Corona Diaries

Bonnie

“P has been on the war path trying to identify Mario’s killer. He watched the CCTV footage and confirmed the time of death as 10.45pm. Mario was stalked by a black cat and was devoured. It took 50mins for the cat to eat him. My heart is broken. He suffered so”

Background Information

Female, Aged 45-54, ‘consultant’, Melbourne, Australia, Australian-Chinese, Married, Straight, one child called Autumn aged 13/14, dog called Vigo, husband known as ‘P’.

16 March – 31 March 2020

16/3/20

Strange weekend. Tried to do regular grocery shop and could not get mundane items such as carrots or mince. Shops have long sold out of toilet paper, rice and flour. I currently have 45 rolls of toilet paper from a bulk buy from a sale many months ago. Gave Autumn a “serious talk” on conserving toilet paper. Explained to her that in the event of us running out and can’t buy any more, she would have to rinse h erself in the shower post poo. She is suitably grossed out by that.

Work and Autumn’s school have issued lockdown notification emails i.e be prepared that we can’t return the next day. We have been told to bring work resources home every night and Autumn is to bring all her text books home in case they switch to on line learning / virtual classes. Government issued social distancing rule. We can’t be within 1.5m of another. Makes working in an office difficult as we are packed in like sardines.

My South Korean holiday has been cancelled. Instead am going to a staycation n the CBD (very much a consolation prize). Now even that might be ‘inadvisable’. Will be very frustrated if staycation is canned.

18/3/20

Been reading Twitter posts of people documenting unsung heroes – the shop assistants who work tirelessly to stock shelves, the landlords who waive rent. Made me tear up a bit. Felt a bit useless as I have no contribution to make.

Someone is stealing toilet paper, dish detergent and hand sanitizer at work.

Autumn’s school is going online from Friday. It will be interesting to see if she can apply herself and keep self motivated. Not sure if IT infrastructure would hold up. P noticed the internet has been very slow now that more and more people are working from home.

My parents are bombarding me with video clips (usually indeterminately long) re covid 19 from questionable authorities Have not bothered downloading to watch. On the plus side, at least they are alive and kicking.

Throat is a bit scratchy but that is probably from yelling at Autumn. She has her head phones on all the time and I have to yell over the loud music.

19/3/20

Turns out I’m not the only one writing about covid 19 in the family. Autumn has been uncharacteristically interested in documenting her thoughts as a 13 year old living in these strange times. She’s been writing in her free time and today read out her first draft to various classes at school. She tells me she will work on it a bit and include an angle re racism and covid 19. I’m impressed with her courage and vulnerability.

Will give 4 boxes of tissues to my parents who are in need. They offered to pay for it but obviously not in the business of price gouging.

22/3/20

Am in a state of shock. Victoria will go into lockdown in 48 hours. I came home from taking Vigo to the groomers and for a walk around the shops. Little did I know that it would be my last chance for a walkabout with people. Will go into work tomorrow to get my affairs sorted as much as I can. I suspect they will then ask us to work from home. Autumn is devastated. This means our staycation at Crown is cancelled as is her two birthday parties lined up over the next few weeks. We are not sure how long the lockdown will go for. We have enough food for two weeks. Although grocers are open, lots of shelves are empty. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It would be an interesting experience to remain housebound for weeks on end and not go stir crazy.

Have resigned myself to the fact that this would hit us hard financially. We can’t see our home in Spr ing as the market has tanked. Our new hours is being built but that development will likely stall due to lockdown. I’m stuck in limbo.

Autumn’s home-schooling experience has so far been filled with technical difficulties which has been stressing her. Also am finding myself having to teach her how to write a meta language analysis (I did not know what one is and had to educate myself first).

23/3/20

Am stressed and grumpy. Despite lockdown, work has not announced what we are supposed to do so we chug on per usual. People are getting resentful about being at work when everyone else is working from home. Questions were raised about the morality of continuing. We were expecting an announcement of some sort by the executive team but when I left, still no word. So I guess tomorrow I go into work regardless of lockdown.

Spent some time stressing about what Autumn should be doing for homeschooling. Read tasks set by teachers. Dismayed by the complexity. Have to use multimedia to complete tasks. Upload videos, zoom meetings, etc. Gulped down anxiety in hope Autumn knows what she’s supposed to be doing. She assures me she does but I’m not so sure….I’m quasi teacher/tutor and it’s exhausting.

Went on two walks with Vigo today. We are trying to maintain healthy habits. Dragged Autumn with us for the second walk. She moaned and groaned down the street per usual. One could hear us bickering from afar. Like a doppler effect.

Spoke with Gemma today to cancel the dog sitting as Crown staycation is cancelled. She had covid symptoms – got tested but it came back negative. She was on a cruise two weeks ago.

25/3/20

Got the approval from work to work from home until end of April. Have to go into the office twice during this. It will be strange conducting meetings via Zoom and not seeing colleagues for so long in person. Felt strange saying good by today. Felt like was going on a voyage and never returning. I have set up watering systems for the plants on my desk. Was in the lift going to my car and was silently blessing, thanking and farewelling any belongings on my work desk.

The café next to the work building was closing today indefinitely due to the government mandate. The new owner, an engaging Lebanese lady was quite fretful and was thanking everyone for supporting her. She said she never expected to have to close. This covid thing is really affecting small businesses.

We aren’t able to sell the development in Lilydale. Government has said no open for inspections. A potential buyer backed out, spooked by the economic downturn. P says we will have to keep the properties now and try to rent them out. He is working hard to get us a bank loan.

Our AirBnB apartment in St Kilda has been rented out by someone who is quarantining themselves from their family. We will obviously do a deep clean once he leaves.

Tonight we walked as a family down to the greenway for our exercise. Autumn rode her bike. The covid situation has forced us to be healthier versions of ourselves. It also makes us more reflective and introspective rather than running around seeking experiences. We are eating simply – pantry items and cutting down on take aways. Apart from the economic anxiety, we are a more grounder version of ourselves.

Further economic anxiety – P pulled out of the online organic produce business he was going to invest in with a friend of his. The times are so uncertain. It’s not a good time to invest. We are literally watching all our assets devalue. It’s wise to hit pause and see what transpires. It’s a shame because the business concept is a really well thought out one.

We heard that my mother in law baked brioches and took them to my brother in law’s house. He wouldn’t let her in due to social distancing laws and she left the brioche on their front porch.

My father in law who lives alone is in good spirits despite having no face to face contact with anyone for days. Asked what he did with himself, he answered he sings, watches YouTube and eat snacks from the pantry.

26/3/20

Found out in the news that we live in one of the covid hotspots of Melbourne. Well of course.

First day of working from home (WFH). Felt strangely disconnected and started a Google hangout chat with my team. Only one person responded. Lol!

28/3/20

Today is my first weekend in self isolation. The day went like this:

• 5.45am alarm. Did meditation (guided one on YT) for health and immunity protection. It was a spiritual protection meditation by Steve Nobel.

• 6.10am snuggle in bed with Vigo

• 6.30am morning ablutions

• 7.00am made breakfast for Autumn (sourdough toast), microgreens, tea and vitamins. Left on kitchen bench for her

• 7.10am walk and dog park with P and Vigo. Came across a burst water main at the end of the street. Came home to full up bottles for drinking in the event water gets turned off

• 8.15am made my usual green smoothie for breakfast. Fed Vigo

• 9.00am poked around in the garden, snuggled with Vigo, watched YT clips. What’sApped people

• 10.00am supervised Autumn’s French homework

• 11.00am Prepared lunch. Salad for Autumn. She made a pre-cooked mac and cheese. I had sourdough with avocado and tomatoes from the garden. Ate in al fresco area and listened to birds

• 12.00pm Water back on

• 1.30pm Dragged self to clean five bathrooms

• 3.00pm Cooked dinner! Was bored so decided to eat early. Autumn had quinoa, airfried tofu and beans. I made P cook me seafood mapo tofu. Fed Vigo

• 4.00pm General kitchen tidy. Laundered stuff. What’sApped people. On Twitter and IG

• 5.00pm Went for 2nd walk at dog park. Autumn came and rode bike

• 6.00pm Showered and did facial massage

• 7.00pm Light snack and P is cooking. He is making samosas to freeze

• 7.48pm Propagated my monstera adasonii

• 8.00pm Writing this Plan to read Kindle – perhaps dig up an old novel (sci fi allegoric series) from my teenage years. Will probably sleep around 10pm. 29/3/20 New rule – gatherings can be no more than two people. This means can’t visit parents. Today was a testy day. P is in the grumps. Autumn is labile. Everyone is wishing covid 19 on the other one. Was secretly wishing this too. Autumn is bold enough to say it aloud. Susan wanted to visit with her family today but had to turn her away. 30/3/20

Stage 3 restrictions announced by government. If you’re over 70 you have been advised to stay home. No gathering over two people or risk a fine. Weddings – max five people. Funerals – max ten people. Was told office will shutdown by COB Wednesday. Four people diagnosed with covid at work. It really feels like Armageddon today. On the upside, I no longer have to drive through peak hour traffic. I’m outdoors more. I’m enjoying nature.

31/3/20

Today is Autumn’s 14th birthday. We would have been celebrating on our holiday to Jeju Island. Instead Autumn settled for a drive to the petrol station (she didn’t get out of the car) and take away dinner with ice cream cake from Coles. She’s been a good sport about it in general. Got a very reassuring and comforting call from my manager at work saying he will do everything in his power to ensure my job security. Everyone is worried about losing their jobs. My mother in law dropped Autumn’s birthday present off. P didn’t let her and her partner into the house because of the new rules.

CORONADIARIES – April 2020

4/4/20

Been enjoying living the life of a hermit. It has been over a week since I left home except to go for walks with Vigo. On my walks, I enjoy listening to birdsong. They seem more vocal now that I’m tuning into them. I have used this time for inward work, working on myself. Have been meditating twice per day. Reflecting, manifesting. Am surprised at how quickly some of the things I’ve manifested have come into being. Am encouraged to maintain my inner work.

Cooking a big batch of vegan lasagne today. It smells sensational bubbling in the oven. I can’t wait to eat it. I have been craving a good vegan lasagne for a month. We were to be in Seoul right now and I researched a lovely vegan café to get my lasagne fix in Seoul. As this is obviously not attainable in the foreseeable future, I’ve decided to make my own. No regrets.

There’s been a covid 19 outbreak on level 19 (same level as my AirBnB apartment which we have rented out to a guest). The guest is quarantining himself at the moment. Thankfully the outbreak is not linked to him.

Am overwintering my cactii today. Have moved them under shelter but still outdoors on the upstairs balcony. I have time now to do these things.

5/4/20

Have introduced the concept of “Linner”. A meal combines lunch and dinner served approximately at 3pm. Have told family that I will serve breakfast and one other meal, Linner and that is all that will be coming from the kitchen. I’m all out of meal ideas which are acceptable for everyone.

Today – very cold. Onset of winter. Quite depressing as couldn’t walk around outside to exercise. Gloomy and blustery out. I’m not sure how people will bolster their moods once we hit winter if this continues. It was all fine and very well when the weather was sunny. Self isolaton was OK, leisurely even, with family walks in the park and gardening time but I didn’t think of how this would be once the cold sets in.

Today is my Jess’s birthday. She would have been 18 years old. I clear forgot about it until now (evening) given my whole routine is out of whack. I look fondly at her box of ashes as I write. She would not have tolerated covid. We would be home too much for her liking. Jess liked her personal space. She was a cat- like dog. I make do with lavishing pats on Vigo who tolerates it for the most part.

6/4/20

Police are patrolling the streets and issuing on the spot fines if they deem you to have wandered too far from home or if they deem your travel as non essential. Someone was fined for driving around with the L plates because it was deemed as non essential.

When walking Vigo now, people do not want you to pat their dog or for dogs to touch each other for fear of covid transmission. The fear is out of control. We now have to sanitise the mail and groceries. It is a big palaver to ensure we don’t cross contaminate what has already been sanitised.

I personally don’t bother with incoming mail as I see the postman gowned, gloved and masked but P does this whole ritual where he wipes everything down with anti bacterial wipes.

Takeaways, rather home deliveries now offer contactless delivery. I’m curious how that works. I suspect they leave the food at the front door.

Apparently two tigers in New York zoo has covid.

I’m kind of enjoying that I don’t have to entertain or socialise. I didn’t realise how time consuming and how much peer pressure it was. It is very liberating.

Autumn is currently crying with P stating it’s not fair her holiday/trip was cancelled due to covid. She gest into a negative jag about this every couple of days.

This social distancing concept has been really indoctrinated into my psyche. Last night, the characters in my dream were practising social distancing. I don’t think I can touch another human being again without inwardly freaking out.

7/4/20

Walking through the neighbourhood I see people putting teddy bears at their front windows facing the street. At first I thought it was a sign of solidarity – we’re in this together or that it was to symbolise the residents sheltering from covid within. However I found out via a quick google search that it is suppose to bring comfort to children during this crisis when schools, playgrounds, etc are closed. It is a “bear hunt” for local kids to walk their streets during the only outing they get (to exercise) and to play spot the bear. I’m going to point this out to Autumn when we go walking this afternoon. We can go on our own “bear hunt”.

Found out that the PM of Britain, Boris Johnson has been admitted to ICU due to covid. Although I don’t agree with his policies, I hope he pulls through.

The other day on the way to the dog park, I passed a lady sitting on a wicker chair by her front stoop. She yelled out a friendly “hello!” and I stopped to chat whilst maintaining social distancing. She tells me her name is Betty. She’s lived in the same house for 40 years and raised 4 children there. She advised me to support the local grocer at The Well. They now do home deliveries for $10. It was nice to chat to someone other than a family member or work colleague.

This morning at the dog park, Vigo had a nice romp with the following neighbourhood dogs – Bow, Winston, Oscar, Maggie and Mack. I don’t know the humans’ names but I always greet the dogs. I gauge whether the owners would let me pat them (some of them are paranoid re covid transmission). I saw on the news a person walking their dog. Both were wearing plastic wrap around their bodies as protection. Not sure how the dog would do their business through plastic though.

Sent P out to buy me protein powder for my morning smoothies. He masks and gloves up.

13/4/20

It’s been a few days since I last checked in. Not much has changed. The lockdown persists. We’ve been told that term two school will definitely be taught remotely. This has made my stress levels go through the roof. I don’t think remote works for Autumn as she needs to be shown new concepts and chatted through them. Sending out links to YT videos to watch or pages of text to wade through doesn’t work for her. So I’m the one stuck explaining things. It would be a juggle whilst working from home.

I am enjoying the Easter long weekend before home schooling and work starts again in two days. Tried my hand at baking yesterday. It was an epic fail. Made apple and berry crumble from an internet recipe on a website called “You’ve Got This”. Reassuringly positive, it then set me up for failure. The recipe neglected to mention one stewed the fruit first. My crumble burnt on top whilst the filling was uncooked. I eat it anyway. A week ago I made a vegan lasagne. It was really craving it and found an online recipe which blended up chickpeas and firm tofu to make a ricotta substitute. I made a big tray and sunk in lots of homemade passata, determined to make a tasty meal which would last me a few days. Most unfortunately it was disgusting. Chickpea and tofu do not a ricotta make. I threw it into the compost.

Speaking of compost, I am procrastinating by writing heaps of drivel. I am due (overdue) to empty the bokashi bin into the compost and to rinse it out. It has been fermenting for months. I am scared to approach it.

Autumn has been on a pad thai cooking jag. Two days ago, she made a big batch and today she announced she will make more. The annoying thing is that no one else likes pad thai and she refuses to eat leftovers….grrrrr…the wastage annoys me.

Am doing twice daily meditations. Have been following the teachings of Dr Joe Dispenza. It makes a lot of sense to me. Will keep working away at it.

I’ve been doing my own house cleaning now that the cleaner is no longer. It does take up a fair bit of time but I think I do a better job. Also I use my own DIY cleaning solution which is much more environmentally friendly than the stuff the cleaner insists on sloshing around. The only think I don’t DIY is the toilet cleaner. Feel like

a wartime wife from ye olde WWII days, rolling up my sleeves and getting out the vinegar and bicarb to scrub away grime. Today I’ll do the kitchen.

Someone posted on IG something which went like this: entertainment - $0, new shoes - $0, groceries - $1000. And that about sums it up! P came back from the weekly grocery shop and the bill was $300. Not sure whether the food would last a week…maybe 5 – 6 days? It’s hard to think of creative things to cook that everyone in the family would eat. We all end up cooking our own meals. At this point in time, we exist like flatmates with our own separate food stuff in little boxes and containers in the fridge and pantry. I miss having a proper sit down meal at a restaurant.

This isolation business has got me ruminating over strange things. Found out yesterday via Twitter that Julian Assange managed to father two children whilst hiding out in the Ecuadorian embassy. The intricacies of how this happened fascinates me.

A fly has remained in the same spot for three days. It is vertically situated on a piece of woven rope in which one of my air plants are suspended from the chandelier. It’s not dead because it is defying gravity. I will leave it be to see how long it will last.

I just ate a very heart warming vegan Bolognese. Slow cooked with a glass of red wine. I used the soy protein pretend mince. It is disturbingly beef like. Even down to the colour and texture when cooked down. Binge watching a YT channel called Pick Up Limes. It features plant based recipes, minimalism and plant care. Right up my alley. Got inspired to make French fries with sriracha and mayo dipping sauce. Have three volunteer potatoes which I pulled up from the summer veggie patch. Will sacrifice these for my oven baked fries. These will serve as dessert.

Relegated to writing this outside sitting on the step of my deck. Vigo is beside me barking at the dog on the other side of the fence. They communicate. Autumn is making her third batch of pad thai. The kid is addicted to it. She’s kicked me outside so she can cook in peace.

My potatoes are in the airfryer. Going to serve it with crunched up nori sheets and sriracha mayo. It’s actually a mild autumn day. Gentle sun without the heat. No wind. Cover to the pool is off and its throwing reflections onto the deck ceiling. It is idyllic. If it weren’t in lockdown I wouldn’t take the time to enjoy the scenery. Even the pong of the bokashi ferment in the compost bin is part of the sensory charm. I’m sipping a cup of rooibos from my handcrafted (not by me) viking replica cup. Belly full, heart content.

14/4/20

There’s a three way argument in this household re Vigo’s barking. Autumn insists he takes his barking outside. P on the other hand, thinks he should bark inside and not annoy the neighbours. I believe Vigo is a beautiful being and should be left alone to do as he pleases.

Am excited as two parcels are due to be delivered today for me. One is a few WFH clothing items - comfy yet warm hoodies and trackie dacks. The other is a pair of Ugg boots to keep feet warm. I’ve noticed that for people who regularly work outside of the home, they like me, do not have enough lounging around gear. I have work clothes, gym clothes and that’s about it. I donated a heap of sweat shirts before covid not knowing I will need them. I have noticed however that the permanently retired people eg the older generation, do not wear lounge wear but still wore good quality knits and chinos even when gardening or slothing around at

home. My waist has not been cinched into jeans or tailored pants for three weeks now. I am afraid when I finally put them on, they will not fit.

Today Vigo and I went on our morning walk and we came across an elderly couple we frequently see. She was feeding magpies from a take away container filled with raw mince. Vigo went quite rabid with all that meat being strewn about. The huge magpies encircled us but was afraid to approach as Vigo was barely being restrained by me. I managed with great difficulty to drag him away to enable the magpies to feast. The lady kept lobbing big chunks of meat into the air. I recounted the event to P who remarked that “somebody’s got too much money”. In this covid age, mince is hard to come by. Even if one had all the money in the world, the mince section of the supermarket is constantly bare. I’m surprised the lady was happy to feed the birds with it. Maybe it had gone off. Maybe that’s why she did not offer any to Vigo. I did think it was rather ungenerous of her to not offer him a little chunk given he was clearly straining to gobble some up.

Am making a pot of cauliflower and cranberry bean soup. It has been flavoured with sage and curry powder. I’ve told the family that it would be our ‘lunch box’ soup for when I start back at work albeit from home tomorrow. It would serve as veg and protein. It smells nice enough. I’ll taste it tomorrow.

My order from iHerb in US got cancelled. I was wondering as I was placing the order whether it would arrive as it appears from the news, their postal service and infrastructure generally has gone to the dogs during covid. Maybe I’m best to refrain from ordering stuff from there until this blows over.

My parcels have arrived! The postie came with his gloves and mask on. He doesn’t hand over his electronic sign pad like in the Before Times. Instead, he asks for your name and signs the parcels out on your behalf. He was the first person to ring the bell and visit in weeks. I had to fight the urge to gush at him. I wanted to shout a “take care!” as he sped off in his van. I didn’t realise I was so thirsty for human interaction. The man is doing God’s work. P then went about a sanitisation process with the parcels. He took them to the garage and wiped them down with disinfectant. I then was to gingerly retrieve each item from the packaging without touching the packaging. It’s quite a process.

In the Before Times I had booked a spiritual retreat in Bali for June 2020. I was to visit a shaman and was to stay in a vegetarian resort. It was going to be an experience. When covid first hit, I was sure I could still go as June was months away, surely we would have it under control by then? Now as we sit in mid April, I know with defeated acceptance that it would not go ahead and I am unlikely to get any of my money back. A few weeks ago this would have angered me – to not get a refund. But now as unemployment sky rocket and people are losing their lives and livelihood, it seems trivial fretting over a deposit for a holiday. Today I feel sad. I feel nostalgic for the Before Times. We received an email from our vet cautioning us to not let dogs sniff each other or for humans to pat other dogs in the dog park. This is to preve nt environmental contamination of covid. Watching dogs play in the park and reaching down to pat a friendly dog is one of the few pleasures left. I must say I am not following the vet’s advice to the letter. I gauge the reactions of the dogs’ owers and play it by ear. It seems churlish to reprimand Vigo for initiating play with another dog.

Still eating the vegan Bolognese. Had it for four meals in a row now. And counting…I threw two fried eggs on top (now not vegan) just to jazz it up a bit.

15/4/20

First day back after Easter break with Autumn homeschooling. It was hectic trying to keep an eye on her (making sure she is on task and not experiencing technical difficulties) as well as juggling own work schedule. I don’t know how real home schooling families cope.

Feel a bit flat.

16/4/20

Feel slightly more optimistic today.

Went for the morning walk with Vigo and came across the man with the friendly staff cross named Raff. The dog is super fierce looking but is so affectionate. He rubs himself on my thighs. The owner is in his 40s. Very fit but friendly. He exudes wellness. He reminds me of a health coach or similar. I like his vibe. Another person that I like the vibe of is a girl whose dog’s name is Lenny. Lenny is an Italian greyhound and is not allowed off the leash as he would bolt off. Lenny likes to sniff Vigo’s bum. The girl is in her 20s. She has a healthy glow about her. Very pleasant and smiley. I like meeting people with lovely vibes. On the flipside there are not-so-nice people on the walk. One nasty person is a dessicated shrivelled elderly lady with a dog named Bow. Bow is friendly enough (some form of mutt) but the dried up lady does not let Vigo near him. I caught her reprimanding Vigo as he went to greet Bow. Not nice. It’s a shame she walks at the same time in the morning as us. So no avoiding her.

P’s god-daughter Daisy has made it safely back in Australia after being stuck in Peru when covid broke. She’s in mandatory quarantine at Travelodge courtesy of the government but is in good spirits.

17/4/20

Online homeschooling is stressful. Zoom technical difficulties, apps with log ons and passwords, account set ups to navigate apps that are completely foreign to me. I have to quickly absorb how to navigate some platform and then explain it to an attention divided cranky teenager. I’m just so over it. It is only three days of home schooling this week. I don’t how I can survive next week.

Trying to not get stress. Had to help interpret concepts etc to Autumn whilst working. So much work due in each subject!

19/4/20

Weekend vibes. Just taking things at a slower pace. Autumn is finishing up on homework. I cleaned the bathrooms and toilets (took 35mins) as I timed myself. Today I will wipe down kitchen and maybe sweep/mop.

20/4/20

Systems crashing on school’s online portal and virtual text book site. Autumn has unexpected break but will need to make up for lost time.

I heard about this mum who organised a virtual birthday party for her child. She prepared individual portions of party food and goodie bags and dropped it off at each invitees’ home. Then they had a Zoom meeting to eat/celebrate together. It is a commendable effort.

Today Vigo got attacked by the stupid dog Bow. The owner did nothing.

21/4/20

The curve is flattening and there is talk of reopening up schools and lessening of restrictions. I feel mixed emotions about that. Not because I’m worried about catching covid but more because I’ve wormed myself into a comfortable burrow at home. It seems like a big leap to jump back into my previous life and carry on like the past month has not happened. I now know how much support Autumn needs to unpack concepts taught at school. I worry how I can oversee that and jump in to help once she is back in the classroom. I enjoy being in my sanctuary at home. With Vigo. With Linner. I feel insulated from the world and I like that. I don’t want to deal with the chaos, the peak hour traffic, the inane water cooler talks. I just like living as a hermit. I don’t want the responsibilities of hosting family catch ups or going to events.

On Thursday I will have my first taste of venturing back to the outside world. I have to go in for a flu shot. It is scheduled in one of the meeting rooms at work. I have not driven a car in over a month. Other than my daily walks with Vigo, I have not ventured out. I don’t want to go and have half a mind to cancel. It interrupts my routine.

In the Before Times I had booked a shamanic retreat in Bali. I dealt with an extremely helpful travel consultant named Carrie. She was also the one who booked our South Korea trip which subsequently got cancelled. She arranged for an airfare refund pronto. I have been so impressed with her customer service. As the travel restrictions continue, I emailed her to cancel my Bali trip. I received an auto reply stating her inbox is no longer manned which could only mean one thing – she lost her job. It is the first job lost casualty impacting someone I know. Also news overnight that Virgin airlines went into voluntary receivership. The economic knock on effect of covid is definitely playing out.

23/4/20

Went out for the first time in five weeks and nearly got swiped by another car because misjudged a turn. Went to office to get flu vaccination. Process was relatively painless. Place was eerily quiet. Hand sanitiser at the door. We must not touch anything in the foyer. Nurse with plastic shield face mask greeted us. Crosses taped on the ground so that we can socially distance. I asked the security guard whether I could go inside the office space to water my plants. The water reservoir was low. I’ve never left them that long. I shuffled about organising their irrigation hoses. Took longer than I thought. Guard was about to send a search party.

26/4/20

Since venturing out on Thursday, I’ve flown the coop several times more. Went for first grocery shop today and had a poke around Spotlight Friday night with Autumn. Everywhere are signs saying “Zero Tolerance”

for people who abuse staff. Every so often a PA announcement would come on reminding shoppers to behave respectfully in these challenging times and to be tolerant that not all items may be available due to the crisis. Reminded me of people bashing each other for toilet paper at the beginning of this crisis. I think for the most part people have settled down a bit.

When I was out Friday night with Autumn (we went to Spotlight to get plasticine for a science experiment), we smelt the most amazing aroma of something cooking. It was around 7.30pm in their carpark. This was in an industrial complex so no restaurants nor homes nearby. I’ve been so deprived of good cooking as I have been self reliant on own cooking, I raised my nose in the air like a dog and tried to locate the source. Is there a restaurant that is open serving take away? Where? Alas I could not find it. P reckons with covid, people might be renting warehouses to cook in and then selling it as take away to those in the know. Which probably explained why the most delicious cooking smells was emanating somewhere in the industrial park in the middle of the night.

Spent the weekend chuckling over the stupidity of DJT the dickhead in chief of the United Sta tes who recommended or rather mused aloud mainlining disinfectant into the body as a way of curing covid. True moron. Even more moronic are his followers who actually tried to do that, necessitating medical intervention. If you’re dumb enough to listen to Trump, you don’t deserve to live, in my opinion.

P is driving to my father in law’s to deliver some groceries. He is craving French baguette from the bakery, “cheap soft drinks” and strangely, cholesterol lowering margarine. P also made some noodles and Autumn baked some cookies to drop off as a care pack. I had asked my own parents as to whether they need or crave anything. Them seem pretty self sufficient.

Speculation in the news re Kim Jung Un’s health status. There is talk he may be dead (hurrah!) or in a vegetative state (I’ll make that also as a hurrah!) from some form of health crisis. One wonders whether it is covid related and although most news outlets are reporting it is likely to be complications from cardiac surgery. Either way, good riddance.

CORONADIARIES – May 2020

2/5/20

We have hit what the experts are saying in the media as the “Third Quarter” of isolation. Apparently this is a phenomenon seen in astronauts during long periods of isolation in space. So the first quarter is typically people going into a mad panic of panic buying, fear mongering and aggressive behaviour. The second quarter is a calm domestic bliss which I must say I experienced. A kind of lala land, insulated from the woes of the world. The third quarter is when everyone starts getting irritable and impatient to resume normal life. The problem is, we as a community have so effectively hunkered down, there is a fair amount of trepidation in restarting life again. I’ve found my cosy groove and despite rushing at the postman like I’m deprived of human contact, I don’t really miss the social aspect all that much.

There are now confirmed cases of dogs having covid 19. My vet has taken a rather stringent stance from the get-go. Vigo had to make a visit to the vet’s yesterday and we were sent prior to the appointment an email explaining the operational procedures. So first up we park on the street and then call the clinic to advise of arrival. The vet then comes to your car and take your pet inside. You remain in your car. They examine / treat pet and bring it back to your car. You drive up to the side of the house (vet clinic is a converted house), roll down your window and pay via contactless cash like a McDonalds’ drive through. Vigo took the whole process

calmly although he was chomping at the bit to run inside the vet upon arrival. He didn’t understand why he had to wait in the car until summoned.

Winter has arrived with a vengeance. Somehow it makes self isolation more lonely. I still walk Vigo in the morning, but the walks are not as enjoyable. No warm sun to bask in. We brave the icy lashing rain for our only outlet for the day. I don’t get to my 10000 step goal. Running on the treadmill is not the same. It is monotonous and boring.

4/5/20

Home cooking and the covid. All over social media are people uploading pics/videos of themselves cooking/baking. Sourdough loaves, thermomix concoctions, there’s a real sense of one upmanship. I try to steer clear of it all. My own home cooking efforts have been a relative fail. I tried making a vegan lasagne and that turned out to be quite repulsive with its cement like faux ricotta. My apple crumble managed to be raw yet burnt at the same time. Quite a feat. P has been knocking out stellar productions – he made a mean potato rosti (crispy and oil laden yum), his seafood mapo tofu is a staple on weekly rotation. Even Autumn is baking admirable batches of cookies and making pad thai for herself. I don’t seem to have any newsworthy or social medial sharing worthy products to share. People are now starting WhatsApp chats to show off all that they are cooking and eating. Dalgona coffees, milk breads, kebabs over charcoal, pavlovas. It made me all envious – food envy is a killer. I feel a bit left out as I have nothing to share in these group chats. I do have a few lobster tails in the freezer bought in the Before Times. I could defrost them to make something enviable, but I’ll probably stuff it up. P watched a YT video of a reputable food vlogger making do with home cooking during quarantine. This guy recommends cooking two KFC chicken pieces in rice to create a Hainanese rice effect. P tried it. It did not look at all like Hainanese rice. It was a waste of perfectly good KFC chicken. Not that I eat KFC but if I did, I would not waste it by throwing it into a pot of cooking rice. I generally make a big vat of vegetable soup of some description which would last two to three days. I chip away at it daily serving it with toast and maybe a tin of smoked oysters or fried egg. It is unsatisfying experience, but it is a quick meal for when I’m WFH and juggling home-schooling.

9/5/20

It’s Mother’s Day this weekend. As we couldn’t visit the grandmas, we baked cookies (me baked biscotti and Autumn made choc chip cookies). We dropped them off with a little gift. I’m celebrating Mother’s Day for myself a day early. As no restaurants are open for dine in, I didn’t want to order take away tomorrow to be stuck in the rush of orders. As I write, P has gone to Vegie Bowl to pick up the following for my Mother’s Day lunch – seafood basket, mock roast pork and green beans, abalone mushrooms and spinach. Autumn will have a curry laksa.

The federal government has released guidelines on how they plan to open up the economy in July 2020. Apparently it is up to each state how they would phase in the loosening of restrictions. Work has said we might be WFH for another month or two. My office plants will surely be dead by then.

The government has released a covid 19 tracking app. It would let you know if you have been in contact with people would have been tested positive provided the other person also uses the app. I introduced the idea to my parents and encouraged them to download and register. They are very suspicious and afraid of hacking.

Our treadmill has died. All of us using it during covid was too much for it. Autumn has resorted to walking around the backyard 20 times as her exercise. She’s too lazy to walk in the streets as that would involve dressing for the public.

I know a lot of people are binge watching Netflix but it’s really not for me. We had a movie night during the week. Autumn had to watch a movie for her English Lit class. After much faffing around, P managed to work out how to download it. We watched it in the theatre room with apple pies and popcorn. Since P took so long trying to download and sync the movie onto the big screen, we had all finished our snacks before the movie started. I don’t think I’ve got the attention span to watch a 90min film. Had to stay focussed as it’s Autumn’s school work and I needed to have some semblance of what the film is about in case she needs help with her work.

For the past week and a bit I’ve noticed a little pigeon roosting on my upstairs retreat window. Isolation makes you notice the small things. He had patchy feathers on his head which I feared was a sign of illness. He was a little blob of a silhouette in the evening. He was very cute. I named him Mario and looked forward to seeing him in the morning and at night. He flew off during the day. After I’ve named him, Mario did not come back again. I don’t know where he has gone. I hope he is OK. I tried looking for him in the backyard. I miss seeing his little huddled mass by the light of the full moon. That was the last night he spent on his ledge.

Many home spun haircuts have sprung up since the social distancing rules made it impossible to visit a salon. Anderson Cooper on CNN showed us his bald spot from a home hair cut gone wrong. There are all these tutorials online teaching people how to cut hair. Today P reluctantly let me cut his hair after I pressure him for the best part of the day to address his head which resembles a toilet brush after two months of not visiting the barber’s. I think I did a pretty reasonable job given the blunt scissors and the My Little Pony comb borrowed from Autumn. I didn’t have a shaver so just picked up little individual hairs to hack.

I went to the chemist today to buy Autumn’s Spatone. Was stopped at the door and had my temperature taken. 35C – rather low I observed. The guy didn’t care so long as it was not febrile. On the way out of the chemist, I saw my first non essential store open for real life customers. It looked like an oasis or a mirage. It was a kitchenware shop and the place was packed. People were buying pots and baking ware for the sake of buying stuff. It was hard to resist. I went in too. There was a mandatory hand disinfecting station at the door and social distancing posters everywhere. Not that people were paying much attention to the signs. I asked the shop keeper whether they have been busy, she confirms that they have never been busier. People are cooking at home more often now. I bought a May Gibbs painted mug and coaster (on sale) as a future gift for someone. I had to resist the urge to text everyone I know to let them know that I am standing in a fair dinkum store with other people around me.

P tells me that there are people who misses travelling aka flying on planes, that businesses have been set up to deliver air plane food to customers who yearn for the plane travel experience. The meals are packed on little trays, etc just like on a plane. People miss the strangest stuff.

10/5/20

It’s Mother’s Day in lock down and it’s my best Mother’s Day to date. I don’t have to host a party for the grandmas. I actually get to spend the day for myself. Have pottered about the garden and took Vigo for a walk. P made me an omelette for lunch. We’ll be having lobster tails for dinner. Autumn wants me to teach her how to make anchovy pasta so I’ll do that after she’s done with homework. It’s going great!

Mario the pigeon is back! We had awful weather last night and just before dusk a rainbow appeared by the window where he normally roosted. I sighed and sent out well wishes to Mario wherever he might be. Lo and behold, that evening he came back! This morning whilst meditating I felt an urge to open my eyes and there he was outside my balcony window. I rushed downstairs to lay down some birdseed for him. So good to see him again. I had given him up for dead. There’s been quite a few news stories about wild animals reclaiming their territories now that the humans have gone into isolation. Towns have been taken over by mountain goats. My friend who lives in the outer suburbs of Melbourne keep posting flocks of ducks just crossing the streets or just wandering around an empty car park. It’s heartening to see.

P and I talked finances. He will have to start looking for a job once lockdown is officially over. Our plans or early retirement has been postponed.

11/5/20

Daniel Andrews announced this morning the lifting of restrictions in Victoria. We are allowed to gather in groups of five from Wednesday onwards. This means we can now visit family members. I’m not really ready for this. I enjoyed isolation.

Yesterday there were protesters at parliament house. They were right wing conspiracy nuts protesting the lost of their freedom and liberties under self isolation. Idiots.

13/5/20

The schools are making plans to reopen although there is some confusion as to the date of commencement. Autumn’s school will announce something today. A lot of shops still are remaining closed as it is not profitable for them to reopen with the social distancing requirements.

P and I are making plans to sell our house in the next year. We are very unsure of the what the market would be like. We had grand plans of staging the home but in order to save money, we won’t be doing this any more. Expectations have greatly fallen.

16/5/20

I am all at sea. Earlier this week I was disappointed when one of my favourite medico/spiritual heroes, Dr Christiane Northrup posted something which seemed vaguely pro-Trump on her IG feed and Twitter. She was challenging the Stay At Home orders and querying the agenda of Bill Gates in his quest for a covid vaccine. My first reaction was that of disgust – how could she even align herself to these tin hat conspiracy theorists? I contemplated unsubscribing to her. On the same day, chef Pete Evans also made the news with his anti mainstream media posts on IG. I started reading up on him and his wife. I align with some of their

lifestyle values so that got quite confusing for me. Am I also a conspiracy theorist? Today I decided to give Christiane Northrup another chance. I made time to watch her daily awakening IGTV. I got that she’s not a covid denier. She is merely encouraging people to look beyond the news from mainstream outlets, to get in touch with our own sovereignty. She’s a believer of food being thy medicine. She’s encouraging healthy eating and healthy spiritual practices during this time. This makes a lot of sense to me. So I’ve done a full 180 in the past few days. What some class as woo woo is quite comforting for me. It is a time of rebirth and awakening. And I want to be a part of it.

18/5/20

The past weekend has been the most socially active one in a long time. On Friday night I dropped off masks at my parents as they have run out. They are fastidious in wearing them when in public and its easier to just go along with it than to question it. I had a few leftover from Christine (dentist). On Saturday, Susan and her family came to disassemble the vegepod. We all went back to her house to look at her leaking roof. On Sunday, my parents dropped by to pick up some wine from our cellar. My dad took six bottles home. That should keep him going.

I groan as today is about week six of school term and new assessment tasks are being introduced. It is hard to plan and map these out for Autumn so we can stagger them.

23/5/20

We are currently drowning in cookies. Autumn has taken to baking twice per week. I don’t want the temptations of sugary/buttery baked goods in the house and have been trying to off load them to anyone who visits now that small gatherings are allowed.

Watched an online tutorial of what to expect when returning to the workplace. Apparently work will hire cleaners to wipe down public surfaces, place personal distancing sports/markers on the ground and we are expected to eat/drink at our desks.

I’ve lost 3kg since the beginning of lockdown. I think it’s because my cooking is terrible therefore I am eating less. I miss going to the restaurant.

Today the Global Heart Coherence Organisation organised a global meditation to raise the vibrations of the world. It was scheduled at 2pm EST (US) which was 4am my time. I slept fitfully as I didn’t want to miss it. Ended up waking every 2 hours. I last woke around 3.20am-ish and decided it was ‘close enough’ and sent a prayerful petition up and promptly fell back asleep again. It is also the new moon. Apparently I should plant some seeds of intention. As in physically go plant something. Not sure whether this would work as it is coming into winter and we are clearing the yard to prep home for sale. May give this a miss.

Since it was a new moon and all and I’m technically in lockdown still, I decided to declutter the spare room to make a fresh new start, to get rid of what no longer serves me, etc, etc. Found old correspondence between me and P during our dating phase. Found old diary of my first year as a parent. Kept that too. Threw out a bunch of old juju which saddened me and was decidedly low vibe. Then went on to clean bathrooms. Felt

very cathartic. Found old dog clippers. Will attempt to clip P’s hair tomorrow. Will probably butcher it. But that’s the risk he takes!

24/5/20

It’s been an interesting 24 hours. P has confiscated Autumn’s iPad as punishment for bad behaviour. It’s a wonder how kids these days entertain themselves without a device. But so far so good. We went out in the afternoon and take Vigo to the groomer and we walked around Westfield whilst we waited for him. Tonight we will do a movie night. Hopefully Autumn doesn’t miss the iPad too much.

Cut P’s hair with dog clippers. He doesn’t realise there are bald patches at the back. His neckline is a curve convex. It kind of looks like a friar.

26/5/20

Some of the schools and workplace opened up today. It was a strange sight whilst walking Vigo to see a school girl waiting at the bus stop. It seemed incongruent somehow. The roads are noticeably busier. The new friends we made at the dog park (Archie’s owner and Raff’s owner) were not about today. Perhaps they are back at work. I miss them. They have been a constant in our diminished lives for the past three months.

We were at Westfield on the weekend. Lots of people shopping in masks. Most shops have a policy of no more than eight people in the store at a given time. Shops had signs encouraging people to order online then pick up in store.

27/5/20

Took Vigo for a drive to Rowville to visit my aunt to drop off her 70th birthday present. We chatted and it dawned on me that she couldn’t have a party or celebration to honour her milestone birthday due to the restrictions. Quite sad really. She hopes to visit her daughter’s house on the weekend and sit by her chimera.

30/5/20

A decidedly slow paced Saturday which I adore. Woke around 6.08am by the some of P’s alarm. Walked Vigo around 8am for 50mins. Had a breakfast smoothie. Helped Autumn with her artistic statement for drama and took pics of her in costume. At 12pm, P came back from Vegie Bowl with an assortment of take away. On the menu today was spinach and abalone mushroom, fried abalone mushroom in oatmeal batter, eggplant and mock pork. Autumn had a vegan tom yum soup noodles. We got a mock beef char kwai teow out of curiosity to have as a snack during the weekend. It was delicious. I had a second lunch around 3.30pm. Now 3.37pm, I’m sipping sleep tea and contemplating having a shower and turning in for the night. I have a few books on Kindle I’ll flick between as well as watch the disturbing news feed re Minneapolis riots.

Word at work is that we won’t head back to the office until at least July 2020. My plants are definitely dead by then.

P told me Mauritius is cracking down hard on covid. Apparently they have told their citizens that their borders will remain closed under such time a vaccine has been found. This could be a year away. Citizens are told to be as self sufficient as possible – growing their own veg, fishing, etc. Cargo is still coming in but no passenger planes. Their one and only airline has gone bankrupt. Up until now there has been no plans to repatriate their citizens stranded overseas but I hear that a chartered flight on 10/6/20 to bring citizens stranded in Australia back. P’s uncle and aunt are in that category but I’m not sure whether they will go back as his uncle has just been diagnosed with metastatic cancer. They might stay for treatment.

CORONADIARIES – June 2020

6/6/20

It’s my big breakout weekend now that restrictions are lifting somewhat. Tonight we have a pizza party at Jayne’s to celebrate her 16th. Tomorrow I’m going to Holly’s house for my aunt’s 70th. We are allowed to gather in groups of 20 so we are partying within restrictions.

7/6/20

It was a convivial evening last night at the Wong’s. When we arrived, their neighbour was throwing a party which looked far in excess of 20 people judging by the cars in the streets and the people traipsing in/out. We set up a table to eat indoors and had my father in law down one end by himself whilst the rest of us sat 1.5m away on top of each other at the other end of the table. There were some comments about how we overcome grabbing out of the communal nut bowl but we just shrugged it off and ate out of it anyway. Everyone was hale and hearty.

9/6/20

Autumn returned to school after three months today. I was anticipating a bit of covid anxiety but not a peep of that. She’s at school as I write. I will ask her about it when she gets home.

There is a NBN fault in our local area. I have no internet. It makes WFH a pain in the proverbial. Using data from my iPad. Not ideal. Very frustrating when the internet freezes during a vital Zoom conference call.

Autumn said a few kids at school were wearing masks during class but no one was really observing the social distancing rules.

13/6/20

Today marks another milestone in the venturing into “real life”. I went for my first haircut since lockdown. I was surprised that the salon run by Maria had been operating the whole lockdown albeit with new ‘rules’. Pina and staff wore masks and there are hand sanitizers everywhere. Instead of the usual Saturday crowd we really only had two people in at any one time. The seats are disinfected afterwards. I was saddened to hear that Naomi had to resign. With covid, her daughter’s supports (she has cerebral palsy) had ceased and she is now a full time carer. Maria says Naomi has been finding it hard. Got my hair dyed blue black. P says I look like Morticia Adams.

17/6/20

Last night Vigo work me up at 2.01am. We listened in the dark to the low droning plane flying overhead. Hearing it, I realised how I’ve missed plane noises. Most commercial flights have been grounded since March. Many of the state borders are still closed. It made me wonder what sort of plane it is. Unlikely to be a commercial flight. Maybe a cargo plane. Or a police/military aircraft. It was very low flying and made the house rumble.

Three schools in Victoria which opened in the last two weeks had to close again due to covid cases. I’m glad it is school holidays at the end of the week.

Another realisation: This time last term we just entered the first week of lockdown. It felt like a different world back then. The was weather was warmer and apart from people panic buying staples, it felt mainly positive. At least I felt positive – an enforced holiday from the everyday drudgery and social obligations. Here we are a term later. Even though the panic buying and the worry about actually catching covid has diminished, a new gloom has descended. The economic realisation of this pandemic. P is unemployed and trying to find suitable work. Not many options out there in the market place. P is going to dabble in selling real estate if he doesn’t find work in his field. He has just started studying for REIV. My contract at the University is precarious. There are wage freezes and VSPs being proposed. Our assets have devalued. And we are in the middle of miserable winter. This is like the aftermath of an apocalypse. Lockdown (well at least the start of it) was kind of rosy and idyllic. Because the situation was unprecedented, we didn’t know what to worry about initially, apart from the day to day essentials. Now that we are emerging literally and figuratively, the world seems gloomier. Particularly since the pandemic has highlighted existing social frictions. The mass protests world wide for racial equality are disruptive yet necessary for change. There’s real seismic shifts going on.

22/6/20

We seem to have a second wave of covid in Victoria. Certain suburbs have been identified as hot spots and people are not allowed to travel outside of their councils. This is causing a bit of angst with mayors. We tasted freedom (for a while) but that was not to last. People on social media are blaming the attendance at the Black

Lives Matter marches and large family gatherings as the cause of the spikes. Currently Victoria is being treated like a pariah state. Other states do not want us to cross their borders. We were going to attempt to stagger a return to work on 1/7/20 but this has been pushed back to end of July 2020.

Covid has set off a baking frenzy. It is the new hip hobby to have. I suck at baking but Autumn’s really taken to it. She has made frosted cinnamon buns on the weekend. It smelled amazing. Vigo’s fur still smells warm and cinnamon days after! I put a pic of her buns fresh from the over on IG and had heaps of people commenting and being inspired by it to bake their own.

25/6/20

Ways of measuring the passage of time during covid:

1) At the beginning of lockdown, I had a nasty carbuncle which was inflamed and angry. During the course of lockdown, it had self drained approximately 7 times (gross). Now it has healed. The skin is now flat and shiny like scar tissue. It took about 4 months.

2) A man walks daily with his baby to fetch take away coffee along our dog walking trail. We see him every day since lockdown. He initially wore the newborn in a carrier with her face towards him. She used to sleep. Now she’s several months old with good head control. She is front facing and engages with the environment.

News today that we may not return to the workplace until August. There are hot spots across Melbourne. The government will be setting up mandatory testing in those areas. Each household will be tested for covid. My friend Annie lives in one of those suburbs.

26/6/20

News today. NSW premier is advising their citizens to “avoid interacting with Melbournians” as we are likely to carry covid. Lots of leering online querying how someone can spot a Melbournian.

Had my first covid related dream. I was in an airport in a country called East Guinea. My family were being tested for covid. The authorities stopped us from taking the connecting flight home. We were detained at the airport isolated from others. I demanded to know whether that meant we tested positive. I got no hel pful answers. I started to compose an email to work explaining I will not be able to make it in as I am detained overseas. In my email I expressed my frustration and embarrassment that work will now have to close for a deep clean on account of me.

29/6/20

Some interesting observations from friends who have ventured out to “dine in” at a few of the restaurants that are opening up:

1) Meals are served on takeaway containers/plates even though it is dine in. The disposable plates must be killing the environment. It does ruin the ambience of dining out if one is eating with plastic cutlery.

2) Patrons have to leave their mobile and contact details before stepping into the restaurant. This is to facilitate contact tracing if one of the patrons are infected. I understand this and this it is sensible.

CORONADIAIRES July 2020

2/7/20

We are in a modified lockdown for the second wave. Ten postcodes have shutdown. Police man the streets leading out of those areas and drivers have to show their licences and risk a fine if they have strayed too far from home. They have licence plate recognition and drones to check on everyone’s movements.

Turns out one of the reasons why we are having a second wave is because a security guard at one of the quarantine hotels had sex with a returned infected traveller. He has then infected all his colleagues who then took it home.

News that a new strain of flu found in pigs in China has the potential to cross to humans and cause another pandemic. It too is a novel virus. That is all we need right now!

4/7/20

I am conflicted. A lot of wellness and spiritual people I respect and follow on social media have come out questioning the wisdom of wearing a mask and questioning the agenda of vaccinations. It so goes against what I have been raised with. I’m not sure whether I’ve been brainwashed or they are batty.

6/7/20

The covid feels like it is really hitting close to home this weekend. There is news circulating (courtesy of people passing emails around) of covid positive cases at Bupa at The Glen and The Asian Grocer. P and Autumn were at The Glen when the active cases were there. It is the closest we have been in terms of exposure to known cases.

The NSW/Vic border closed for the first time in 100 years due to concerns of viral spread from Victoria.

7/7/20

Melbourne goes into lockdown again from midnight tomorrow. It was announced around 3pm today. P and Autumn went to the shops to buy last minute groceries. The shops were mobbed with like minded people.

Social distancing was not observed as people jostled for items. School holidays are extended one more week to buy schools time to figure out how to plan/deliver the learning. Most likely it will be remote learning again.

Tomorrow night we were scheduled to go to my aunt’s for dinner. It is a rarity. I have not had dinner at her place for over 20 years. It’s a big deal. Even Vigo has been invited. We will eat and head home before the lockdown deadline.

9/7/20

You know that story about the grasshopper/cricket that chirped all summer? It felt a bit like that last night. At midnight we went back into lockdown and people were having get togethers and parties like life was going to end and it was their final hurrah. We had a final hurrah of sorts too. We went to my aunt’s place for dinner with Vigo in tow. They made a 12 course meal. It was spectacular and would have taken them days in preparation. We had an assortment of vegetarian dishes, curry chicken, tempura prawns, a golden chicken and cheese croquet thing, seafood soup with tofu and seaweed. The piece de resistance was an orange zested swiss roll filled with cream cheese and cherries. We ate, we chatted loudly. Then we went home into lockdown 2.0. A bit depressing really.

The residents of the commission housing towers who were under ‘hard lockdown’ have been realised from it today. They are now in normal lockdown like the rest of us. Only metro Melbourne are in lockdown and there are some questionable people driving regionally to their holiday homes to escape. Understandably, the regional towns are upset the Melbournians are bringing the virus into their communities.

People are starting to crack under the mental pressure of isolation. I’m seeing more and more cases of people at work who are stating “stress and anxiety” over new work life and the global situation. This week, I had a staff member ask whether she can come into the office once or twice per week to escape her family. As she is not deemed an essential worker, the answer was “no” given the government guidelines. She sounded quite desperate.

P has been a busy beaver building a sink by the woodfire oven. Bunnings is still quite crowded. I don’t think we are effectively social distancing in public.

10/7/20

Melbourne had 288 new cases of covid in the past 24 hours. All of them are community transmissions and only 20 of them are from known origins, which is worrying. Much blame going around. Some blame the Black Lives Matter marches a few weeks ago for spreading the virus. Others blame the botching up of the hotel quarantine. I think our premier is doing a remarkable job. He should not be blamed for a security guard spreading covid. I wonder whether our premier, Dan Andrews is getting enough sleep? He presents updates succinctly and firmly but empathetically. He has risen in my esteem.

Today we had been advised we need to wear a mask any time we are out of the house. It is a big thing for a government to mandate. For some strange reason, masks have become the symbol of personal freedoms. But if it helps over this second wave and reopen the state and economy, I will happily abide by the rules and wear a mask. Am trying to find a nice mask which is washable and not too suffocating.

12/7/20

Yesterday was the first day I felt despondent again about being in lockdown 2.0. Maybe it was the unrelenting rain and cold. Maybe it was the DJs on Joy FM valiantly trying to list things they are grateful for during lockdown. It really got to me as I drove into the grey concrete underground carpark to fetch my groceries. I teared up a little. I tried to return a smile to the door greeter at the shops but realised they can’t see my mouth with the mask on. So I did an exaggerated squint with my eyes to convey my smile underneath the mask.

13/7/20

Today Susan and Tim came to pick up a sander. I passed it to them over the fence due to lockdown rules. Susan had been very cavalier about social distancing during lockdown 1.0 but this time around even she is stating she is a bit worried about the number of community transmissions.

Today mid walk, P pointed out that I was wearing mismatched shoes. I think I’ve truly lost it during lockdown.

14/7/20

P has a fascination with numbers. He monitors the number of new cases, death toll and number of active cases by state and by country. He lectures like an old man arguing with the clouds, shaking his head at the images of people not socially distancing. I have to endure daily rants of him blaming complacent people for the predicament we are in.

15/7/20

Today as we walked Vigo, we encountered Mince Lady in her car. She pulled up and wound down her window and shouted that stage 4 restrictions will apply from tonight so hurry to the shops before the premier’s announcement. So P duly rushed to the shops and bought back so much food every nook and cranny of the house is filled with non perishables. I texted family and friends to give them the heads up. Anyhow, long story short, no announcement about stage 4. It was all a bit of premature panic.

17/7/20

We hit a record of new cases for Victoria – 428. It is rather worrying. Although we have not upgraded to stage 4 restrictions, we have been ordered to only shop and exercise locally. I had to cancel Vigo’s grooming scheduled for the weekend as it was several suburbs away. I am aggrieved I no longer be able to have my weekly take away from Vegie Bowl. But these are small inconveniences in the grand scheme of things. Tomorrow the house we are selling in XXXX has an open for inspection (by appointment). I hope we don’t go into hard lockdown as it would it even harder to sell the property. I’m trying not to worry. Have been trying qi gong. It seems to help. Autumn’s been delightful with homeschooling this time around. I’m so proud of her.

The Zip tap man came today to maintain our water.. It was so lovely to welcome a nice person into our house. Like a guest. It’s very weird not being able to accept visitors.

My father in law, is in hospital following aortic surgery. He’s doing well but the hospital has announced a ‘no visitors’ policy as more and more healthcare workers contract covid. Lucky he is soon to be discharged.

I’m trying to be grateful for the small things. I water my succulents and I thank them for their growth. I’m thankful someone is staying at our AirBnB. I’m thankful for Autumn trying her best at school. I’m thankful for P buying our favourite snacks during lockdown.

19/7/20

Masks are to be mandatory from Wednesday next week. We have gone from “masks don’t do anything to stop the spread” to “don’t waste the masks – they are needed for health care workers” to “mandatory masks or risk a $250 fine”. There are obviously the usual people who complain that this is a violation of their liberties. Very strange times.

20/7/20

With the government declaring a state of emergency, the new rules are – masks for when in public except for children under 12, childcare workers, when in banks and for teachers when talking. I rushed to buy masks online. Like many others I discovered the main suppliers were all sold out. Tried going on Etsy for hand crafted cotton ones (for breathability and washability). The good ones were selling out fast with messages popping up along the lines of “three left and 20 people have it in their baskets” or notes from vendors saying due to the unprecedented demand there are delays and limits on pattern choices. There is considerable price gouging. At the beginning of the evening, a cloth face mask was listed as $20 but by the time I put it into my basket to pay, it had jumped to $31. I ended up buying two cloth masks at $31 each for Autumn and I. P would use the disposable ones. I still need to source another set of cloth masks so we can wash and wear. I read that the pharmacies have jacked up the price of paper masks to $50 for 50. Price is prohibitive and there will be many who can’t afford it. Particularly if it is meant to be thrown out after each wear. A cotton mask on Etsy was listed $950. I kid you not. The world has gone mad.

This morning when I walked Vigo with the mask on for the first time, I noticed that quite a bit of condensation forms on the mask especially in the cold weather. My mask was dripping after 40 mins. I wasn’t expecting this.

Eighteen hours on and I’m still trying to buy online face masks and websites keep crashing. It is infuriating.

23/7/20

Mandatory mask day. It was the first time I’ve seen 100% compliance with mask wearing outdoors. It felt dystopian. I didn’t realise how much we as a society relied on facial expressions to interact. Vigo’s regular dog walk felt like walking in a land of zombies or bots.

24/7/20

I am devastated. Mario my pigeon fired who perches on my upstairs window is dead. I found what’s left of him on the lawn – two dislocated wings and a remnant of tail. He kept me company since the start of the pandemic. He was something to marvel at. A representation of nature which in non pandemic times, I would have been too distracted to have noticed. I picked up his little wings with gristle still attached and composted it. He would have wanted to return to the earth. I assume a cat did it. There is no carcass. If it was Vigo, the body would still be there. I’m in mourning for the lost of my pandemic buddy. Mario was something precious I could focus on when my world closed around me. He represented the outside world. Freedom. The ability to fly away.

25/7/20

P has been on the war path trying to identify Mario’s killer. He watched the CCTV footage and confirmed the time of death as 10.45pm. Mario was stalked by a black cat and was devoured. It took 50mins for the cat to eat him. My heart is broken. He suffered so. I put out an IG post about my friendship with and demise of Mario. People on social media waded in. They think he might have been a lost racing pigeon who ‘self rescued’ by living in our yard. I feel blessed that Mario chose us.

Yesterday I felt glum. It was the first time I actually feel dread about the covid stats. Victoria reco rded 459 new cases and 10 new deaths for that day. One person who died was in their 40s. For the first time ever, the possibility of me or P not making it through the pandemic occurred to me. I felt all unsettled and sought comfort food. I made myself French toast with nut butter and chia jam to self soothe.

28/7/20

We hit a milestone yesterday – 532 new covid cases in Victoria. It’s hard not to be alarmed.

Sara Mitchell sent along a care pack for us. It contained a large box of chips, multiple blocks of organic dark chocolate, homemade brioche and a box of toothpaste. I laugh with her that she’s sending me conflicting messages with the chocolates and toothpaste. She’s a dentist.

29/7/20

On our walk this morning we noticed that someone had angrily carved out “fuck covid” on the trunk of a tree in the park. I get that people are mourning and frustrated but to maim a tree?

30/7/20

A grim day again. We hit a new peak – 723 new cases for Victoria. The premier Dan Andrews looks exhausted in his daily press briefing. He was even a bit testy today at one of the reporters. I think he’s doing a remarkable job. Another strange phenomenon is the collective crush on the chief medical officer for Victoria, Prof Brett Sutton. He’s an easy on the eye silver fox and people on Twitter have unearthed photos of him when he was 22. All lion maned and vibrant. Like a young Michael Hutchence. Collective swooning all around.

I presented at a Lunch and Learn today for HR. In non covid times, the Lunch and Learn usu ally involve a professional speaker to talk about HR related matters. But in covid times I was asked to present on a topic (growing plants) that people could get involved with now that we are in lockdown 2.0. I decided to cover growing vegetables from kitchen scraps as it covers off sustainability as well as being relevant in these periods of austerity.

News that dogs are being trained to sniff out covid. We would soon be seeing sniffer dogs in the general public as part of the new way of life.

CORONADIARIES – August 2020

2/8/20

Where to start? Last night we got forwarded a text from someone who knows someone who knows someone who sits on the front bench. They had a cabinet meeting the day prior and it was concluded that Melbourne would enter stage 4 lockdown effective Wednesday 12am. Stage 4 lockdown rules were proposed to include:

• No travel beyond 5km of residence

• One person per family to leave house at any one time

• Homeschooling

• Retail to close expect for supermarkets, chemists and takeaway shops

• No public transport

• No abattoirs (major cluster)

Of course much forwarding of this messaged ensued. Susan seems quite glum at the prospect of this. She’s finding it hard to keep her spirits up in isolation with a toddler. I cautioned mum and dad to buy as much meat as their fridge can hold as I foresee meat shortages with the abattoirs closing. Luckily I had already scheduled a groom for Vigo today. When I got him to Sandra’s she was stressing because she’s trying to groom all her clients before the imminent shutdown. She’s worried about the elderly dogs and was rearranging clients to come in where possible in the next few days. I wanted/needed a colour correcting setting powder by Givenchy so went off to Westfield. Lady at the beauty counter said they’ve been mobbed since opening as people are buying their beauty products before hard lockdown.

I’m interrupted by the premier’s press conference. What is surprising is a curfew will be imposed tonight from 8pm. We are not allowed out of our homes from 8pm – 5am. I didn’t see this coming.

I write this after finding out about the curfew and racing to the shops for a last minute stash and grab. I’ve promised Autumn Nando’s for dinner before the 5km limit goes into effect in a few days time. Our nearest Nando’s is over 5km away so off I went in a hurry after the curfew was announced. It appeared that other

people were of the same mindset. The shopping centre was packed with people buying the dregs of meat. I also paid a visit to Kmart for more notebooks to record my pandemic diaries. When I first started my pandemic diaries, I thought maybe I’ll fill one and a half notebooks tops. Here I am two volumes in and trying to maximise the pages to make it last. When this hard lockdown was announced this afternoon I knew I’ll be in for at least a few more volumes so have bought three extra notebooks. Surely a total of five notebooks should tide me over the pandemic? It wouldn’t last that long? Could it?!

I didn’t mention that Vigo and I paid a visit to the pet shop to stock up on dog food. The place was similarly mobbed with people buying pet food. I suspect the pet shop would be forced to close under the new restrictions.

I’m getting confused with what I’ve recorded in the diary and what I have texted to friends overseas. It appears I’ve neglected to record here that the army visits each positive covid case to ‘check in’ on them. It was discovered that 1 in 4 of the positive cases they visited were not at home. They were gallivanting about town spreading the virus. So it has been proposed that ankle monitors be introduced. I’m not sure whether there would be buy in with this. The world is turning more and more dystopic.

I discovered that the official term for stage 4 is “state of disaster” so from 6pm tonight (50 mins away), Victoria will be declared in a State of Disaster.

3/8/20

We are now allowed out for exercise for 1 hour each day. So I use my exercise quota to walk Vigo. He is participating in Pawgust, a fundraiser for the Guide Dogs Australia. We have pledged to walk a certain amount per day. Having the outdoor restrictions does put a dampener on things but 1 hour each day should get us through the pledge.

The last three nights have been spectacular in terms of what’s happening skywards. Jupiter, Saturn and the full moon align together. It’s a once in 20 years event. We were blessed with clear skies which we could witness the planets very easily with the naked eye. Goes to show that when things go to pot on Earth, look up and marvel at the Universe. We are part of a bigger whole.

4/8/20

It seems a bit frivolous and self absorbed to be writing about the new phenomenon of macne when there are people losing their jobs, lives, etc, but in the pandemic, macne is popping up all over social media. Essentially macne is dermatitis and breakouts associated with prolonged mask use. It’s sweaty and humid under the mask and the skin starts to break down. The tips to minimise macne are – to minimise makeup and sunscreen wear under the mask, to don a new mask each time, and to launder masks in antibacterial soap.

Crisis talks at work today regarding how to operate with stage 4 restrictions. Since childcare has closed, a lot of parents will be WFH with young ones rattling about. I’m sure that would be stressful all round.

Stage 5? When stage 4 restrictions were imminent, I explained to Autumn what it may entail – to prepare her. She listened in dismay and asked “well how many stages are there? What’s stage 5?” At the time I was

slightly irritated as I felt that was an irrelevant question. Shouldn’t she be discussing the implications of stage 4 rather than query about non existent stages? I had snapped, “there’s no stage 5. It’s capped at 4. You can’t get worse than 4!” Anyhow that proved to be false. On Twitter, “stage 5” was trending. Apparently there is a more depressing scenario than 4. There’s 5 – whatever that is. It is still undefined but it represents further closures of everything we hold dear. It’s remarkable that back in March I was bemoaning the fact we had to cancel our overseas holiday. Now in August, I am only allowed out of my house for 1 hour each day and only within 5km of home. I seriously did not see this every happening.

I write this in bed at 4.30pm. It is rather early to tuck self in but we are in the middle of a gloomy cold snap and it’s warmer in bed. Autumn did not have school today. The school was closed due to crisis talks so no online learning for the day. We spent it touching up her music presentation, working a bit on her science experiment. She otherwise slept in and made a mess of the kitchen concocting some pastry. I watched the 4pm news update and decided I may as well head upstairs to bed. I like these early wind downs. I don’t know how I would handle regular life at a faster pace. Vigo is lying in my bed. P and Autumn are in the upstairs study doing up a family tree.

Holly and Dave have postponed their wedding for the third time. This time it has been set for June 2021. Originally it was March 2020. Let’s hope they manage to get hitched. As of this Thursday, the registry office closes so you can’t even get married by registry. They interviewed a couple on tv who got married yesterday in a stampede to the altar. They wore masks and were in casual clothes.

In the beginning we had used the expression “see you on the other side of”, meaning see you later when we can see each other again. However “the other side of” never seem to eventuate. I’ve stopped saying that.

In the news today was a story about a crazy anti-masker who bashed a female police officer when confronted about her lack of mask. The police woman suffered head injuries as a result. This happened in Frankston. I was appalled upon hearing this but recall Mummy sending me news articles of the crazies in the US shooting people when confronted re masks. So maybe our crazies are lighter versions. Or maybe we should be thankful we are not a gun toting society. There is a hashtag term for people flouting the law and risking the health and safety of others. They are called #covidiots.

How attire has changed during lockdown…In the beginning of lockdown back in March, the weather was warmer and I made an effort still. I wore smart casual shirts for Zoom meetings and jeans during the day. This lasted for about a week. Then I moved onto yoga pants since no one saw my bottom half on camera. However, as autumn turned into winter and the lockdown wore on, I needed warm loungewear. I didn’t want to wear tight clothing anymore. I didn’t have much loungewear as most of my clothing budget was spent either on work clothes or exercise gear. Also it got too cold. I found comfort in scarves and wore these thick ones over my pj tops which were effectively sweat tops The scarves disguised the fact they were sleepwear. As the weather grew colder still, I threw on thermal underwear. Then came mid winter. The sweat tops were no longer warm enough even with the thermals. I discovered Autumn’s old hiking jackets from Kathmandu – zippered fleece jacket and zippered woven jacket made out of some sort of recycled plastic. They were figure hugging and conserved heat. So that’s what I’m currently wearing. It’s too weird to wear these to work meetings. So when I have those I put on a black merino jumper or a blue turtleneck. This has become my standard attire. I have not worn shoes that are not Uggs or sneaker for the past 5 months. I stand corrected. I did wear birkenstocks in March when the weather was warmer.

5/8/20

P is complaining of generalised malaise and achey bones. I asked whether he has the covid. He doesn’t want to get tested because he reckons he lacks the upper respiratory symptoms to warrant a test.

A very grim day for Victoria – 725 new cases overnight. This is the new record. It’s frustrating because there are all these restrictions in place yet the numbers refuse to go down. Compliance is certainly an issue with some people. There is a lot of community anger at those “not doing their bit”. It’s disheartening.

Here I was thinking that my previous entry about macne was frivolous and tone deaf, but in the news tonight was a segment on the phenomenon. They interviewed sufferers, a dermatologist and gave some advice.

Pandemic fatigue is a new word in our lexicon. I definitely lapse into it. Like today. When there seems to be no end in sight. No light at the end of the tunnel. The frustrations with people not following the rules to help resolve/control this. The economic and financial worry. The worry of how we will emerge. We’ve been isolated for so long and as much as we ant to re-emerge, the prospect of crawling out of our respective isolation is also daunting. How would we psychologically cope? I worry about how Vigo would adjust to us not being around so much. Also how would Autumn adjust to going back to face to face school? Will P find another job? Would we be able to sell our assets to keep our cash flow going? Will I be able to travel again?

I had the craziest text exchange with Susan. She is in isolation trying to entertain Tim. She asked me to print out toddler friendly activities to post to him. She had no printer at home and Officeworks is now closed. I have a printer but no stamps. The post office is closed. So she is going to post me some stamps for me to post something back to her. It’s crazy times.

I cautioned Autumn to look after her Macbook. Both the Apple store and Officeworks are closed. If there is an IT issue we wouldn’t be able to get it fixed. She needs the Macbook for homeschooling. I think I’m starting to pre-emptively worry about everything. Autumn accused me of being moody. Maybe I need to crack open the self help books again about the art of letting go.

6/8/20

I’m a bit concerned with P. He reports ongoing lethargy and a difficulty getting moving. I’m not sure whether it is just standard winter blues or maybe this is the way his body manifests pandemic fatigue. Or maybe he’s down with the covids. Vigo seems rather lethargic too. He doesn’t jump onto the furniture as much. It is he’s getting older or is it some sort of pathology? Maybe I’m dwelling on things too much?

Today will be a heavy one on the homeschooling front. I have to help Autumn craft an extended response to “Describe the extent biopolitics has on dystopian fiction” as we as run science experiments where we run electric currents through things to determine whether it is metal, non metal or metalloid. Ugh. I don’t mid unpacking such concepts if there isn’t a time limit / due date. We can then leisurely explore this. However , with deadlines across multiple subjects and me working around my work commitments, I sometimes really can’t be bothered.

There are meat shortages with the abattoirs closing. It’s a good time to eat more plant based. There have been tear jerking pics taken in supermarket aisles of little old ladies next to their wheelie shopping jeep which is empty. The caption would typically say something along the lines of ‘stop the selfish panic buying’.

Mood at work is low. The government has closed all childcare unless you are a ‘permitted worker’. Both parents need to be declared a permitted worker to qualify for childcare in stage 4. We have a situation at work where the chief HR officer will not sign off on people being permitted workers unless they meet the strictest guidelines. Therefore staff are stressed as they are trying to WFH while caring for young ones and homeschooling older ones. People look like the are at their wits end. I can sympathise. As someone in a Zoom meeting said today, “The working from home is not working.”

Autumn is doing her PE assignment and I can hear music playing which reminds me of an icecream truck. Got all nostalgic. I have not heard a real icecream truck in such a long time. Do they even exist? Do they still drive around playing their siren song? It made me think of my granddad who always bolted out upon hearing the truck to buy me and my cousins a big gelato cone. I’m glad he’s not around anymore. I’m glad he is not witnessing this pandemic. My grandma is in a nursing home at the moment. With all the nursing home covid deaths, the home have virtually sealed themselves off from the outside world. I wonder how she’s faring. I heard from relatives that in the beginning of lockdown 1.0, she somewhat understood why she can’t leave the nursing home on outings and why there were no visitors. I wonder what level of care she is receiving? There are news from other nursing homes that staff have all but given up. There’s a video making the rounds of the elderly wandering around the corridors in states of semi undress. Viv’s dad is in a nursing home. He went without food for a whole day because the cook at the facility had been in close contact with someone with covid. He then isolated himself, but the home did not arrange for a back up cook. Viv offered to go in and cook for everyone, but the centre won’t allow outside visitors to assist. So the elderly went unfed for the day until a stand in cook was found. The world has gone mad.

More sad news today. We found out that P’s cousin has died from cancer in Queensland. Her daughter received special travel permission to fly from Canada to Australia to be with her. Due to the compulsory quarantine, she couldn’t stay with her. However the government and hospital were compassionate. They arranged for her to be picked up by a special vehicle and allowed her to see her mum wearing full PPE. I believe she is still in quarantine for four more days but she managed to see her mum for the past ten days before she passed away. It’s sad how covid even affects the end of life experiences for families. Luckily she died in Queensland – they are still allowed to have funerals. My understanding in Victoria, the rules may be more stringent.

More disturbing news. We have an outbreak of avian flu in Victoria. The outbreak is at Farm Pride Farm. Their hens lay 7 million eggs per week. Victoria do not need this right now. There are commentators saying this is the price we are paying for cheap farming. We humans get our comeuppance. I can’t help but agree. The covids started in a wet market where animals were living cheek to jowl in misery and witnessing the cruel slaughter of their brethren. It just took an animal with a viral load to be slaughtered and their blood aerosolised and the virus mutate to infect humans in the vicinity.

According to John Hopkins University, one person dies every 15 seconds from covid around the world.

7/8/20

Researchers are seeking ethics approval to knowingly infect volunteers with covid to fast track vaccine development. Made me think – would this be something I would be willing to do in the name of science? Definitely thought provoking.

For the first time in weeks, I am truly excited about something. I came across an article by Dr Ward from Swansea University re CoronaDiaries. He is seeking submissions of people’s diaries documenting these unprecedented times. I want to be part of this amazing project. Particularly in the past few weeks, it has been difficult to buoy one’s spirit in stage 4 restrictions. But knowing there is this study out there, knowing that there are people across the world documenting their own experiences makes the whole situation less isolating. It reminds me that we are all in this together, and we are all part of a greater whole. Anyhow I hope I am not too late in expressing my interest. I have emailed Dr Ward and I hope I do end up hearing from him. Regardless of whether my diairies, are part of this study or not, I will keep writing my pandemic diaries. These are historic times.

P told me that he got yelled at by an old man at the supermarket who thought he was walking too close to him. Obviously he wasn’t keeping enough of a social distance for the guy’s liking. We had a similar incident at the beginning of the pandemic. P and I were walking Vigo along a park path and an oncoming jogger yelled at us to move. It was ridiculously unnecessary as she had plenty of room to jog on by. I did wonder at the time whether she was so hostile because we were Asian in appearance. My relative living in the US text me news items of Asian Americans being abused in the streets for the “Wuhan flu”. We don’t have this extent of anti Asian sentiment in Australia. There were rumblings of it in the early days of the pandemic. The evening news did a piece on an Asian GP who had his front fence vandalised with anti Asian sentiments. But it’s mainly died down. It’s no longer a Chinese virus. It’s an international one. Anyway, the second wave has nothing to do with travels from China so can’t really blame them anymore.

We have become quite chatty with our postman. Pre covid, we didn’t even know who he was because we were never home when he dropped off a parcel. Now that we are homebound, the ringing of the doorbell brings much excitement. We are almost as thrilled as Vigo by the ringing of the doorbell. He’s a nice guy on his motorbike. He always reaches between the wrought iron gate to give Vigo a pat. We found out from him that the postal service is semi shutdown due to stage 4 restrictions. He is only allowed to deliver once per week to each household. So today was our delivery day. We got a bundle of parcels that have stockpiled over the week. Since he is our only consistent contact from the outside world, I feel vaguely saddened that we will only see him once per week now.

Today I found out via my cousin’s IG post that she and her family had made the difficult decision to put her dad (my uncle) into an aged care facility back in May. This was before the current second wave of covid rampaging through the aged care sector. I can only imagine the sense of guilt and worry they must be feeling. It is hard enough to come to terms that you can no longer care for a loved one at home. It would be harder still in the middle of a pandemic when there are so many restrictions on visitors. What’s not helping whatsoever is that infection rate in these facilities. I feel for her and her family.

8/8/20

Pseudo-mask wearing. There is a bit of this going on around the neighbourhood. It is the art or act of pretending to wear a mask but you are not really wearing one. Case in point are the ladies who purchase a take away coffee then hold the coffee cup for eternity while they chat to each other with their masks off supposedly in between sips. The mere act of having a cup in one’s hand gives the cup holder the right to have their masks off because they are supposedly quenching their thirst. I have watched people do this for at least 30 mins. Ladies perch at the low brick wall next to the bakery and chat with their immunity cup of

coffee in hand. The other pseudo mask wearing tricks are to have the mask below one’s nose. Not much point with that. Or the people who pull up their masks from around their necks when they see you. Not much point in that either as they have left a haz chem trail of vapours in their wake.

At the risk of sounding like an out of touch spoilt brat, I would really really like a massage at the moment. A massage with aromatherapy oils at a nice spa with all the trimmings (ambient music that is soothing, candles and a soft spoken therapist). But that is all wishful thinking in times like these a) those places aren’t open, b) I wouldn’t spend my money on something so selfish when we are down to a single income. I don’t know why I suddenly yearn for a massage. Maybe I’m just cold (it’s been raining all week) and I always associate a massage as an energetically warming experience.

I write this with a replete belly. With lockdown, we have made a commitment to save money and lim it our takeaway to once per weekend. Today’s the day for our weekly treat! Autumn opted for selection of sides from Nando’s which is 5.1km away (we figured that 0.1km is worth taking a risk of a fine for). She had broccolini, spicy rice and large chips with perinaise. I’ve decided to try a new place – Suga Korean restaurant. We had to ensure any takeaway we chose is within the 5km travel limit. I ordered Korean fried calamari (entrée), seafood pancake (they forgot to add seafood, so it was just a disc of flour), and a lunchbox special of tofu stew with seafood. This came with purple rice and a selection of banchan (kimchi and fishcakes). I’m so full now. Quite sleepy. That’s my treat/highlight or the week.

9/8/20

Today was the first time in a week I have spoken face to face to another human who is not a member of my household. We bumped into Andrew and Karen at the dog park. Vigo went mental with excitement. We chatted through our masks maintaining 2m between us for about 5 – 10 mins. It was a tonic. I didn’t realise how much I miss human interaction. P asked as we walked back home whether we were allowed to congregate in public and chat like that. I shrugged. Who knows these days? We did get a few disapproving looks from others at the dog park. But it was not like we met up intentionally. It was a chance encounter and it would have been rude to not ask about how they’ve been faring. Karen is going to What’sapp her dad later. It’s his birthday. They will link in other members of the family in the video call. Everyone has a cupcake and a candle ready to sing the old man happy birthday. I was amazed by Karem’s dogs, Lightening and Foxy. They sniffed my pro-offered treats and did not take them. Upon second offering they took it and then spat it out. When P gave them the exact same treat, they gobbled it up. We wondered whether it was because I smell like a vegetarian and they were dismissive of my food offerings. Vigo ate his weight in treats from Karen and Andrew. Probably that’s why he loses it when he sees them.

Autumn is baking salted caramel cookies again. I let her back once per week during lockdown. Her salted caramel cookies are her signature dish. They are very moreish. I let Vigo enjoy a few crumbs. He is packing on the covid pounds.

Jenny Mikakos, our health minister tweeted several times overnight owning to a series of mistake that has led Victoria into this deadlier second covid wave. The gist of it was this – out of all the states, Victoria decided to hire private security guards to handle the hotel quarantine during the first wave instead of using the defence force. The ideology behind it was compassionate – they wanted to create jobs for private contractors in an environment where people were losing their jobs. However, those private bouncers/security guards ended

up sleeping with covid infected travellers in quarantine and also worked as Uber drivers after their shifts thereby spreading this particularly virulent strain of covid all over Melbourne. So, we find ourselves here in hard lockdown and economic strife. I don’t actually blame the premier or the health minister. Yes, they misplaced their trust in a group of unprofessional contractors but their reasoning using them vs the defence force was an ideological one – one of job creation. I can’t really blame them for that. There are those who are blaming the government for not acting quick enough to contain the outbreaks in the aged care sector. There is some merit in that. That system (aged care for profit) was long broken before this pandemic. I hope once this is over, it will lead to positive reforms.

10/8/20

I realised I never documented my first exposure/encounter with covid. This was back in Feb 2020 when covid was just called the coronavirus. Actually just checked my diary, it was at the end of January 2020. At the time, people though it was just a problem in China. It never dawned on us that it would so greatly affect our lives a few months after. It was high summer. I was at the hairdressers. The ladies at the salon were their usual chatty fun selves. Someone mentioned that the café across from the salon was closed, not because it was Chinese New Year as the hastily posted sign says, but the rumour was that the chef had been in Wuhan and caught coronavirus. One of the hairdressers went outside and crossed the street to rubber neck. Members of the public were stopping to read the sign that state the café was closed for two weeks to honour Chinese New Year. We had sniggered because it sounded like a flimsy cover up. We joked that international incidents had somehow managed to penetrate the sleepy suburbs of Melbourne. That was eight months ago, two seasons ago and it seemed like a lifetime ago. The salon is now closed. The lady who waltzed across the street to read the sign has lost her job. Our January selves would have never imagined our August selves.

I had a vivid dream a few night ago. I was walking down a narrow and bustling laneway like Flinders Lane. Police waving batons were walking against the stream of people and they were confronting non mask wearers. I realised with a start that I had forgotten my own mask at home. I started to run back home with the police in pursuit.

I’m equal parts appalled and disgusted. It has come out in the hotel quarantine enquiry that someone in quarantine killed themselves due to mental health issues. Once word got out amongst those in quarantine that this happened, others started to cite mental health issues and demanded to be let out to go sho pping, etc. The guards went along with it for fear of another suicide. It disgusts me that people would selfishly use mental health as an excuse to work around rules. I’m not angry at people with genuine mental health issues but the people who cite it as an excuse to flout the rules. They are similar to people who pretend to have chronic respiratory disease to avoid wearing masks.

My grief for Jonny is hitting me hard this week. He passed away on XXXX. I didn’t get a chance to properly grieve for him. At the time, my father in law was cognitively all over the shop post stroke, then my grandfather went into hospital with a bowel obstruction and eventually died. We then had natural disasters – bushfires and floods. Then there was the covid pandemonium. It all ran together back to back with no pause. But in the last few days, I really miss him. I miss his furry little face. I miss his independent plucky self. He was my “sporty kid”. He was self sufficient. I love how he just sunbathed on the deck for hours on end. He would lie there sniffing the air and occasionally turning his belly sunwards for an airing. He was outdoors by choice when he was well. He would rather be outside, king of his domain, keeping the other creatures at bay. I miss

how he used to hump his bedding. He would fold it over once and then have his way with it. There were times when he humped so hard, his back paws would lift off the ground. He made me laugh. I miss my boy. On a sunny winter day like today, I keep expecting to see him sunning himself on the deck.

12/8/20

A few stats from this week. The overall new active cases per day has dropped to the 400s but the death rate per day is rising. 21 deaths in Victoria today. The projected unemployment rate is 11%. Bit dreary really.

14/8/20

I am a bit confused. The Age has reported that the patient zero in the hotel quarantine scandal that is the cause of the second wave is not the security guard that slept with an infected returned traveller, but it was the night duty manager at The Ridges Hotel. It was reported that the spread of covid was not due to any ‘inappropriate interactions’. Apparently The Herald Sun falsely reported the security guard story and all the other major news outlets had picked it up. I don’t know what to believe anymore.

Along the lines of not knowing who or what to believe, one of the doctors who I listen to on various podcasts, Dr Zach Bush has been quoting Alan Jones, a racist and a climate change denier. Zach Bush, I’ve always thought was a guy who knew stuff. He is a triple board certified (specialist doctor across three disciplines). He does amazing work in soil regeneration, nurturing the microbiome and it seemed like he was an all round intelligent astute guy. A man of science. He and I are sympatico in our views on the environment and health. I did a double take tonight as I read his IG post praising the divisive moron that is Alan Jones. He was challenging the mainstream narrative about how covid is spreading. This triple board certified specialist was querying the wisdom of lockdowns and masks in stopping the spread. I’m so disappointed in Zach Bush.

15/8/20

Sun shiny day today filled with the promise of Spring. Some good news, our Victorian Health Officer has pronounced we have passed the peak of the second wave. The active new cases have plateaued around the 300-400 new cases daily but the death rate has fallen.

With the clear blue skies, I would have loved to go on a second walk but I’ve spent my hour quota of outside time walking Vigo this morning. So I’ve resorted to lying by a sunny window, sipping tea and re-reading MM Kaye’s Murder Room Mysteries. These were mainly written and set in the 1950s Cold War era. Lots of casual paranoia regarding commies peppered throughout. We haven’t progressed all that far really. Lots of people on Twitter refer to Dan Andrews as a commie when all he is doing is trying to keep us safe.

16/8/20

This is the second weekend of stage 4 restrictions. Our Premier has stated we will remain in stage 4 until 13/9/20. There’s been a real focus on mental health of late. People are checking in with each other more – asking in solicitous tones “how are you finding it?” There’s more of a push for mental health awareness with PSA on tv and SM.

Spent Sunday doing the “long walk” with Vigo. Ate leftovers and lots of sourdough. Am loving the sourdough fruitbread from the local bakery. We took out the hard rubbish ready for collection tomorrow. Received an unexpected knock on the door. Someone saw the treadmill we left on the curbside and wanted it. We were OK with that and they carted it away. Helped Autumn with her research for a science project on coffee plastics. Trying to summon up the motivation to clean the bathrooms but talking self out of it because it looks ‘clean enough’.

18/8/20

We had a bit of a strange case at work. One of the staff members is a conspiracy theorist and believes the whole covid thing is a hoax. As we are in stage 4 restrictions, any public facing roles must wear a mask. He is refusing to wear one on ideological grounds. So his manager offered to set him up to work from home. He refused that offer citing that he does not want work life to invade his home life. So per the government’s mandate, he needed to provide a medical certificate to state why he cannot wear a mask. This guy stated he had asthma but funnily enough, his doctor didn’t think so and refused to issue him with a medical exemption. So they sat him down this morning for a stern talking to – wear the damn mask. So he does. Half heartedly and inconsistently. His colleagues are exasperated and worried by his behaviour. He advised today that as a result of unreasonable pressure to wear a mask, he now has anxiety and will take 4 weeks off on stress leave.

6.20pm – sudden downpour. Writing this in between reading in bed. Onto my fifth and final MM Kaye murder mysteries. Will feel sad when I’m done. I am enjoying the escapism. All the books in the series are set in a bygone world eg colonial Kenya, Zanzibar and Andaman Islands. I’m finding the geopo litical context fascinating. I much prefer reading over tv. I’m not much of a movie watcher but over the weekend I did watch the new Charlie’s Angels. It was rather fun and light hearted. P watches a lot of movies. He is not a reader whatsoever. He’s been discovering all the detective/forensic type series on Netflix. He sits in the darkened theatre room all day/night, binge watching. The room is a mess – littered with the packaging of all his snacks. There’s a packet of chips stowed behind the AV unit and the carpet is peppered with sharp little crumbs.

Another interesting/sad case at work. This one involves a covid denier. He is from overseas and living alone in Melbourne for work. The isolation due to covid is not doing him any favours mentally. Apparently he’s been downing two bottles of scotch per day to get through. Work has been quite concerned for his well being. They organised a welfare check on him.

19/8/20

It will rain steadily for the next few days. This would explain why the dog park was so crowded this morning as people rush to walk/exercise in the narrow window before the next deluge. Vigo was quite beside himself with joy as his favourite doggie friends all descended on him at once. It was joyful to watch.

I must have subconscious fears of ‘not doing the right thing’ or fears of being arrested by the authorities. Had another covid related dream and was worken up by the alarm just as the police were coming for me. In my dream we had hired out the whole bowling alley venue for Autumn’s birthday party. It was a grand event with 100+ people and I had event managers blowing up balloons and caterers coming in/out. As the party was about to kick off, I had an extreme panic attack as I realised we weren’t allowed to have gatherings. Was spinning around as to what to do, how to cancel this party as the police cars arrived.

20/8/20

We had a Zoom morning tea celebrating 100 working days in isolation. Although someone said it was a miscount. It was actually more than 100 working days. But it was good to see the wider team.

Funny Whatsapp exchange with my sister. Her beloved bakery is just over 5km away from her home. So technically it is out of bounds. I suggested since it is only a few hundred metres outside of the 5km travel limit, she could chance it. Surely she won’t be fined over a few hundred metres? She wrote back saying she is not willing to take the risk because the police are patrolling the major roads in her area and there are frequent police helicopters overhead. I joked that she lives in a police state.

Yesterday the prime minister has released a Letter of Intent. Should a vaccine for covid become available, Australia is aiming for 95% vaccination rate. The government is considering withholding welfare payments or limiting overseas travel for those who refuse vaccination. This has sparked a whole freedom of choice and violation of liberties debate.

22/8/20

This weekend is a cold wet one. I didn’t venture out much due to the wind and the rain. Feel a bit cooped up. P has been on a cooking frenzy. He made roti for me with rougaille and a bean curry. For himself, he slow cooked a brisket overnight. I slept fitfully as my nostrils were assaulted by the smell of beef. I’ve been a vegetarian for almost a year now and find the smell of meat really intense. Vigo however, enjoyed the beefy aromas and was smacking his lips during the night.

A slow Saturday spent filming Autumn for her science project. She played a character called Dr Molecule and I had to interview her about her coffee plastics invention. Not sure what to do with myself for the rest of the day. Was going to garden but the weather nixed that. I could sweep and mop the floors but that seems like such an onerous task for the weekend.

Snow and hail! Autumn asked why it was practically pitch black at 3pm. Very unusual weather.

23/8/20

Today marks the third week of hard lockdown 2.0 edition. It’s been raining non stop. I woke up only to countdown the hours I could go back to bed again. My daily outing to walk Vigo has been curtailed due to the weather. Spent my time reading tweets (quite hilarious ones mocking the RNC key speaker line up in the US and of Melania’s stupid rose garden renovation); reading Death in Kashmir (Reds coming out of every nook

and cranny in the Cold War era); eating leftovers (lentil soup, fruit bread and poke bowl). I haven’t felt up to watching the local news this week even though covid numbers are trending down. I’m just sick and tired of hearing numbers all the time eg 2 men died in their 80s; 1 female died in their 60s; 17 aged care residents infected with covid today; 32 in ICU, etc, etc. Having numbers rattled at you for so long, they cease to mean anything.

25/8/20

Vigo has learnt via classical conditioning that Mask On = Walkies. I put on a mask to head out to the chemist and he barked his head off like he was expecting an outing.

There is talk of extending Victoria’s State of Emergency until September 2021. That’s over a year! People are naturally baulking at the thought, and are very dismayed that a return to normal is at least another year away. Our premier wants this State of Emergency extended, however there are calls for his resignation due to how he has handled the whole covid response. I do believe a resignation is unlikely and question the benefit of sacking him mid crisis. This uncertainty has affected work. They have announced this afternoon that the projected job loss of 277 FTE may be higher given the “pressures”.

CORONADIARIES – Sept 2020

3/9/20

Had another death in suburbia experience. We were walking Vigo and came across entrails and handfuls of possum fur. Next to it was an injured rosella, unable to stand or fly, crawling around using its beak to drag itself. I can only surmise that the possum took the rosella and was about to feed on it when the possum itself was attacked by a cat. Possum was then no more and the rosella was left to slowly die by the curb si de. I rang the house where the bird was laying in the front of and the people there gave me an old towel to pick up the bird. It was freaking out at the sight and touch of me. I was at a lost and asked P to drive back home to get a box to carry it in. Meanwhile I called the wildlife society. The person there was so helpful. They could send out a volunteer to pick up the bird but as it seems like I’ve got the situation in hand, they asked me to drop it off at Vigo’s vet. P did that for me. It was slumped in the cardboard box and I covered it with the towel. It was much calmer in the dark. I hope it pulls through. The wildlife society people said that following vet treatment they will send it home to a foster parent until it can be released into the wild again . Vigo was a good sport as he had his walk shortened due to the drama. I feel obligated to do what I can for the little injured birdies because I wasn’t able to save Mario.

Victoria’s state of emergency has been extended for another six months. Obviously, there are some “freedom fighters” who are against this. Last night a pregnant woman live streamed herself being raided by the police. The police came to her house as she has been posting anti mask wearing sentiments on Facebook. I’m of two minds. I appreciate the police keeping us safe and trying to stamp out the reckless behaviours which affects the health of the public, but then again, where does one draw the line? This could read like the start of a dystopian fantasy.

6/9/20

The premier announced there will be a two week extension to stage four restrictions. Then there will be a gradual easing process taking until 26/11/20 to reach a new Covid normal. The gradual easing can only be described as very gradual, ie by infinitesimal increments. Effectively we will be in lockdown 2.0 with curfews, travel restrictions, closures of retail, etc until 26/10/20. I somewhat expected this. It did not shock me as much as the initial lockdown 1.0 and 2.0 did. I’m a bit numb by it all. In some ways I’m happy to stay in my comfortable bubble, although both P and I are in great need of a haircut but the hairdressers are ordered to be closed until 26/10/20. Just received a text from mine. She’s devastated. She had appointments lined up from 14/9/20 hoping that stage four would be lifted by then.

It’s Father’s Day today. We gave P the day off cooking for us. He made a beef and sausage rougaille for himself to share with Vigo. We did a long walk this morning with Vigo. Then video called my dad. We set aside six bottles of red wine for him for when I can travel to deliver them, which is at the earliest, 26/10/20. Then I’ve been on Twitter, etc. Now P is falling asleep in front of Netflix, Autumn is having her early dinner and Vigo is laying in a patch of sunlight with me next to him writing this.

7/9/20

Today was Vigo’s lucky day. Since the pandemic, he has been hopeful that the “mince lady”, she who lobs mince at magpies, would give him some mince too. His beggary finally got him noticed and she gave him a palmful of mince which he enjoyed immensely.

8/9/20

I’m feeling very uninspired. I’m not sure whether it’s because my world is so small at the moment. It is hard to find inspiration to keep the creative juices flowing.

12/9/20

A Spoonville has sprung up on our street. A Spoonville is a Covid creation. It is a cluster of decorated wooden spoons made to resemble people standing upright. Their handles are stabbed into the ground to make it appear they are standing. The spoon part are decorated to look like faces. I guess it is the replacement of teddy bears looking out of windows, we saw during lockdown 1.0.

13/9/20

A very leisurely weekend. I watched the 1999 Pierce Brosnan’s Thomas Crown Affair, three times to make the most of the three day rental. Slept for ten hours. Weeded the garden and spread rooster booster to all pot plants. Dusted the study. Ate copious amounts of roti. Did two loads of washing. Reminisced. Found photos of our Europe trip from 18 years ago.

19/9/20

What a difference warm weather makes to the spirits. Today was an unusual 26 degrees for September. And even though I had a rather unpleasant blood test and urine path test to do, the day seemed pleasant. We did the usual long weekend walk with Vigo and I even squeezed in a short lap around the block with him before dinner. I watered the worms in the worm cafes and topped up their food. Watered and fertilised the houseplants, cleaned the bathrooms, swept, did a load of laundry. Definitely am more productive in the warmer weather. We took a break from four weeks of weekend roti and curry. We made sushi instead. Perfect for the warmer weather.

Yesterday I went and had a wellness check at the GP. She gave me the once over – breast check, nads check, answered questionnaire on lifestyle, weighed and had my height measured. It was the first time I had visited a doctor during covid. It was exactly as I had expected. Socially distanced waiting areas, no more magazines, the doctor herself was wearing a haz chem suit. Was naked for the body exam but still had the mask on. Asked the doctor for something to settle my perioral dermatitis. She said it was from wearing masks. She gave me a script for some rosacea medication, said it should settle with it. If not, to come back for oral antibiotics.

27/9/20

The health minister resigned or rather was ousted out over the bungled hotel quarantine fiasco. Tomorrow we find out whether we get to lift some of the restrictions. I am hopeful it will happen.

Have been reading about veganism and creating a kinder world for the environment and animals. It resonates with me. I don’t think I can quite commit to fully fledge veganism but I will try to be an ovo -vegetarian with occasional transgression in pescatarianism. I’m day three of my conscious eating. Have consumed vast amounts of cabbage and kale. Roasted seeds and nuts today. My new eating habits is illustrated by today’s menu. Breakfast – oatmeal with stewed rhubarb and roasted pecans. Lunch – Buddha bowl with quinoa, gai lan, tofu, radish, red cabbage. Dressed with tahini dressing and vegan mayo. Dinner – sautéed cauliflower with turmeric and fried capers, gail lan, brown rice. Soup of kimchi jjigae. Snack – Woodfrog bakery fruit sourdough with black vanilla tea.

Holly is sending me food pics of her latest culinary feats – salmon and asparagus tart, pretzels and bagels baked from scratch. Sara Mitchell sent me a pic of beef japchae and black sesame cookies. I send them back a pic of my cauliflower and brown rice. They politely tell me “yummy”. Ha!

28/9/20

Was my wedding anniversary yesterday. We decided rather than to get lack lustre take away, we will cook for ourselves. We made vegetarian burgers with the works. P fried some proper French fries.

We received some welcomed news that some restrictions will be lifted a week or so ahead of schedule due to good covid outcomes. My hairdresser texted me with a new appointment date moved forward to 24/10/20.

I am day two of a 30 day workout challenge with Betty Rocker. Am a bit sore but am motivated to persevere.