Diary Entries

My sister and sister-in-law have lost their jobs and are now on the Jobseeker allowance. My sister works in early childhood care and my sister-in-law in a bank. Fortunately, they have husbands with good jobs and good incomes so they are OK. It hasn't been all bad. People have been drawn closer to one another. I am heartened by how nice people have been. Our little street is bubbling over with warmth. Cafés have opened up again with restrictions. I've been a few times for lunch. I look forward to spring when I can bask in the sun again at a local café sipping a cappuccino. The newspapers say the two most popular past times during lockdown have been home renovations and baking sourdough bread. I have been practising my French - watching films, reading, listening to TED talks in French and having French conversation practice over the phone with a gorgeous international student from Switzerland. She goes back in July. She's here for one year and what a year it's been for her with the bushfires at Christmas and now COVID-19. She's waiting for the borders to open to travel some more. I am really taken with the ACO (the Australian Chamber Orchestra). They have been regularly posting short performances online from their homes during lockdown one musician at a time. There has even been a cello performance of Bach at the beach! What an exhilarating performance that was with the sound of waves breaking in the background!!! How intimate the performances feel! You get to see the musicians as you wouldn't in a concert on stage. Thank you ACO. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra has started to do it too, posting short performances online this last week too. Thank you SSO. I am watching and listening. To be continued.

I am a 60 year old (soon to be 61) retired teacher living on her own. I felt buoyant till Thursday, the 14th of May. On that day my mood changed and I don't know why. I don't know what triggered it. I had a wonderful year planned. Season tickets to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Brandenburg Orchestra, the ballet, the Sydney Dance Company, the opera, Bell Shakespeare and the French film festival. I have been watching online performances. Musicians from the Australian Chamber Orchestra have very generously been performing from their own homes and posting online. I feel I know the performing artists much better because of this. I used to receive a kiss on the cheek from my young nephews. My little street has been fantastic. Neighbours have really stepped up. I've had phone calls and offers of help. The best thing about where I live are the neighbours. There has been lots of love and kindness in the community. That has been my experience. I've left a few packets of toilet paper on doorsteps. My superannuation went down about 20%. This was a worry. It has since come up again a bit. There is nothing I can do. Surprisingly I am not now worried about it. It will come up again. I am with a top industry fund and I have confidence in them. I trust them. One week ago I found out that the elderly mother-in-law of a friend of mine in Europe has just spent 2 weeks in hospital with COVID-19. She is at home now but still on oxygen. I am going to send her a small gift of Australian toiletries. Two days ago I received a letter that said Westconnex would be tunnelling under my house. To be continued.