Diary Entries

Continued from previous While I was back at work, I wasn’t able to see any friends for a couple more weeks. This was very difficult, and I did struggle emotionally. One Saturday I was in tears, all because a neighbour couldn’t meet up for drinks, socially distanced, in the garden. Normally this wouldn’t have worried me at all, but I suddenly realised I was being affected by not seeing anyone, other than the same people at work. Luckily a friend rang up and asked if I was interested in going for a bike ride (as exercise with a fried was allowed). Seeing a different person made a major difference to my mood. During this period it was the smaller items I missed most. Being able to go to the library to get books to read, going over to a friend’s place for dinner, going sailing. As I live in Sydney and my parents and brother, and his family, live in Canberra, I wasn’t able to travel to see them. The four day weekend for Easter was difficult, as I had very little to do, other than go for walks or bike rides alone. Normally I’d either be sailing, bushwalking or visiting family. I knew things were quiet when a trip to Ikea to buy an office chair was the highlight of the week. As rules relax, you appreciate simple things that you used to take for granted. Just going for a sail or getting access to library books has gone from something you took for granted to something that is exciting.

Continued from before By the end of the week I was wondering how I’d manage another week of isolation. At that time the rules changed, and anyone arriving into the country was going into a hotel room for quarantine. That did change how I felt, as I was at least in my own space, had a balcony I could go out to and was doing my own cooking. Access to the information I needed for work also improved, and I was able to do a full weeks work from home. This helped me keep my sanity and gave me a reason to get up in the morning. On-line gym classes were also starting to appear, so I was able to exercise at home. I was back in the office on Monday 6 April. Having been away from the office for 3 weeks there were big differences. A lot of people were working from home and Chatswood was very quiet. There was little traffic and driving around was easy. To limit numbers in the office, I was to work from home two days a week. As I live alone, this gives a good balance of time in the office seeing other people and taking care of tasks I couldn’t do at home and time away, where I could concentrate on tasks that required concentration.

Continued from previous So, the 14 days isolation started. As I’d been away I had very little food at home. Home delivery of groceries was not possible due to panic buying of groceries occurring. I was very lucky that a couple of friends were willing and able to go shopping for me. I supplied a list of what I wanted, they went to the shops, rang to clarify when items weren’t available, and delivered them to my door. The door wasn’t opened until they had gone, and I transferred the money directly to their bank accounts. While in New Zealand, I’d emailed work to offer to work from home, as I didn’t want them to put me on annual leave. By the time I got back, the situation had been clarified and I knew that Council (where I work) had to allow me to work from home or I was on special leave (as I’d left the country before the isolation requirement was imposed). So, they had to pay me if I couldn’t work from home. While they did have systems that allowed people to work from home, they were not available throughout and there were numerous forms that needed to be completed. All this took time. For the first week I only really had access to email and a work phone, and I was limited in what I could do. I was getting bored, and time was going slowly. I was bored enough that I did start a clean up of various rooms (and I hate cleaning), but I couldn’t dispose of items, so they were still sitting around. TBC

Continued from previous On the Sunday afternoon, the scene at Christchurch Airport highlighted things were not normal. While a large number of flights had been cancelled, the queue at check in was long, with lots of nervous people all keen to get home to various locations around the world. The flight was Christchurch to Sydney then on to Dubai. As Australia had closed its border to non-residents, all the transit passengers had to go through a two stage check in process, with Germans not able to check in at all, due to not being able to transit in Dubai. Sydney Airport was not well organised. One man, wearing mask, gloves and gown, was trying to hand out 2 papers off different piles to all those staying in Sydney. All other staff were standing well back. The single person was not sufficient, particularly as he didn’t want people taking any forms off the pile themselves. At immigration we needed to fill in the form, stating that we would self isolate at home. We were directed to benches with pens, but there was no sanitiser to be seen. With people coming in off many different flights, the use of bench and pens by all seemed to me to be a good way to pass on the virus (I used my own pen). Customs staff were standing well clear, and I had a very quick trip through. Once through Custom’s I found my shuttle ride home, which had been booked before I went away. While the advice was to wear a mask, I was not able to obtain one and we were not issued them when we arrived. There was only one other lady in the shuttle with me, and we both sat as far apart as possible. To be continued

I’d decided to have a short holiday in New Zealand and wanted to do a hiking and cycling holiday. There were two dates available, but the April tour wasn’t confirmed while the March tour was, so I decided to go in March. At the time of booking the holiday Covid19 was being discussed, but was mainly confined to China. It wasn’t thought to be a problem when considering booking a holiday. I was due to fly out on Friday 13 March 2020. By that week, 14 days self isolation was required for people coming in from high risk areas, such as Italy, Iran and China, where the disease was spreading rapidly. At that point there were a number of cases in Sydney (where I live), but very few in the general community. New Zealand also had very few cases. I did consider the situation before flying to New Zealand, and decided that New Zealand was low risk. I had no symptoms, had not been in contact with anyone with the disease and felt I wouldn’t be infecting anyone in New Zealand, so decided I’d go. At the time I flew out there was mixed messaging from the Australian Government. While they were bringing in bans on public gatherings of over 500 people, the Prime Minister was saying he was still going to the footy on the weekend (through in the end he did not go). I was only away for 10days, but things changed rapidly. On the Saturday, NZ announced that if you arrived on Monday or after, you would need to self isolate for 14 days. At this point I felt lucky that I had arrived before this came into effect and I would be able to enjoy my holiday.