Well the world has well and truly turned on its head since I last posted. So many things have changed and every day brings new restrictions and requirements as the world plunges into the pandemic that is Covid-19….

All I can say is I’m VERY glad I’m not on a cruise ship. Life is particularly hard for people living cheek by jowl in the city and in apartment blocks and in any high density living situation but cruise ships are most definitely the total pits. The MOTH has subtly been trying to get me to agree to cruising over the past few years but it has never appealed. A river cruise in Europe yes but not one of those floating cities with all its vulnerabilities and sheep like qualities. The flagrant lack of regulation by people leaving these ships in port is downright disgraceful and has placed thousands of people in danger when it could have been so easily avoided. Our biggest mistake so far as an Australian government I think. The other is not to have placed us in total lock down earlier. I think despite a later than European arrival at the severity of things the Aussies were more than ready to go the whole nine yards straight away. We hate half measures lets face it and love the whole sooner we start the sooner we finish scenario so bring it on Scomo!

A week ago today we were due to celebrate my son’s wedding and we were in full planning mode for it, getting pedicures and madly weeding the garden and planning speeches. 48 hours prior to the wedding we gathered around the television to listen to our prime minister laying out new laws banning the gathering of more than 100 people and we knew immediately that the wedding would be cancelled. So many emotions swirled around in my head but strangely enough the biggest one was relief. The not knowing had been awful and the fact that we couldn’t gather together without anxiety and knowing we couldn’t hug, dance and generally celebrate everything in the style we would want to made it all less than satisfactory and I was almost glad when we had a directive saying it couldn’t happen. My heart went out to Sam and Liv after all their hard work and planning and dreaming and looking forward to their special day, they have unfortunately been swept up in the biggest thing to ever happen to our generation. To be literally within 2 days of the wedding was tough and as loads of people were already committed to their accommodation lots of people still came to Berry and in lieu of the wedding we had a small gathering in our garden with immediate family and the bridal party. The pig had literally already been fattened and ‘processed’ and on a beautiful sunny day we gathered in small groups to have a last hurrah before things became more serious. It was to be our last social function before we locked ourselves down.

My Mum was also a statistic as her planned holiday to Vietnam on the way home together with her return flight was cancelled and she had to make a call as to what she wanted to do. As is often the case in times of crisis humans just want to be home with all that that word entails. Familiarity of surroundings, the ability to speak to family and friends and have the back up of the health services that you understand. She knew she was going back to a tough time in England and a 12 week quarantine period for anyone over 70 but it was worth it to her so we managed to get her on one of the last flights out before Dubai shut down and I am very glad to report that she is now happily ensconced in her cosy little flat with a view of the Spring flowers in her garden. At least Europe has Spring and Summer to look forward to, nature has a way of filling us with hope despite the gloom of our current global situation. Before she left we enjoyed a last weekend as a family and our four generation gathering will be long remembered…

We miss you already Mum/G’ma/Gigi

In the midst of all this my daughter got word that her husband had an opportunity to get out of Vietnam and catch one of the last planes back to Australia. He has been remote teaching for the entire year as Vietnam made an early call not to send kids to school or Uni and therefore he could teach from here as easily as from his apartment in Ho Chi Minh City. Of course this meant he has had to self isolate for 14 days and this has been made possible by our gorgeous neighbours lending him a caravan to live in for 2 weeks. It resides in our garden and he has been able to conduct his online classes and virtual meetings from the pool cabana. We leave dinner outside his door and he has a little kitchen and fridge for brekky and lunch. Obviously it is hard for him to see his wife and baby daughter but not be able to give them a cuddle but he is already half way through and once he is symptom free for another week they can be reunited. At the moment this is how we catch up with him…..from a distance!

As I have dodgy lungs I too am staying home and Tom is now our dedicated shopper and conduit to the outside world. The MOTH has his entire office building to himself and is super busy trying to work out what is happening in the wide world of chocolate for his customers. So as we bunker down in The Meadow we are reflecting on many things. Firstly how lucky we are to be here surrounded by green fields and a dirt road where we can happily walk the dog and the baby with no chance of bumping into anybody. Secondly that we are together and can enjoy conversation, jigsaws, table tennis, Netflix and finally get around to cleaning out those cupboards and reading those books!! In another week once I have planted what few seeds I could find and we are officially locked down (surely that will happen soon??) I am hoping to get those paints out. For years everyone has been saying they don’t have any time to do this or that and now ironically that is what we have loads of. Is the world finally giving humanity the adjustment we needed albeit in an awful way? Cities are shutting down thus improving the air quality and there is no traffic chaos, A lady that lives near the Colosseum in Rome reported that her local dog walking path, previously well trodden by a gazillion tourists has now been overtaken by flowers, birds and bees, climate change in the right direction. Families are spending time together and we are all appreciating the simple things much more – especially a lovely home cooked meal as things become harder to find. The world certainly works in a mysterious way…..

As in everything there are a few silver linings – as some businesses shut down others are flourishing and we are eternally grateful that we are at least living in a technical age where we can all chat, work and video call online which is helping people stay sane. Social media which has long been derided is now a vital link for people isolating and most people will get through this ok. My heart goes out to all our medical workers who are literally at the coal face of this virus and learning as they go. To see people so dreadfully sick and not be able to do anything to help, to have to play God and decided who gets a bed or a respirator whilst they themselves can barely get a mask or gloves to protect themselves is a dire situation. The very least we can all do is to stay at home if you are not an essential worker to enable those that cannot have that luxury to have a better chance of survival. Now is not the time to be selfish or stupid. Lets all be kind and patient and vigilant and we will get through this thing together.

On a lighter note we have a whole new vernacular on the way…….