Live Your Life, But Take Precautions

Over Christmas, I left Canberra for a holiday in Queensland, but never got there. The Queensland boarders were closed due to COVID-19, so I stayed in Sydney. Then the Canberra boarder closed and I could not go home. But then, if you have to be stuck somewhere, Sydney is a nice place to be. ;-)

From Sydney, I could still work online, with the help of a mattress (my next webinar for Canada is 11am, Wednesday, all welcome). My doctor faxed scrips for essential medicines to a Sydney pharmacy (there is still a use for fax).

In Sydney, I decided to avoid indoor venues. It became a challenge to find somewhere to shop and be entertained without an enclosed air-conditioned space and within walking distance. When mandatory mask wearing was introduced for Sydney, this was in some ways a relief. I did try going to a concert once, but an hour in a mask, even with an intermission outside, was not a pleasant experience.

Last week the Canberra boarder opened, and I was able to return. This was an anti-climax: I was expecting someone in a hazmat suit to stick something up my nose, but there was no border checkpoint. What I did find confronting was going to a shopping center. As I entered there were people with no masks. I found this shocking and a little frightening. I wanted to shout "What are you doing, don't you know we are in a pandemic!" and run from the building. But I calmed down, and did my shopping.

Usually I would have lunch in the center, but could not face spending any longer in a enclosed space with hundreds of people. So I dined on the top level of the car-park, at a  food van. It was a bright sunny pleasant day. 

I went home in a better frame of mind, thinking my fears irrational and expecting they would have receded after a few days. This would be similar to 18 January 2003, when at the same shopping center car-park, I was confronted by smoke from a firestorm destroying part of Canberra.

However, the next morning, it was reported there were COVID-19 viral fragments detected in Belconnen wastewater. My fears were not entirely irrational after all.

There is a need to get on with life, but also take precautions.