Home » August 2020 » Currently Reading:

Letter from Melbourne

August 7, 2020 August 2020 No Comments

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”Dickens was right. We are now living a tale of two cities, of two parts of the country.
One place where COVID is closing in, while the rest of the country cautiously pushes open its doors.

It feels rather frightening to be here in Melbourne. The red line on the graph goes up and up — 270 new infections one day, then 238, then 317, and then yesterday 428 Victorians newly infected with a virus that has taken control of so much of our lives that other experiences seem like an alternate reality. .

Records don’t matter anymore. Each day is a new record figure — I don’t notice.

         But I can’t shake the stories of people who have now been told that for reasons of infection control they cannot visit their dying mother in palliative care until she is unconscious and has only 24 hours to live.

       And I can’t unhear the anxious voices and teary inquiries of people who don’t know if they have the mental stamina to survive six more weeks away from those they love.

      It’s lonely here. The streets are silent again, and while the nation buzzed last time around with chat of craft projects, binge-watching and iso-cooking to make the shared time indoors fun, no-one’s talking about bloody sourdough now.

      Shoulders are hunched against the cold and collars are turned against the reality that lives will be lost and that spring will come to our fellow Australians, but it may be without us.
        I do not write this to make you feel bad, and I am sorry to be writing again about COVID, but I know that many of us struggling here crave your fellow-feeling, your empathy, but most of all we want your understanding that this too could happen to you.

We are your Cassandra — warning against what may be in the wind.

Virginia Trioli

Comment on this Article:

FEATURED BUSINESSES

Sports

Golf pro-am success _ without clubhouse

By Karen Stephens A record field of 172 players, including 43 professionals from New Zealand and Australia, battled light winds, warm temperatures and even light early-morning fog at Martinborough golf’s 2024 CER Electrical and Holmes Construction pro-am on February 1. At least that was the range of excuses for some …

Featherston wrestlers go offshore

Two members of Featherston Amateur Wrestling Club’s senior class have again been asked to join a New Zealand team overseas.  Wairangi Sargent and Angus Read will take part in the Journeymen Tournament and Training Camp over Easter in New York state.  Over the week they are there they will be …

Martinborough Golf Club has tumbled down

The demolition of the Martinborough Golf Club is complete. In the last days prior to Christmas a fully-insulated pole shed, much like a top end farm outbuilding, was erected to act as both office and temporary clubhouse. New septic tanks, internet connectivity, power, water, and Porticom loos were installed. On …

Regular Features

News from First Church

 Many folk imagine that going to church is a bit of an ordeal, a waste …

FROM THE MAYOR

By Martin Connelly In February the local Lions Club invited me for dinner and asked …

Driving Growth and Collaboration: Martinborough Business Assn Committee

The Martinborough Business Association Committee plays an important role in fostering economic growth and collaboration …

How Well Do We Know People in our Community?

Michael Bing talks to Lyle Griffiths Michael was raised in Auckland, attending St Peters College …

BOOK REVIEWS FOR HOT SUMMER DAYS

By Brenda Channer – Martinborough Bookshop “Whether Violent or Natural” by Natasha Calder This debut …

Community Garden News

By Debbie Yates This is definitely the month of thank you. Nga Mihi Nui! We …

EVENTS

Saturday 10 February: 10th annual Citizen Science Kākahi Count at Western Lake Shore Reserve, 18km …

Recent Comments