To watch those peaky mountains in fearsome upward climb day after trending day... such impersonal numbers until you consider the quiet funerals and prolific wreaths - concentric blue rings of arcing grief. Will the ripples one day collide and splinter this facade of unquiet peace?
COVID has spread the annual spring flower festival like seeds across the city. Tulips on street corners guarded by raggedy scarecrows, pansies posing brightly at busy intersections or window boxes brought to rainbow life outside public buildings. There are no rides this year or crafty stalls or fragrant food trucks ** And yet the joy … Continue reading Floriade
we have all watched that expert flick as the doctor levels the serum in the syringe and then holds it at eye-level to the light before carefully adjusting for the perfect airless dose. We have all seen that little squirt (or dribble) of precious liquid that signifies "safe to proceed". But now as COVID sweeps … Continue reading The Irony of =
Mask up and sell a face. The opposition can't knock it off like they do by roadsides... so many horizontal pollies sleeping faces in their red borders. Cover your nose with the unmasked face of your favourite candidate. Let them catch your sneezes and the aerosol threats of all around you. Truly useful highly caring … Continue reading I will protect you…
The minister says "I am a Trump supporter. So are most of my congregation so we are not politically inclined to wear masks." My brain does a manoeuvre not dissimilar to a cockatoo i watched yesterday wobbling on a telephone wire, flipping upside down and swinging by one claw with its head undulating amusingly from … Continue reading Who is going to help?
I have a picture in my head of 3 monkeys; you know the ones. The one with its ears covered, that's the politicians. The one with its eyes covered, that's the general population. The one with its mouth covered, that's the scientists. Decades, they've known about viruses and aerosol spread. Decades. But WHO listened? … Continue reading Speak No Evil
You are awkward, you know, your reticence for days and days and then your suddenly aggressive presence. Even those who barely acknowledge you are sneakily manipulated into hurting their loved ones. It's dirty. A cruel game. And yet, you're the great assimilator moving between cultures and climates, smooth as lies. To threaten that you will … Continue reading To COVID19
As Victoria rushes to stem the tide of COVID, other Australian states look on, both sympathetic and protective of their own safety. Borders are closing. The Queenslanders (with the whole of New South Wales between them and Victoria) even suspect Victorians of smuggling themselves across the border on freight trucks. Maybe it's true but it … Continue reading Politics, Heroes and Victims
P came into the kitchen today, clearly with something on his mind. Turns out there was a 4Corners episode about the government's decision not to bail out Virgin but how they quietly have bailed out Rex airlines instead. Turns out the CEO of Rex airlines is an ex leader of the National Party. No conflict … Continue reading Rex vs Virgin
Right now, this pandemic (it seems to me) is heading into Phase 2. If you live where I do, it feels like a memory already but I tend to tell myself that we're just on holiday. We're simply in the eye of the storm. Even just a few hundred kilometres south, Melbourne is calling … Continue reading On COVID
