The gathering was small and the party was outside to maximise physical distancing but unlike so many kids over the past few months, he didn’t have to blow out his candles in front of a Zoom screen.
Yesterday the Jedi turned 3. The gathering was small and the party was outside to maximise physical distancing but unlike so many kids over the past few months, he didn’t have to blow out his candles in front of a Zoom screen.
Could this be the beginning of a “new” normal and by that I mean the “old” normal?
Following today’s announcements by the Premier and Chief Health Officer, it feels a little bit like we might be over the hump of the Victorian covid-19 crisis. Have we definitively broken its back New Zealand style? No. Will there be further clusters? It’s likely. But will those clusters be able to be contained locally rather than by a mass statewide shutdown? Likely. And what an achievement.
Through sheer courage, discipline and self-sacrifice, our community has saved hundreds if not thousands of lives. The further easing of restrictions today is a big milestone. While there have been other “easings”, today’s feels like a tipping point. And not a moment too soon – because we desperately want our old lives back. Especially, the parts that didn’t seem so big at the time.
Overseas trips are glamorous and exciting. So are shopping trips to Melbourne. But what’s that compared to a spontaneous knock of drink at the pub sans Parma, or a party with family or friends where you don’t need a bouncer on the door doing a head count and kicking your uncle out if you’re one person over?
Until a vaccine is found, we are not out of the woods. The US is quickly approaching 120,000 deaths. In January, they had just 15 cases. Now it’s 2 million. These figures helps keep me grounded. But our numbers have been low and stable for long enough that the Chief Health Officer believes it’s safe enough for some more simple pleasures to be restored – particularly in relation to community sports, pubs and clubs.
This year has been diabolically sh*t for so many people. There was loss of life and property in the bushfires, loss of life, jobs and businesses during covid, and chilling episodes of police brutality and racial injustice abroad and at home.
But perhaps the one silver lining of a year so fraught by tragedy and uncertainty is the opportunity it has given for reflection, analysis, re-evaluation, re-prioritising, personal and collective growth and general renewal.
The biggest lesson for me is that the little things are the big things. Who cares if I can’t go to Bali, if I can go to Sip. Another lesson is that cutting a cake in the shape of a star is harder than it looks.
For my Member’s Statement in parliament next week, I’d like to share some #malleetough lessons of 2020. If you have one you’d like to share, send it through by Tuesday 5pm. I’d love to share them with the House – and the State. Because that’s what a proud MP does.
AC x
Ps – Special shout out to expert cake maker Mardi Holland-Monsen. The brief was ‘a star with butterflies (and other miscellaneous garden insects)’. And she bloody well nailed it!
