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It’s Not Rocket Science!

I know I’ve talked about this before but people are still not getting it and I am trying to define what it is that people are failing to understand about social distancing, self isolation and staying home when the health authorities says you must.

Is it that they do not understand what a world pandemic is? Is it that they are still of the belief that COVID-19 is “just the flu”?  Or is it entitlement gone off the scale?

We have all been asked to be socially responsible right now in order to stay safe, health-wise, and not contribute to the spread of a very dangerous and highly contagious virus. We have been asked to keep our distance from each other, not congregate in groups, avoid dining out (although grabbing a takeaway is okay), not hang out in cafes and generally not get together in groups outdoors, indoors, or have large gatherings in our own homes and to avoid protests like the…well I was going to say like the plague, which is appropriate I suppose, but anyway…

Maybe it’s because we haven’t experienced something like this in our lifetime, the last biggie being the flu that went global after the First World War and just about all of us here today were not here then. Things like plagues and pandemics tend to happen in countries where much of the population is crowded into  substandard housing, poverty is rife, sanitation is nonexistent, where there is no access to fresh water, starvation rules and there is limited medical care. These countries are a breeding ground for infectious diseases and while those lucky enough to live in first world countries hear about the misfortunes of third world nations, it doesn’t touch them personally.

Until COVID-19. Suddenly the whole world is staring a deadly health threat in the face, yet there are many out there who are still of the misguided belief that it won’t touch them, they won’t catch it, and therefore the government and health directives do not apply to them. We live in a first world country and it just doesn’t happen to us. Except that it has. And because it has, there are a number of preventative measures that have been put in place in an effort to contain the spread.

So why then is it spreading like wildfire?

Because an entitled minority out there are flatly refusing to stay home, to avoid eating out, going to the pub, to stay in their own state, wear a mask, sanitise before entering a shop or business, are lying about their movements or where they have really come from, and ignoring the self-isolation rules if they have come in from overseas, are awaiting test results or have actually tested positive to the virus.

The threat of a large fine doesn’t seem to be a deterrent for these people so I’m hoping the threat of a gaol term is, and I really hope the authorities follow through with that one because these dipsticks are potentially killing people by their stubborn refusal to do the right thing under the current circumstances.

It’s not difficult. Yet it appears to be those in a position to do it in style and comfort are the ones who aren’t. But if you think about it, most of us aren’t really doing it all that hard by doing what we’ve been asked, and those who believe they are should take a closer look at what’s happening in countries a lot less fortunate than ours. True, some people are experiencing financial hardship to varying degrees but government financial assistance is available and going some way toward easing the pressure. Going out for dinner though, or going out daily for takeaway coffee, hanging out with drinks at the local pub, shopping for non essentials or touring the country (and possibly taking the virus with you) is not the way to go if your available funds have plummeted. But if you think you are being badly done by because you can no longer afford the lifestyle to which you have become accustomed and some of the things you’ve always enjoyed doing have been momentarily curtailed, ask yourself this; would you prefer to be in an intensive care unit fighting for your life? Would dying be preferable to cutting back on your usual social activities and/or wearing a mask when asked?

No one has the right to ignore the current preventative measures simply because they’re “inconvenient”. No one has the right to spread the virus via petulant, selfishly entitled behaviour because they stubbornly insist on clinging to their pre-coronavirus lifestyle, no matter what.

No one is exempt.

 

 

 

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Remember That Rainy Day…?

One of the pitfalls of the isolation thingy is the “What day is it?” thingy. Just realised yesterday was Friday (sorry…)

 

Remember that proverbial rainy day? The one which people used to put aside for, just in case? Okay, well it’s here now, and a lot of people have been caught short because not only did they not think to put something aside, or just didn’t bother, but may have even been lulled into the false assumption that a rainy day just wasn’t on their horizon.

But it so is. That is the nature of rainy days and right now it’s bucketing down and a lot of people have been caught without an umbrella.

Sure, no one saw COVID-19 coming, but some have been caught so short it will take years for them to recover, assuming they ever do, and I am beginning to hear the word “victim” popping up more and more in news reports and talkback programs, and I am not necessarily talking about those who contracted coronavirus.  Mostly it financial victims but the word is being bandied around all over the place and I am beginning to suspect there will be “victims” popping up who really aren’t, except maybe in their own minds. Only some of them will be genuine.

The financial victims will be those small business owners who have had to shut down their only source of income indefinitely, the people who lost their jobs because their workplace had to either cut staff and hours, or close their doors altogether, those low income earners/welfare recipients who live hand to mouth because they just don’t have enough left over after paying for food and other necessities to put anything aside, and those who, for some reason, don’t qualify for government support. Most people have rent or mortgages, and the stress levels among them trying to meet those obligations is rising.

My sympathies are with those now having to deal with being in that position, but tends to peter out a bit regarding those who have over-extended themselves to live in an upwardly-mobile bubble. They took on a mortgage for a nice house with a sought-after address they couldn’t really afford but would sort of scrape by so long as nothing went wrong. Went further into debt for brand new cars and other accessories, and life has revolved around their credit cards for so long they have forgotten what making do with what they have actually means. Others opted for a pricy rental  in an expensive area that realistically was beyond their means but fed their aspirations. They could also scrape by (just) on a wing and prayer so long as nothing went wrong. Well yes, they lived precariously on credit card debt too and perhaps stuck their fingers in their ears while going “lalalalala” whenever the inkling of a rainy day entered their heads (mustn’t think about that). But then something did go wrong. Very badly horribly wrong, and it all came crashing down. I don’t deny for a moment these people are dealing with genuine through-the-ceiling stress levels right now, but I’m not sure they are victims of the current situation because I think financial catastrophe was on the cards for them anyway, coronavirus or no.

Genuine victims here though, are  those in countries where the poorest of their populations have had to leave their villages and go out into fields or hills and in some cases, even up into the trees, in order to self isolate because staying at home in a one-room abode shared with a lot of other people was not really an option. They are existing without facilities, with minimal food, water and shelter and near to no medical assistance should they become ill. These people have had their entire lives made much worse by this pandemic. Those I am less inclined to see as victims however, are people who are safely ensconced in spacious homes with all the comforts, oodles of money in the bank, swimming pools, gadgetry, televisions, plenty of food and clean water, supermarkets and basically everything they could possibly need to keep themselves entertained. Yet oddly (well, maybe not) these are the ones bemoaning their current stay-at-home situation. They can’t go out for coffee, they can’t go to the beach, they can’t pop around to friends’ places for drinks etc. These are the ones feeling “victimised” by coronavirus. Barely a peep from those people experiencing genuine hardship and/or social isolation and loneliness, just a lot of noise from Instagrammers, celebrities, wannabes and those so accustomed to having the lifestyle they want handed to them on a platter that they cannot deal with the sudden restrictions to their vacuous existence. Unsurprisingly, they are often the ones found flouting the social distancing directives as well.

But are they victims? No. There are a lot of victims out there but it’s not these guys.

Anyway, this is the rainy day that was always on the cards and with luck, we have all learned something from it. Hopefully the lesson has been to make preparations for the next one in case it comes down in cats and dogs like it has this time, and to get a handle on who classifies as a victim and who just doesn’t fit the bill, because I’m starting to see a lot of “victims” emerging who aren’t. Perhaps we might learn that we don’t have to have the best of everything like, right now. Previous generations worked and saved for those things and were prepared to wait until they could afford them. Start a mortgage on a starter house and move up from there. A reliable secondhand car will do you just fine until you can afford that shiny new wiz-bang model. If you’re any kind of celebrity, you should have at least a couple of million still sitting in your bank account so shut up, you are not in financial dire straits and if you have a home, a supermarket, a phone and social media, you are not really doing it hard at all, hence you are not a victim.

But as for the rest of us? Just organise that umbrella, okay?

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Fright Night!

Okay, so here we all are, sitting in and isolating and being responsible. Well, most of us are. Our options to pass the time are go for a walk or jog, so long as we stay socially distanced, or run through an aerobics program at home, curl up with a good book, listen to some good music or watch the telly.

I opted to put the book aside and watch the telly last night, which meant a perusal of the program guide and Hello! One of the movies on offer was Contagion; all about a deadly virus slowly spreading throughout the world and the various Centres for Disease Control frantically on the hop to develop a vaccine to counter it and save the world’s inhabitants.

Right. Either one of the program managers has a sense of humour (a really black one) or they are genuinely weird enough to think we might want to watch a a film about a deadly disease decimating the global population, while staying inside and sitting out an actual deadly disease that is decimating the global population. Like, what made them think we might want to watch a movie that we are kind of living right now?

On the other hand, perhaps they thought it was eerily relevant to the world’s current situation and so would be a really good choice for weeknight viewing…? Of course, I may be completely off the mark and if I was to see the ratings for last night’s television tune-ins, I might see that a huge number of viewers had tuned in because there’s nothing like watching a fictional fear-raiser while living with a factual one going on right outside our doors, right?

To be honest, I actually did consider (albeit briefly) watching it myself but opted for one of the Alien movies on another channel instead. It was one I hadn’t seen and while I knew there was bound to be some blood and guts, I figured it might be a better option as it was one of the Alien films I hadn’t seen and on the whole, it wasn’t bad. Except for the part where some of the crew were accidentally infected because they unknowingly squished some little round egg type thingies and a fine mist of minute particles became airborne (uh oh) and found their way, disease/virus-like, into the crew members via their skin, their mouths, ears and noses (without them realising) and then developed at warp speed into baby aliens which…well, we all know what happened then so I won’t go into the gory details of them emerging from their human hosts.

And I started wondering if I would have been better off just watching the global disease movie after all. Or better still, watching neither of them and just getting back into my book instead.

But that’s the thing, isn’t it. We all love a scary movie, especially when we know it’s just fiction and once the credits start rolling we can get up and move on with our normal routines. Except we are kind of living in a scary movie in reality right now and have no idea what the running time is, which means there’s no normal at present. We can’t change the channel or just switch it off either. So not good.

On the plus side though, at least the disease we are dealing with right now does not hatch out (really messily!) into baby aliens that want to hunt us down and rip us to shreds! At least that’s something, and eventually what we are dealing with will hopefully run its course and we will be able to venture out again and begin to pick up our lives. Eventually…

I think I should have just stuck with my book.

 

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Okay, what next…?

Firstly, apologies for posting a day late. My signal dropped out yesterday which meant I couldn’t access my site, hence no blog post… Thankfully, it’s all systems back on today!

So what’s going to hit us next? I’m not usually  prone to pessimistic thoughts but right now I can help thinking about how things tend come in threes, so at this moment I’m wondering what is going to come on in and hit us in the face once COVID-19 has passed and we begin getting back on our feet again.  So far, here in Australia, we’ve had the Summer bushfire season and this year it was a lulu, and we were only just beginning to pick up the pieces and get things back to a semblance of normality when the Coronavirus hit. It hit so soon after the fires that we hadn’t really had much of a chance to catch our breath. And now people are breathing through masks and mostly staying inside again. Just like we did with all the smoke and flames and ash. So is it any wonder that I’m wondering what might come next?

1. Fires. 2. Coronavirus. 3. ???

I suppose I could speculate until the cows come home on what a third disaster could be, assuming there is a third, but I can’t completely dispel the thought that Number 3 in on the national/global horizon, and if it is…? Right now every nation on the planet is vulnerable because of the impact of COVID-19. So, what if there was a country out there, for instance, that wished to get the global upper hand? Now would be a smart time to do it because their target would be preoccupied with dealing with the pandemic, wouldn’t see the conflict coming and would probably be shocked to the back teeth by a direct threat or act of aggression and would probably be slower than usual to mobilise a defence. Their allies would be in the same boat, which would give the aggressor a head start in getting a foothold. That’s a worrying thought. So, is there a power out there looking to up their status to Superpower? If there is, it would mean a war and it would probably be a biggie. Could that be Number 3? I sincerely hope not.

Or is it a string of major natural disasters? No, I am not sitting here getting all fatalistic and conjuring up nightmare scenarios, I am just thinking about that Number 3 because I can’t dislodge the thought that it’s out there, somewhere around the corner just waiting to happen.

A major war would be really horrific. A major natural disaster or three would be really horrific too. I mean, we are still recovering from the raging inferno that dominated our entire Summer. The whole world has been shut down by the Coronavirus. Global economies have plunged and job losses worldwide are at an all-time high. This is scary stuff! Is it any wonder I’m feeling a bit shaky (and I am not one who is normally prone to thoughts of doom and gloom, I swear) about the immediate future? I’m fairly sure I’m not the only one either.

But there it is. If I saw the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse trotting down my road tomorrow I’d probably think “Yep, told ya!” and that is so not normally me. So it’s a bit disconcerting for me to be unable to shake the thought that the fires and the Coronavirus are just the start. Perhaps the Age of Pisces is going out with a bang! There is some speculation as to when this age ends and the Age of Aquarius begins (some say it has already begun, except that world events appear to indicate otherwise, while others speculate a time well into the future) but the most reliable source I have found is saying the southern hemisphere Summer Solstice, December 22/23, is the date when we enter the Age of Aquarius, a golden age of peace, spiritual growth and enlightenment (if the tales are correct) that will last for around 2500 years, the average length of an astrological age. I hope this is right, and the world survives to welcome it.

And with luck, that we will too.

 

 

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Buy Australian…

If there’s one positive thing that has come out of Coronavirus, it’s the shift towards buying food, clothing and whatever else that has been made here in Australia. From Australian products, produced on-shore by Australian-owned companies. This is a good thing.

For too long now, Australian companies have been either selling out to overseas investors or moving their operations to an off-shore location (often China or another Asian country) where they can get the work done far more cheaply, at the cost of their Australian workforce. Then they bring their products back into Australia but the price doesn’t come down so they are making huge profits. The items, especially clothing, are not as well made, yet customers are still paying top dollar for the label. But the ongoing selling of so many of our best assets to overseas interests is a national disgrace and the sales of large rural beef and dairy properties and our ports to foreign buyers is criminal.

Then there’s the companies labelling their products made in Australia, but from a high content of imported ingredients (visible only if you red the very tiny print on the back of the packaging).  A lot of Australians have fumed over this. They have been angered by the string of Australian-owned businesses, farms and other valuable assets that have had the green light to sell out to a foreign owner and it has become harder to find Australian-owned food and other products that are still produced and packaged here. It’s not beneficial for a country to be too dependent on another and even less so when the other country is allowed to buy up to much local real estate and so many local businesses. It’s just not good.

Like many others, I have often wondered why. Well yes, some people are just all about the money which tosses national pride out the window, but when you think about it, Australia can grow it’s own crops, it’s own beef, lamb, pork and poultry, even allowing for the impact on some industries due to drought. We produce some of the finest wool in the world, grow cotton, fruit and vegetables, so if you add all of that up it becomes obvious that we could easily sustain ourselves, just like Australia did decades ago. Certainly, trade is useful and often necessary, but it should not be used to supply the bulk of our needs when we can so easily do this ourselves.

And then came COVID-19 and everyone started to wake up to what a lot of us had already been thinking. Keep it local. Locally sourced, locally produced, locally made. Locally owned. This is what makes a country wealthy and sustainable in a situation like the one we are in now. It’s what keeps a nation’s citizens in employment and keeps the national debt to a minimum and stops the nation’s primary producers from going under, even in the event of drought or flood or other natural disaster. It’s what keeps a nation going in situation like this one.

So if every cloud has a silver lining, this could be ours, because the push to reject overseas imports for Australian owned, grown and produced products is not a bad thing. This should be our first line of supply and these products should be placed prominently on our supermarket shelves, on the racks in clothing stores and wherever else goods are sold. It should also apply to major industries too. Use Australian produced building products. If the Australian Government wants the country to survive the Coronavirus then it needs to put Australian businesses and their products first and promote them on a large scale. This will boost our economy because the money we spend on these products will stay here in Australia, not end up in the coffers of an overseas company.

It’s not difficult to do.

 

 

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Don’t Try This at Home

Right, so we are all in lockdown basically, which means there are a lot of things we may be used to having done professionally, outside the home, which some of us may be considering doing ourselves while unable to visit our favourite personal maintenance places.  Well that can work, in some cases, but in others it just might prove to be a very bad idea.

Can’t go to the Gym? Generally this would be fine because you can keep fit at home. Even if you don’t have any gym equipment, you do have floor space and can make do with aerobics for now. Food cans make great aerobic weights but if you’re used to heavier lifting, there’s always the couch or something. Anyway, you are making a good start by continuing with your fitness routine and adapting it to your lounge room.

But doing the gym thingy at home can also be a not so good idea if the last time you did anything vaguely exercise-like was back in your school years, or in the first days after buying that do-everything exercise machine a few decades ago, and you decide to dust everything off and do a three hour workout to kick off the New You. This will probably lead to the Totally Incapacitated You long before the end of the day and will probably have you flat on your back for the next week. Not the outcome you’d like.

Making over your house can be a good idea too, especially if you have been wanting to spruce it up a bit but have never been able to find the time. Now you have the time. It could be something as simple as a new paint job or a more complex renovation (assuming you can still access what you’ll need) but being able to utilise the lockdown time to tackle some DIY is a great way to spend the days.

Unless you absolutely suck at DIY. If you don’t know a paintbrush from a hammer, a house makeover might not be the best way to use your sudden and unexpected free time. This also applies if you have never done any painting or renovation work in your whole entire life. If you are still tempted though, just remember that you will have to live with the end result until the country is back in business again. And if you live with a partner who was adamant that you Not Do It in the first place you might find yourself living in a state of angst and tension for some time. You will really need to think this one through.

Fake tans. Although why you’d want one when you aren’t going anywhere is beyond me, but to each their own. Salons are closed right now so if you are used to having your golden glow sprayed on all nice and even by a professional, please do not opt for doing it yourself out of a bottle. Getting a bottle tan right takes years of practice (look, I don’t care how easy the directions tell you it is) and if you get it just the insy-est, tinsy-est bit wrong, you will spend the next five days trying to scrub it off and it will be resistant to every cleansing product known to woman. So if in doubt…don’t.

Waxing. If you’ve never done this yourself, stick to depilatory creams or shaving. End of story.

Hair. If it’s just colouring, and you sensibly opt for a hue that will gradually wash out, you can’t really go wrong. Even if you’re a novice colour-er and you get the colour wrong. It’s going to wash out over a few weeks and it’s not like you’re going anywhere anyway. But cutting is a whole different animal. If you are a professional hairdresser, or a really deft amateur, who can manage to do a good job using two mirrors then by all means give yourself a cut or trim.

Not a professional or a deft amateur? Then lock those scissors up. Unlike a bad colour that will wash out, a bad haircut is going to be with you a lot longer than the lockdown is and will send you into meltdown every time you look in the mirror. Just put up with the split ends and overgrown fringe until your hairdresser is back in operation. You can always tie it back or put it up until then and console yourself with the knowledge that all your friends are in exactly the same bad-hair boat. Feeling better now?

No, me neither.

 

 

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When Stay Means Stay!

With COVID-19 busy doing the rounds across the globe, most countries have sensibly gone into total lockdown in an effort to slow the spread of the disease, and their inhabitants are sensibly following the directives. That’s good. Smart people.

What’s not good (and just plain stupid) is what’s happening here in Australia. The word has been out for weeks now; stay home, stay indoors and if you do have to go anywhere, make sure it is only a quick trip to pick up food and other essential supplies and maintain a safe distance from others. Pretty simple really, so why are so many Australians indifferent to what is happening right in front of them? The footage on the nightly news  of vacuous people, wandering around in groups and generally enjoying a day out on the town has me spouting profanity that I didn’t even know I knew. I’m talking a lot of people here (and a lot of profanity!)

Staying home means exactly that. It does not mean meeting up with your friends for coffee and huddling up for a get-together. It does not mean going off for a day at the beach or the park or to go wandering around whatever shops are open and generally socialising and having a good time. It does not mean that at all. It also does not mean holding a barbecue in the backyard and inviting all your friends and neighbours to drop in. It actually means Stay Home! Just you and your family, in your own home with no visitors, no matter who they are. Now how hard can that be? But there are still hordes of people out there thinking the directive does not apply to them, hence the vast numbers blatantly ignoring what they have been told. In the cities, scores of people are out having a stroll and doing it in total disregard of the “social distancing” we have all been asked to adopt.

Seriously? What is wrong with people? Why is Stay Home, Stay In, and Stay Away From Each Other not clicking?

To be fair, many of us are doing the right thing, but the number who are completely ignoring the steps that have been put in place to try and stem the spread of this disease is just deplorable!

Ditto with the hoarding. This began with the bushfire crisis here and has now flowed into the Coronavirus crisis. Time and time again people have been told that buying up more than they need is not necessary. Doing so is just creating shortages that don’t have to happen, which makes it incredibly hard for the rest of the population to buy what they need. But this is another directive that is not getting through some thick skulls out there and so shortages in food, toilet paper and other essentials continue to plague us. When will that message get through that there really is enough for everyone if the selfish and greedy few would just back off and let the rest of us buy what we need.

I think the problem here is that up until now, current generations of Australians have not had to contend with something like this. Yes, there were shortages and food coupons around the time of the  First and Second World Wars, and there was the Spanish Flu epidemic, but the current generations were not alive when these events happened and so they aren’t really taking this seriously. I was not alive then either but I can at least see the logic behind the steps being implemented to try and slow the spread of COVID-19.

Surely people must be able to see the logic in following the plan? Well no, many here still appear to be ignorant of the threat, despite all the warnings. They are still hanging out at beaches, shopping centres, parks and each other’s homes. So what does it take to make the danger we are in hit home to these people? Have they convinced themselves that it won’t happen to them? I’m guessing it will take contracting the disease and ending up in hospital, as sick as, staring mortality in the face!

It has also come to light that those who have managed to return from overseas and tested positive, along with those who have just contracted it anyway, are ignoring the self isolation conditions. Police checking up on them, following information that they are going out into the community, are finding that yes, they are not at home. Self isolation would have been very precisely explained to them, so they cannot claim ignorance about the conditions, yet they are going out. Hefty fines are in place now, so we may see a bit less of that. But how many have they infected?

No one’s exaggerating here. COVID-19 is a very dangerous disease. It has shut down countries world wide. If infected, you are a danger to your community. You, and those you infect when you ignore the rules, could end up dying from it. It is a global pandemic.

And it can so easily happen to you.