It started off with concern and doubt with regard to a Virus that had been let loose from China. Quickly developed into a disaster of how many people are going to die , how are we going to solve this problem. ? Premiers and Leaders around the world all decided they knew best and proceeded to curb all activities and gatherings , jobs were lost and people were told no walking together , no sitting in parks, no going to the beach , then to finish it off …. Lockdowns!
Locked up in your house or Unit , brief visits to the shops , arrested if you tried to do anything slightly different. Some of the photos of the strong armed tactics used on normal everyday people were absolutely disgraceful . Women being handcuffed and manhandled, even those expecting a little baby were treated harshly. Men were thrown to the ground and handcuffed , all in the name of making sure the population did as they were told.
Borders to the different States were closed and too bad if someone needed hospital care or help but had to go a great distance to one in their State, when just over the border was a hospital they had used in the past.
Oh no, certainly no exceptions! Victoria and the city of Melbourne was the one hardest hit by these very harsh restrictions. It has been said that it was for their own protection and welfare . But the side effects of these very demanding restrictions led to suicides , loneliness, unhappiness , in fact you name any of the things that makes a human being unhappy … they had it all.
Up in Queensland we probably had it better than anywhere else in Australia . Fortunately on the Sunshine Coast we were not subjected to lockdowns or masks or harsh restrictions but we were brainwashed into thinking everyone had the power to infect us with the Virus and we had to keep distance from others. Move this way in the Supermarket , stand in line apart from one another. This went on for the whole year. How did we put up with it?
So, here we are middle of December, Christmas just around the corner , borders are open again , within the Country , oh don't forget the quarantine procedures , still in place but very expensive now . Which brings me to the other aspect of this Virus. Visits from family, visits from friends, none of that this year. For the older generation it has been very sad, because speaking for myself I looked forward to the winter visit from my son . He came for several months every year and caught up a lot of the little household jobs that my late husband used to do. Gave me happy company and lots of chats about different things, all the things that used to be considered the norm when your husband was still with you.
I don't think people who haven't suffered the loss of a loved one realize how bereft you feel when left alone. How important the visits from your sons and daughters are to the wellbeing of us older folk. All I can say is roll on 2021 and I sincerely hope that is will be a better year for all of us , young and old , than this awful 2020.
Any of you who were hoping for a visit from your NSW families and friends that live in the Northern Beaches of Sydney it has just turned into a very disappointing week with this latest news of border closure between our two States for selected residents. Just when we thought we had hope! No Christmas joy for many of us.
That's how Redhead feels about this horrible year of dashed hopes and expectations , it makes me wonder how it has affected you other readers?
Do you feel the same as I do? What is your view of 2020?
