common experiences, as I saw it, during my read.

  • We had no such thing as printed News Papers in those Days, to spread Rumours and Reports of Things...handed about by word of mouth only; so that things did not spread instantly over the whole nation, as they do now. But it seems that the Government had a true Account of it, and several Counsels were held about Ways to prevent its coming over; but it was all very private.
  • it was rumour'd that an order of the Government was to be issued out, to place Turn-pikes and Barriers on the Road, to prevent Peoples travelling; and that the Towns on the Road, would not suffer People from London to pass.
  • that the best Preparation for the Plague was to run away from it.
  • I enclin'd to stay and take my Lot in that Station in which God had plac'd me.
  • Sorrow and Sadness sat upon every Face.
  • the shriecks of Women and Children at the Windows, and Doors of their Houses.
  • already People had, as it were by a general Consent, taken up the Custom of not going out of Doors after Sun-set.
  • It was a very ill Time to be sick in, for if any one complain'd, it was immediately said he had the Plague.
  • it was most surprising thing, to see those Streets, which were usually so thronged, now grown desolate, and so few People to be seen in them.
  • The Apprehensions of the People, were likewise strangely encreas'd by the Error of the times...the People...were more adicted to Prophesies, and Astrological Conjurations, Dreams, and old Wives Tales.
  • These Terrors and Apprehensions of the People, led them into a Thousand weak, foolish, and wicked Things.
  • the people, whose Confusions fitted them to be impos'd upon by all Sorts of Pretenders, and by every Mountebank.
  • the Physicians...to their Praise, that they ventured their Lives so far as even to lose them in the Service of Mankind; They endeavoured to do good, and to save the Lives of others.
  • Every visited House to be...marked with a red Cross.
  • Every visited House to be watched...the shutting up to be for the space of four Weeks after all be whole.
  • That no Hogs, Dogs, or Cats, or Tame Pigeons, or Conies, be suffered to be kept within any part of the City.
  • no wandring Begger be suffered in the Streets of this City, in any fashion or manner, whatsoever.
  • That all Plays, Bear-Baitings, Games, singing of Ballads, Buckler-play, or suck like Causes of Assemblies of People, be utterly prohibited.
  • That all publick Feasting...and Dinners at Taverns, Alehouses, and other Places of common Entertainment be forborn till further Order and Allowance.
  • This shutting up of houses was at first counted a very cruel and Unchristian Method, and the poor People so confin'd made bitter Lamentations.
  • But it was a publick Good that justified the private Mischief.
  • many Families foreseeing the Approach of the Distemper, laid up Stores of Provisions, sufficient for their whole Families, and shut themselves up.
  • this Necessity of going out of our Houses to buy Provisions, was in a great Measure the Ruin of the whole City.
  • the Misery of that Time lay upon the Poor.
  • the Danger of immediate Death to ourselves, took away all Bowels of Love, all Concern for one another.
  • I must acknowledge that this time was Terrible, that I was sometimes at the End of all my Resolutions.
  • Perfumes...Aromaticks, Balsamicks, and Variety of Drugs, and Herbs; in another Salts and Spirits, as every one was furnish'd for their own Preservation.
  • the danger of Relapse upon the whole City, and telling them how such a Relapse might be more fatal and dangerous than the whole Visitation that had been already.
  • in what manner to purge the Houses and Goods, where the Plague had been.
In the appendix of my 2003 Penguin Classics edition, I was reminded that the plague bacillus was not discovered by science until 1894 during the Hongkong epidemic of that year. Until then, the plague was believed to be an airborne disease. 

We now know that the plague was spread by the fleas found on black rats. The bacillus can actually survive in textiles and faeces for up to a year in warm, damp places. 

There are three types of plague - bubonic, pneumonic (or pulmonary) and septicaemic.

The note is made that 'people rarely communicated the disease to each other (except through the coughing of those with pneumonic plague), but in a flea and rat ridden culture, that is almost beside the point.'

Defoe did a brilliant job of bringing to life this time in history. The despair and fear was palpable, the confusion and hopelessness felt real, almost too real, during this time. The people of London were brought low and wondered what they had done to deserve this fate. Yet, Defoe was determined to show us, that it is, in fact, our community, and our desire to live a good collective life, that can save us all in the end.  

One can only imagine what was felt, by the good citizens of London, to have their year of plague followed by a cataclysmic fire. We can take heart from the fact, that those before us, have survived and thrived much worse that a year of coronavirus. This too shall pass.

Previous Plague/Pandemic Reads: 

Current Plague Reads:
  • A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century | Barbara Tuchman (non-fiction)
Up Next:
  • Intimations | Zadie Smith (non-fiction)
  • Pale Horse, Pale Rider | Katherine Anne Porter
Plague/Pandemic Books On My Radar:
  • Station Eleven | Emily St John Mandel
  • Blindness | José Saramago
  • The Last Man | Mary Shelley
  • The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World | Steven Johnson (non-fiction)
  • Nemesis | Philip Roth
  • Love in the Time of Cholera | Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • The Years of Rice and Salt | Kim Stanley Robinson
  • The Dog Stars | Peter Heller
  • The Children’s Hospital | Chris Adrian
  • Severance | Ling Ma
  • The White Plague | Frank Herbert
  • The Passage | Justin Cronin

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Wednesday, 23 September 2020

The Pull of the Stars | Emma Donoghue #HistoricalFiction

 

After reading a number of slow, reflective reads lately, I needed something a bit easier and faster. The Pull of the Stars fit the bill nicely. It was easy to read, even with the rather detailed 1918 midwifery and autopsy scenes that left me gasping and wincing in sympathy!

In keeping with my current Plague Lit phase, this is a book about the 1918-19 influenza that devastated the entire world as World War One was coming to an end. 

The book charts three days on the maternity/fever ward in a hospital in Dublin, Ireland, with Nurse Julia Power and her young volunteer, Bridie Sweeney. The hospital is extremely understaffed, and Nurse Power is working a room barely bigger than a cupboard with just enough space for three beds. Power has already had the fever and recovered, as is now considered immune.

Donoghue weaves in all the rumours and myths that surrounded the Spanish flu including it being a 'miasma' coming off all the dead bodies from the war in France, a religious judgement about said war, the consequence of so many people travelling or 'milling about across the globe', or an alignment or influence of the stars (hence the name of the book).

My reading tended to focus on the points of connection or similarity between then and now. On her way in to work, Power notices 'so many shops shuttered now due to staff being laid low by the grippe...many of the firms that were still open looked deserted to me, on the verge of failing for lack of custom.'

There were the contrarians who didn't like having their personal freedoms curtailed for the greater good and therefore, chose to believe that the effects of the flu were being exaggerated. There was suspicion about government propaganda and oodles of old wives tales about how best to prevent catching the flu - from using eucalyptus oil, carrying raw garlic in your pocket or around your neck, gargling brandy, eating an onion a day, carrying rosaries and other charms and amulets.

The science was not as quick as it is now, but facts about the nature of the Influenza constantly changed and evolved as more research and tests were done. As now, this added to some people's confusion and allowed conspiracy theorists to thrive. The Spanish flu was referred to by numerous names such as the great flu, khaki flu, blue flu, black flu, the grippe, or the grip, the malady, and the war sickness.

The government propaganda signs were confusing, contradictory and often laughable. 
A new foe is in our midst: panic. The general weakening of nerve power known as war-weariness has opened a door to contagion. Defeatists are the allies of disease.

The public is urged to stay out of public places such as cafes, theatres, cinemas and public houses. See only those persons one needs to see. Refrain from shaking hands, laughing, or chatting closely together. If one must kiss, do so through a handkerchief. Sprinkle sulphur in the shoes. If in doubt, don't stir out.

The Government has this situation well in hand and the epidemic is actually in decline. There is no real risk except to the reckless who try to fight the flu on their feet. If you feel yourself succumbing, report yourself, and lie down for a fortnight. Would they be dead if you stayed in bed.

The Pull of the Stars was a great holiday read (I read it in two days lying on the beach). I learnt probably more than I ever need to know about certain birthing matters and I was curious to learn about the colour phases of the flu's development - from red to brown, to blue, to black, that Donoghue used to create her chapter headings. Overall, an engaging read with plenty of parallels to our times.

Facts:
  • Donoghue is Irish born but now lives in London, Ontario, so The Pull of the Stars will probably appear on many of the Canadian literary prizes starting with this year's longlist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
  • On her website, and in her author's notes at the back of the book, Donoghue said,
A personal note: I began this novel in October 2018, inspired by the centenary of the Great Flu of 1918-19, and I delivered the final draft to my publishers in March 2020, two days before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. In researching the Great Flu, one fact that leapt out at me was that women before, during and for weeks after birth were particularly vulnerable to catching and suffering terrible complications from that virus. I’ve put into this story some of the labour dramas of women I know (and one of my own), and all my gratitude to frontline health workers who see us through our most frightening and transformative experiences. I could have set The Pull of the Stars anywhere, but I went for my home town of Dublin partly because Ireland was going through such a fascinating political metamorphosis in those years, and because I wanted to reckon with my country’s complicated history of carers, institutions and motherhood.

 

  • Dr Kathleen Lynn (a secondary but memorable character) was a real life rebel doctor whose worked focused on the well being of infants and their mothers.
  • Bridie's back story, as well as that of one of the young mum's in the ward with Nurse Power, were based on real life events as told to the 2009 Ryan Commission and discussed in this article here.


Other Books by Donoghue:

Previous Plague/Pandemic Reads: 

Current Plague Reads:
  • Journal of a Plague Year | Daniel Defoe
  • A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century | Barbara Tuchman (non-fiction)
Up Next:
  • Intimations | Zadie Smith (non-fiction)
  • Pale Horse, Pale Rider | Katherine Anne Porter
Plague/Pandemic Books On My Radar:
  • Station Eleven | Emily St John Mandel
  • Blindness | José Saramago
  • The Last Man | Mary Shelley
  • The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World | Steven Johnson (non-fiction)
  • Nemesis | Philip Roth
  • Love in the Time of Cholera | Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • The Years of Rice and Salt | Kim Stanley Robinson
  • The Dog Stars | Peter Heller
  • The Children’s Hospital | Chris Adrian
  • Severance | Ling Ma
  • The White Plague | Frank Herbert
  • The Passage | Justin Cronin

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Saturday, 25 July 2020

The Covid Chronicles #8


Nearly two months ago, I wrote my last Covid Chronicles #7. 

In Australia, our curve had flattened, lockdown conditions had been lifted and our only new cases of coronavirus came from international travellers. All these travellers went into a mandatory 2-week government-controlled quarantine in various hotels around Sydney and Melbourne, before being allowed back out into the world at large.

Covid was still out there, but it seemed like it was a long. long way away.

Around this time Mr Books alerted me to the fringe nutters who were talking about conspiracy theories. Somehow the coronavirus was fake news, man-made, a hoax and deliberately released into the world by a certain nation-state or individuals with ulterior motives, all at the same time. It brought together unlikely bed-fellows with anti-vaxxer's suddenly in bed with right-wing, gun-toting, pro-lifers. A few groups were even trying to find a way to link the virus to anti-5-G issues.

Despite these (amusing) distractions my life has continued on, adjusting to our new normal, laying low and staying pretty quiet. 

Mr Books and I had lunch in a pub with one couple in June, then dinner in a restaurant with another couple in July. We enjoyed a family birthday out one night as well. We've both had a couple of coffee dates with other friends, one at a time. But that's about it.

I try to social distance as much as possible at work and when I go grocery shopping. Most people seem to be cognisant of this too, but a few people are crap. Some people are wasting a lot of time and energy on the blame-game and wishing that life would get back to normal, instead of accepting where we are and trying to get by as best as possible in our new and changing circumstances. 

I've certainly had various ups and downs as I learn to adapt to our new normal. Change is never easy, but it is inevitable. I try to accept rather than rail against the impossible. I avoid large crowds or busy spaces and I haven't been on public transport since March. But I try to not to obsess about it. 

I go for long walks when I can and I'm reading more than ever. A part of me doesn't mind the slower pace of life. I have my family, my work and our house in the mountains to clean every week, after the guests have left. On guest-free weekends, we even get to enjoy a weekend away in our holiday home ourselves.

That seemed to be the state of our new normal.

But then things changed. 
Again.

About a month ago, (still to be determined) breaches occurred at two of the quarantine hotels in Melbourne. Private security companies had been given the job to guard the hotels. It turns out their training may have been less than adequate for the job at hand. The seriousness of the situation did not seem apparent to a number of them as they allowed family groups to move between rooms and failed to maintain appropriate social distancing standards. The story is that some of the guards were having sex with some of those in quarantine. It can be hard to separate the urban myth from the reality, so I only repeat this story here as an example of something that has become 'common knowledge' without anyone really knowing for sure.

Very quickly, Victoria, and the Melbourne area in particular, became a covid disaster zone. Within two weeks, Melburnians alone, were exceeding the numbers of positive cases experienced by the entire country back in April. Intensive care wards started filling up and the death rates have crept up again.

The two coronavirus spikes in Australia (so far)

Sadly, we have proven the old adage that the second wave, or the second spike, is usually worse than the first when it comes to epidemics. And most of our second spike has come from just one state at this point.

Wearing masks out of the home is now compulsory for Melburnians and all Victorians have been urged to stay at home. The adjoining states quickly closed their borders to Victorian travellers as, those living in the greater Melbourne area went back into stage 3 lockdown. 

But not before a Victorian traveller managed to infect the staff and patrons of a club in south Sydney. One of the patrons then had dinner at a neighbouring Thai restaurant, and one of those diners went to the Hunter Valley and another went to five funerals in five separate venues in one week. And so it goes.

Suddenly NSW has three hotspots or clusters. A few churches and schools have been closed down this week for deep-cleans and record numbers of people are turning up to be tested again.

Mr Books had to take a trip to southern NSW a fortnight ago. Within days of returning, he came down with a nasty cold. On Sunday afternoon, we both lined up to get tested. Our negative results came back on Tuesday evening. That was two whole days where we had to stay at home and self-isolate. Two whole days where I could not go to work.

I'm lucky, my work is understanding and thanks to government schemes like JobKeeper, I still get enough pay for those days off. But this current outbreak of covid in Australia has once again highlighted the disparity in work conditions for many Australians. It would appear that around half of the Victorians being tested for covid were not self-isolating while they waited for their results to come back. They felt they could not afford to miss those two days of work and the pay that went with it. 

There is also a sense that most Australians will not be happy about having to go back into lockdown and that compliance could be an issue going forward. The economic downturn is starting to bite as we look to a twenty year future of paying off the deficit incurred during covid. No-one seems to be denying the necessity of this debt (except for ultra-right-wing conspiracy theorists) as most people have benefited from the support and most people understand how much worse things could have been if none of the support packages had been on offer. 

Everyone we know has had reduced hours at work or has lost a job. Almost every small business I know is struggling to keep it all going. JobKeeper and small business packages are the only thing keeping retail alive at the moment. We are all aware that a number of businesses will not survive. That means more job losses and less money flowing through the local economy.

NSW has had 82 locally acquired covid cases this week. After so many weeks with none, it is a rude shock to realise that our covid roller-coaster ride is about to go up again.

We have bought a couple of packs of medical disposable face masks and I've placed an order for some pretty silk ones. I suspect mandatory (or at least strongly recommended) face mask wearing in public is not very far away for those of us in Sydney.

Adapt and be prepared is my new motto!

Take care; take heart.
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Tuesday, 14 July 2020

The End of the World is Bigger than Love | Davina Bell #AWW


I recently read an interview with Ann Patchett where see was asked about hard it was to scrap a piece of writing that wasn't working and to start again. The interviewer thought it might almost be like a little death to let go a hard-won piece of writing, but Patchett was more pragmatic. Her reply was that writing was like baking a cake. Sometimes you burnt the cake and had to make it again. But before you did, you could cut open the burnt cake and still eat the warm, gooey, soft bits in the middle that weren't burnt.

With that in mind, I jettisoned the over-cooked post I had been labouring over for a couple of weeks for this book. It was a relief to let it go.

I enjoyed The End of the World is Bigger than Love by Davina Bell so much, that my desire to write a response that did it justice, had got all messy and complicated with too many ingredients. If you promise to read on, I promise no more cooking metaphors!

This young adult novel will not suit everybody's tastes.

Lots of readers do not like dual narratives, so be warned, this book is narrated by twins, Summer and Winter.

Our two protagonists are also unreliable narrators, another love/hate device for many readers. Personally, I loved the mixed messages we were getting from Summer and Winter throughout the book. Who was telling the truth? Who wasn't? And why?

The story also jumps time and place fairly regularly as the girls remember all sorts of stuff about their childhood from their current position, stranded on a deserted island, without their father, after the world has gone to shit rather suddenly and dramatically. And rather presciently given current Covid-19 events.

This is a story about memories, feelings, thinking and relationships, therefore, not at all suitable for those seeking adventure and action.

Then there's the mix of cyber-terrorism, eco-dystopian, speculative fiction and coming-of-age themes with a whiff of romance that might put some readers off. This rather unconventional mix, however, worked beautifully for me. Even the ambiguous ending wasn't enough to deter me from my glowing, gushing feelings for this book.

Finally, Summer is pretty verbose. She uses lots of words instead of just a few and her energy levels and enthusiasm for everything is pretty high. In fact, she comes across as one of those rather annoying teenage girls who talks very loudly, very fast and thinks that everyone wants to know every little thing about her, and they want to know it right now! In real life, this would annoy me no end, but here, I found Summer to be rather endearing. 
Perhaps it was all the books.

Both Summer and Winter are great readers, thanks to the library left to them by their mother. Their list of desert island books was truly impressive. Why did they never try to leave the island for two years?  I say the books! 

Why would you need the rest of the big bad climate-mess world and the deadly greying, when you could read and reread books like Anne of Green Gables, The Diary of a Young Girl, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Outsiders, The Secret Garden, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close to name just a few.

This book may not be for you, and that's okay, but for those of you like me, who love to fall headlong into a bookish world of words and ideas, uncertainty and mystery with two strong characters, then this is the book to dive into. 

Love can sometimes feel like the end of the world, and the end of the world may be bigger than love, but if you have to face down the end of the world as you know it, then it's much better to do so with love by your side.

Obviously, my time with Summer has affected me more than I thought!

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, and it's not an easy book to describe, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Summer and Winter, even when I wanted to shake them or give them a good piece of my mind! Being a teenager is not an easy thing. Books like this remind of us how awkward and uncertain and fearless this time can be and can also make us grateful for how short a period of time this phase actually is in the scheme of a whole life, even though it doesn't feel like that at the time.

Favourite Quote:
We live on a blue planet that circles around a ball of fire next to a moon that moves the sea, and you don’t believe in miracles?

Davina Bell has had an interesting career trajectory. From working in publishing/editing to writing award-winning picture books for children and primary school aged kids, and now, The End of the World is Bigger than Love.

Facts:
  • Our Australian Girl: Alice Stories
  • The Underwater Fancy Dress Parade (illustrator Allison Colpoys)
  • Birthday Baby (with Jane Godwin and illustrated by Freya Blackwood)
  • Hattie Helps Out (with Jane Godwin and illustrated by Freya Blackwood)
  • Oh, Albert! (illustrator Sara Acton)
  • Under the Love Umbrella (illustrator Allison Colpoys)
  • Lemonade Jones (with Karen Blair)
  • The Corner Park Clubhouse series
  • Baby Day (with Jane Godwin and illustrated by Freya Blackwood)
  • All the Ways to Be Smart (illustrator Allison Colpoys)
  • All the Factors of Why I Love Tractors (illustrator Jennie Lovlie)
Book 4 of 20 Books of Summer Winter
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Monday, 8 June 2020

The Covid Chronicles #7


It feels like this may be my last Covid Chronicles for the time being.
NSW has just clocked over 10 days of no new community transmission cases of Covid-19. Restrictions have eased. gradually but dramatically over the past few weeks, and life is almost back as it was. Except for the containers of hand sanitiser at the entrance to every shop and coloured spots on the floor reminding us to social distance.

The occasional international traveller still tests positive, but all overseas travellers, regardless of Covid status, still go into a two week quarantine before being given the green light to emerge. As far as I can tell, it will only take one breach in this particular system for things to deteriorate again.

Travel restrictions have eased, and NSWellians can travel within the state again as of the 1st June. 

We have a BnB property in the Blue Mountains. Less than an hour after the official announcement, we had our first booking. We are now booked solid until the end of July, with a new cleaning schedule in place that also includes disinfecting.

Given the year this area of NSW has had thanks to the summer bush fires (with almost no bookings throughout Dec, Jan, Feb and March) and now Covid (with no bookings at all during April and May) the flow-on effect to cafes, restaurants and tourist sites has been disastrous. It's good to see and feel a buzz in local high streets again.

Winter junior sport is back to training, with a season start date imminent. Curiously, over 18's are not allowed to return to training yet, but they are allowed to go to pubs and clubs again to drink and gamble. Obviously the gambling industry needs are more essential than playing team sport in the open air! Some things never change.

Schools are back full-time, although most uni's are still offering their courses online via social conferencing platforms, to cater for the number of overseas students who cannot be in Australia for live classes. The over-dependence of our universities on overseas students for funds has been another exposed flaw in the old way of doing things. But will it change? I doubt it.

A number of sectors are struggling to get spare parts for machinery (farming, automotive, white goods etc), highlighting the mistakes we've made over the past decades in closing down and moving our reliance on small industry off shore. A few home grown companies producing farming equipment in particular have stepped into the breach and massively increased their production over the past couple of months, so maybe there will be some positive changes after all.

We still monitor the number of people who can be in our bookshop at one time. The cleaning schedule is far more rigorous than it used to be. So far everyone seems to be doing the right thing, although the close-talkers have really struggled to change their ways!

I'm completely over the elbow bump and refuse to initiate it, but I happily blow kisses and smiles in the direction of close friends and family. I've even bowed a few times.

I've had my first coffee date with a friend in our favourite coffee shop. In the past few weeks I've had a haircut and a massage for the first time in over two months. But I'm not keen to rush back into anything else. 

I have yet to travel anywhere on public transport. We haven't gone out for dinner with friends (although we do order takeaway to do our bit to help keep local businesses open). Our only guests at home have been B22 and his lovely GF and an occasional friend visit for B19.

It feels like we may have got on top of this virus...for now. Being an island nation has helped us once again. It was also one of the factors that helped Australia in 1919 with the Spanish 'flu. 

During 1918 as the 'flu devastated Europe and the US after the war, our Australian soldiers and nurses were quarantined (stuck) overseas. This, naturally, caused a lot of hardship and unrest at the time.

The long boat trip home for them, when restrictions eased, meant that the 'flu didn't reach our shores until 1919. And when it did, it was a less deadly version. 15 000 young Australians still died thanks to complications caused by the flu. Curiously, most of them were young women. But then, I guess, most of the young man from that age group were still overseas, dead or waiting to return home.

Source - Centenary of 'Spanish flu' pandemic in Australia | The University of Sydney | 21 January 2019 | Dr Peter Hobbins
At Sydney’s enormous Rookwood Cemetery, a lichen-spotted headstone captures a family’s double burden of grief.

The grave contains the remains of 19-year-old Harriet Ann Ottaway, who died on 2 July 1919. Its monument also commemorates her brother Henry James Ottaway, who ‘died of wounds in Belgium, 23rd Sept 1917, aged 21 years’.

While Henry was killed at the infamous Battle of Passchendaele, Harriet’s headstone makes no mention of her own courageous combat with ‘Spanish flu’.

Harriet’s story typifies the enduring public silence around the pneumonic influenza pandemic of 1918–19. Worldwide, it killed an estimated 50-100 million people – at least three times all of the deaths caused by the First World War.

After the disease came ashore in January 1919, about a third of all Australians were infected and the flu left nearly 15,000 dead in under a year. Those figures match the average annual death rate for the Australian Imperial Force throughout 1914–18.

It's astounding that most of us are only learning about the facts about the 1919 pandemic now. 
I wonder what will happen to this Covid time in the future? Will their be articles marking it's centenary in 2120? Will it spawn books, music, a change in thinking? Or will it fall back into the fog of history leaving nothing but a stack of stats and graphs? And memes.

I know that many countries are still in the grip of this virus and still have a long way to go before they can feel a degree of safety or return to any form of normal life. My thoughts are with you.

Obviously the virus is still out there. We're aware that second and third waves can result in even higher rates of transmission, as people relax. It could all go pear-shaped pretty quickly. 

But I am an optimist after all. I believe and hope that we're over the worst, yet I'm still prepared (as much as one can be) for other eventualities. Please feel free to share your Covid updates below. I'd like to know how you're coping too.

Take care; take heart.

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Tuesday, 12 May 2020

The Covid Chronicles #6


It's day 44 of the NSW lockdown and the end is in sight. Restrictions have been gradually easing these past couple of weeks, and by Friday we will once again, be able to enjoy a coffee or a meal in a restaurant, 10 people at a time. 

People who have been working from home for nearly 2 months are slowly trickling back into the office. Schools have just reopened part-time. And our local high street is buzzing with pent-up energy and the desire to spend money. It may just be the first flush of excitement as a few shops reopen (including the bookshop I manage, which is why I've been a bit quiet lately), but there is a real sense of release and exhilaration in the air. 

People can start seeing other couples or families at a safe social distance, weddings will be able to include 10 guests and funerals 20. Places of worship can reopen and have 10 worshippers. Outdoor pools and gyms can, once again, be used with a few restrictions. Regional and interstate holidays are still a no-go, but for the past two weekends we've been able to visit our own holiday home in the mountains. Since last week it is possible to get a remedial massage and to get your hair done (yippee!! guess what I'm doing tomorrow on my day off :-)

We're all still aware that the virus is out there and will be until a cure or vaccination is discovered. We still have to exercise caution and care, especially as we are about to enter the colder winter months. However, there's also a real sense of self-congratulation. 

We hunkered down early, closed our borders, and effected strict quarantine measures for anyone who did fly in from overseas. As a result our first round with Covid-19 has been fairly mild. We've only had 97 deaths nationwide. Today was our first day in NSW with no new cases of Covid recorded from over 6000 tests.

People have been out of work for up to two months and some businesses have gone under. Some have kept going but will struggle to survive. It has not been an easy time for many. Lots of people will be nervous about going back out into the world again. The elderly and unwell are still being encouraged to stay at home. Anyone with a scratchy throat or aches and pains is being urged to get tested straight away. 

Our government also issued a Covid app that uses bluetooth to track who you come into contact with. The idea is that if you test positive at any point, they can use the data from the app to contact anyone else that you came into close contact with during your infectious period. 

Needless to say, there has been a fair bit of debate around this re privacy issues and who gets the data. I'm in the, facebook-knows-more-about-me-than-this-app school of thought. Although I was sceptical to start with. But then I read up on it, discussed it with a few people and finally downloaded the app a couple of days after it was launched. It does not use GPS, only bluetooth and if it means we can ease restrictions sooner rather than later, it's worth a shot. I'd certainly like to know if that customer I served on Thursday, tested positive on Friday. Without the app, it would be too hard to track this kind of incidental contact. 

I really only had about 10 days in proper lockdown, before starting back at work, so I don't know what it's like to have been out of work for nearly 2 months with no guarantee about if or when I might start up again. Mr Books has been working from home and B19 is still an essential working plugging away at his pharmacy retail job. B22 is working from home part-time and slowly going stir crazy. Our extended family have all been fine, with only one cousin, who is a nurse, having to be tested and self-isolate for two weeks after an outbreak at work. She was negative, but the whole ward was shut down, thoroughly cleaned, with new procedures and protocols prepared for the eventual reopening.

A friend in the UK was sick, most likely with Covid, but since testing has been so limited there, they don't know for sure. Despite presenting with all the symptoms and being quite unwell for a couple of weeks, she simply stayed at home with some supervision/advice from a GP and care from her lovely hubby. 

I feel fortunate to have had so few personal brushes with the virus. I feel grateful that we're of an age and stage in life, where we are financially secure and able to weather any economic downturn. I'm glad the boys are old enough to look after themselves; we haven't had to home school or keep young children amused during this time. We are so lucky that all our jobs have been able to continue during this time one way or another. I'm thankful for our robust mental health and resilience. We've all had down days, days of doubt and insecurity, but we bounce back. We are, in fact, annoyingly positive and hopeful most of the time, confident of our ability to cope.

I love some of the changes this time has brought in. 

We now have regular stay-at-home family games nights. We're enjoying the slower pace of life; whole weekends of having nowhere to go. Staying at home instead, reading, puzzling, gardening and just hanging out together. We may be drinking a little more than usual though. 

I was enjoying lovely long walks around my suburb before going back to work and daylight savings ended. I miss being able to do that every day already. After three weeks back at work, I'm wondering how on earth I used to fit everything in. I don't want my life to be as rushed, scheduled and hectic as it used to be, but it seems to be slowly happening whether I like it or not.

History tells us that there will be a second, and most likely, a third wave of this pandemic. It's not over yet, even though, at the moment, everyone (in my suburb) is kind of acting like it is. 

It has been a weird time and the weird times are not over.

I've just started a book called Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman. In the first few pages he discusses how we (humans) have an (erroneous) belief that we will revert to some form of base behaviour in times of crisis. Yet nearly 700 field studies have proved the exact opposite,
there's never total mayhem. It's never every man for himself. Crime - murder, burglary, rape - usually drops. People don't go into shock, they stay calm and spring into action....Catastrophes bring out the best in people.


I have to believe this world-wide crisis will make us better human beings, despite some very specific individual examples that might say otherwise. They are, in fact, the minority. History and science are on our side. As a species we are wired to cope and carry-on. It's what we've been doing for millennia; and it's what we will keep on doing.

Stay safe and I hope this finds you well.
Take care; take heart.
The Covid Chronicles #6
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Wednesday, 22 April 2020

The Covid Chronicles #5


When last we met, lockdown restrictions had just begun in NSW and across Australia. That was three weeks ago.

How have we managed ourselves during this time?

As a country, we seemed to have embraced the seriousness of the situation and done the right thing. However, a few areas and pockets of people are not really on board with the whole social isolating thing. Some of the younger generation have found it hard to stay put or curtail their social lives, some of the entitled have found it hard to see how these rules apply to them and some groups (tradies in particular) think we're being ridiculous.

My local supermarket is still a mess of failed social distancing and my suburb feels almost as busy as usual. We've been so fortunate in Australia, that community transmission has been so low. The early closing of international borders (compared to other countries) seems to have been our blessing. Cruise ships and nursing homes have the highest numbers of cases and deaths, but no-one I know has had any contact with Covid-19 or been ill.

A few family members who are nurses, are on the front-line of care and testing; a few more family members have been laid-off work for the time being or are working reduced hours (including me, I believe). Quite a lot of people I know will be eligible for the new job-keeper allowance (including me) and a number of older friends have been in voluntary quarantine for well over a month due to concerns for their immunity levels.

Up until the Easter weekend, the restrictions were being followed, not quite unquestioningly, but as a necessary collective evil. But now, our curve has flattened nicely, testing rates have increased as positive results have plummeted. Australia has now dropped way down the Worldometer Coronavirus list. Out of a population of 26 million people, we've had 6647 cases of Covid-19 and 74 deaths.

The government is starting to talk about relaxing some of the restrictions. When term two starts next week, essential workers will be able to send their children to school full time, while every other child will have a rotating part-time roster arrangement. Beaches have been reopened for people to swim, run and walk on (but no sun bathing allowed). The supermarkets finally have fully stocked shelves again.

The first week of lockdown was weird, but it now feels like the new normal.

I struggled to read, blog or settle to anything during that first week, but now I've settled into a new relaxed routine. I've been on 5 km walks, rediscovered my love of jigsaw puzzles and tidied the garden and house. I've also found my reading and writing mojo once again.

About a week and half ago, I started back at work (see The Covid Chronicles #1 - link below - for the full history of that particular story). The hours have been erratic and relaxed as we get the behind scenes stuff sorted in preparation for reopening. How much we get done is contingent on tradies and renovations happening around us.

The first day I left the house for work was really odd.

I felt nervous about heading back into a social situation I couldn't control completely. I had also got used to having my time as my own. I wasn't sure I wanted to be busy and always tired again. It only took a few days, though, to be grateful for the stimulation and the sense of purpose that work can bring.

I've made a point of supporting my favourite local cafes for morning tea and lunch, as they operate on reduced takeaway menus from their front doors.

My main lockdown project has been my daily instagram pic for #thislockdownlife, where I've tried to document things that are different or unusual or changed thanks to Covid-19. From Marie Kondo-ing my T-towel drawer to romantic lunches at home with Mr Books. Jigsaw puzzles and rediscovering my unfinished cross-stitch projects, dressing up for Saturday night dinner at home and creating a potted herb garden. All things I may or may not have done pre-Covid, but the point is they are things I have embraced, learnt to appreciate anew or reclaimed thanks to Covid-19.


It has been a weird time, but I haven't found it particularly stressful or difficult. I realise that I am one of the lucky ones and this is not the case for everyone. I've enjoyed the quieter, unscheduled days and having the family at home. I like having less people bustling around and fewer cars rushing along the streets (although the dog-walking parks have exploded in popularity over the past few weeks!) But maybe, part of the weird pleasure I'm getting out of this, is knowing that it will end one day. It may still be some weeks or months off, but one day, life will return to it's new normal and this Covid-19 time will be little more than a blimp in our history. It will become one of those stories that gets recycled every Christmas, 'remember our lockdown Easter when we Zoomed Grandma to help us with the egg hunt and Grandpa walked by in his underwear!'

Until then, though, I will stay at home as much as work allows me. I will take my daily walk in the beautiful autumnal sunshine. I will pre-dinner Zoom my friends to enjoy a glass of wine and a laugh in their company.

It's too soon to properly reflect on lessons learnt or to devise new ways of going forward, but it's something I would like to devote time to at some point. I just hope our leaders can do the same.

Stay safe and I hope this finds you well.

The Covid Chronicles #1
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The Covid Chronicles #5
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