covid

Gavin and Stacey and the less funny Covid Conversations

/ frankiebanks27@gmail.com

‘I haven’t looked at the death toll today!’ I exclaimed, a conversation I had a couple of months ago with my brother. We compared covid statistics him in England and I in Australia these abhorrent words came out of my mouth. Yuk! ‘There’s still a lot of cases over here but not so many dying’ my brother replied.

My brother and I talk once a week on FaceTime and obviously over the last 2 years the conversation has revolved around binge worthy shows like Gavin & Stacey and the less funny Covid statistics. I’m not sure what I would have done through lockdown without Gav n Stace let alone Nessa! Sorry Smithy you might have stolen the late late show now but back in the day you really weren’t the main man!

I’m not gonna lie Death tolls, vaccination rates and protests are not normal conversations but ones we seem to be having constantly. No wonder so many are struggling with their mental health. Whilst the uber rich have continued to fly in and out of Australia to visit their friends in Byron Bay. Now even tennis players are fighting for their right to get into Australia, unvaccinated whilst so many have not been able to see their loved ones and hold their hand for the last time. Sling your hook Novak!

When all said and done it’s just not human nature to be locked up for months on end. Institutionalised, becoming hyper reactive to everyday norms that you would normally laugh. We all just need a Kutch!

Whats Occurring? Our kids will be the ones who will remember this time in history as a large part of their development or underdevelopment as many have lost 2 years of progressive schooling, let alone progressing their social skills. Some kids have thrived at home with less distractions in class but those who need interactive learning have suffered the loss of community encouragement. We have All suffered the loss of community.

As my kids return to school and they test twice a week sticking cotton buds up their nose and twisting it I smile at them with empathetic eyes. Internally however I’m shaking my head I can’t help my internal dialogue of Nessa and her brash way of putting things Oh my Christ!

If only Dave Coaches was here to reply! ‘Well sugar tits, I haven’t a Scooby!’

Thank goodness for I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! Escapism is always a good alternative.

Dry Tears

/ frankiebanks27@gmail.com

Yarra Valley Christmas

We were holidaying for three weeks in the beautiful Yarra Valley over Christmas 2019, it’s a place we regularly visit but this time we were on high alert. Constantly checking our Victoria Emergency Application. We had an evacuation plan if the fires got within 100km.  Although they didn’t, friends  were not so lucky!

As our friend sat in our camp chair the anxiety in his quavering voice told us of his girlfriend who had lost her home. She had been stranded on the beach waiting to be rescued and then taken to a friends house where she would stay. Her house was ruined. This big burly Aussie that for so long to us was always smiling was reduced to tears. The fires affected every Victorian in some way or another and we all knew someone who had been displaced because of them.

Extravagant Excess

One day the heat was over 45 degrees celsius and so we took shelter in a nearby hotel the glass of the beautiful restaurant over looking the Yarra hills. Suddenly the glass shook with a blast of hot wind and the electricity cut out. The whole room looked at each other but knew we had nothing to complain about.

It seemed strange that only a few months later the fires were gone and we were all in lockdown, the complete opposite of the fleeing from fire that we had seen at the beginning of the year.  The country towns that had been abandoned were now seeing house prices rise as the densely populated city is the place to run from. Remote working is now a new norm and hopefully having a positive impact on the small towns of Victoria and NSW that the fires affected.

The fires will no doubt come again next year but lets hope they are not as bad as 2019 and that people can return to some normality. As for covid well that cycle seems to also be around for longer than anticipated. Will 2020 be our first covid Christmas?