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Date
Bowral, NSW
COVID has proved that flexible working hours are in fact not a ‘women’s issue.’ With so many people now working from home, and getting their work done, it is clear that what has stopped flexibility in workplaces is convention. We’ve had an IT revolution and so should be devising new ways to work. COVID has given us an opportunity to reimagine work and life.
Lockdown has also made us reappraise the value of home cooking and the humble omelette! We decide to paint the inside of the house, starting with sage green. Already the colour is uplifting, replacing the sickly cream. More daffodils have bloomed since we were last here, and new violets in white and pale purple. The stubborn young magnolia remains flowerless while Sydney magnolias are heavy with blossom in Haberfield and Leichhardt.
We drive back to Sydney and listen to a radio program about composer Morricone, who passed away in July, aged 91. Although his Western soundtracks have always been my favourites, the plaintive ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’ is what triggers buried feelings. The convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement has compounded collective trauma, and my mind replays protest image after protest image after protest image as the car hurtles home.
Back at Watsons Bay the frangipani’s first leaves stretch towards the sun. We go to a family wedding at the old church in Ashfield, and people perch in the pews masked in their finery. Another surreal moment. Later at the reception, guests are limited. Long tables, too far apart. The jovial speeches end tearfully with salutations to family members trapped across the border in Queensland and in Cambridge. Dancing is banned except for the bride and groom, and for the first time in a long time, we have fun.
COVID has proved that flexible working hours are in fact not a ‘women’s issue.’ With so many people now working from home, and getting their work done, it is clear that what has stopped flexibility in workplaces is convention. We’ve had an IT revolution and so should be devising new ways to work. COVID has given us an opportunity to reimagine work and life.
Lockdown has also made us reappraise the value of home cooking and the humble omelette! We decide to paint the inside of the house, starting with sage green. Already the colour is uplifting, replacing the sickly cream. More daffodils have bloomed since we were last here, and new violets in white and pale purple. The stubborn young magnolia remains flowerless while Sydney magnolias are heavy with blossom in Haberfield and Leichhardt.
We drive back to Sydney and listen to a radio program about composer Morricone, who passed away in July, aged 91. Although his Western soundtracks have always been my favourites, the plaintive ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’ is what triggers buried feelings. The convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement has compounded collective trauma, and my mind replays protest image after protest image after protest image as the car hurtles home.
Back at Watsons Bay the frangipani’s first leaves stretch towards the sun. We go to a family wedding at the old church in Ashfield, and people perch in the pews masked in their finery. Another surreal moment. Later at the reception, guests are limited. Long tables, too far apart. The jovial speeches end tearfully with salutations to family members trapped across the border in Queensland and in Cambridge. Dancing is banned except for the bride and groom, and for the first time in a long time, we have fun.