Now that we are in the last week of June, I felt it important to record my thoughts on the year so far. Many times when researching my ancestors have I wished that they had done that very thing. There was an ominous start to the year with bushfires raging around the state of Victoria. Living in Warburton, surrounded by beautiful, lush bushland and trees for most of the year, summer is a time to be prepared and alert for fires and this year was no different. We were lucky, despite being blanketed by smoke, we didn't have any local fires, but sadly a vast area of the state wasn't so lucky. Lives were lost, properties burnt and businesses, in areas that usually boomed in the holiday season, suffered. Vast amounts of money was raised for people affected and even Katy Perry gave a free performance, to raise spirits, in Bright, one of the towns that suffered during this time.
With the bushfire disaster still fresh in our minds, another disaster was spreading across the world, the Covid-19 Pandemic, this would and still is changing our way of life as we knew it. It had begun in Wuhan, China and spread rapidly throughout the world. Initially, I don't think any of us realized how bad this virus was, but then the numbers of people dying in other countries and the inability of the hospitals in these countries, especially Italy, to cope scared us all. Cases started appearing here and luckily for all Australians, our government and expert health advisors acted quickly to close our borders to the Chinese and then all international visitors. Australians rushed to return home, with some of these bringing the virus with them. Numbers of cases rose, deaths occurred, quarantine of arrivals in the country became necessary and we were all forced into to lockdown.
The fear of lockdown caused another problem, consumers panic buying, supermarkets were cleared very quickly of basic supplies. The most hard to get item for weeks was toilet paper! Limits were put on many items, like flour, pasta, frozen vegetables and mince for weeks. Despite government reassurance we could leave our houses for essential items, health needs, exercise and to go to work if you unable to work from home, people continued to buy up big causing shortages for people that didn't panic. The lockdown worked and cases of the virus dropped, but with the relaxing of restrictions cases have again begun to rise. People have become complacent.
As with everyone else my normal routine came to a stop. First and foremost I was confined to my own house for an extended time. For nearly ten years, I had been doing lots of housesitting and spending nearly half the year in other peoples' houses. Initially I saw it as a chance to do all the things I had put off, the pantry got cleaned, the kitchen drawers and a cupboard were sorted, but the novelty soon wore off. I did finish hand quilting a quilt I had made for my daughter's twenty-first birthday and gave it to her for her forty-first!
Many other habits changed as well. My regular cappuccino and reading the paper at the local cafe stopped and I had to resort to making a milk coffee at home and reading the paper online. I regularly went to genealogy discussion groups in Melbourne at least six time a month, these abruptly halted with a couple resuming on Zoom. I had never heard of Zoom before this pandemic but now I have attended a book launch, a webinar and meetings via this medium. Stuck at home, I realized I needed to go for a walk just to break the monotony of the four walls, so this has now become part of my regular routine. I feel better for it and have managed to loose a couple of kilos as well. Another change, from staying at home more, has been the increase in my power bill, but at least the petrol consumption in my car has gone down. All this extra time has allowed me to do more genealogy. Most afternoons I now spend on my computer researching or sorting DNA matches, which has more than kept me occupied. I must admit I am very happy that the football has recommenced, as that has always been a constant in my life during winter. Nothing I like better than to settle down with my knitting or crocheting and watch a game of football or two or more! Watching football without crowds wasn't quite the same, but now they have added crowd noises to the broadcast it is much better.
I have always been an avid reader of the newspaper and I watch the news on TV most evenings. I have been continuing to do this, as well as watching government press conferences, to keep up to date with latest information on the pandemic. Although aware of media bias and shortfalls in the past, it has become more obvious to me during this pandemic how selective and manipulative the media can be. Social media has also had a major influence on issues during this pandemic and not always in a good way. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but when that opinion is based on selective facts and given a lot of media coverage, it is a recipe for things to get blown out of proportion.
Unfortunately during this pandemic, a lot of emphasis has been placed on the negative aspects of it and the deprivation of freedom, rather than the numerous positive aspects that have occurred as well. Conspiracy theories by a small minority have been spread on social media, such as the government are on a power trip to control us or have an alternative agenda. The devastation and loss of life around the world is a clear example to me, the government's priority is about keeping us safe. Some people will accuse me of looking through rose coloured glasses and I admit it hasn't affected me like others that lost their jobs or had to home school. Being restricted in movement has allowed many people to take stock of their lives, realize what is important to them and spend more time with their immediate family. Home cooking, jigsaws, board games, reading, home maintenance and working from home have increased during this time and many believe a lot of these things will continue long past this isolation time. Some old habits will not return. Online shopping and the use of card rather than cash are seen as lasting changes caused by this pandemic. Hopefully health etiquette and staying home when unwell will be other habits that continue. On the whole I think there has been a greater appreciation and awareness of the work done by our service industries, teachers and health workers during this time.
The things I missed the most during this time were my regular cappuccino and conversing with other people. However the lack of routine allowed me to do a lot more of the things I enjoy, genealogy, jigsaws, crafts and reading whenever I felt like it. The most annoying aspect of this time has been the selfishness and whinging of some people, the lack of adherence by some to the rules set, when the vast majority were doing the right thing, and the attitude of a minority that the government were over- reacting.
In this last week of June, there has been increased anxiety, with virus numbers increasing again in Victoria and a relaxing of restrictions curtailed. Hopefully measures now in place will be enough to stop this second wave before it gets out of hand and serve as a reminder to all that we still need to take precautions and social distance. Hopefully the second half of 2020 will be better than the first.
