Day 6 - Voluntary Lock Down

Having benefitted from an early night, I woke at sunrise and headed down to the beach. I'd arranged to catch up with a mate (planning to keep our distance) and wanted to go for a beach run before he arrived. The beach and weather was absolutely stunning!

I'd dawdled a bit and so was only left with enough time for a short run. My mate was a bit late getting there which provided me some time to breathe deep and meditate on the beauty before me. Wow!

He arrived and we headed into the blue. The water turned out to feel just as beautiful as it looked.

It really didn't feel like anything could possibly be wrong with the world, especially as I was catching up with one of my favourite people in the world, and one who I'd very nearly lost last year.

Looking at the beach, from the water, the beach was very sparsely populated. Then out of the corner of my eye, I quickly realised that I had a greater issue with social distancing in the water. WTF? Somehow around 15 swimmers had snuck up on us and we were needing to dodge the stampede. We were only chest deep and yet some were passing between us and the beach.

I guess with the public pools all closing, this was a new adaptation.

As had been our previous custom, we headed to the Orange Box for a takeaway. Similar to my experience yesterday, I was left really questioning the sense of what I was doing. To order a coffee I was forced to breech the 1.5m distancing rule and pray that the person making my coffee wasn't a carrier. Really she was more likely to be, because she was in close proximity of everyone else working there and all the customers. Then I had to also go back to get our order and then pass my mate his tea. Hope I'm not a carrier. What a joke.

Even though we'd gotten takeaways, so we could keep our distance from the crowd, it became clear that there were several people around us that hadn't got the memo. We could tell that from a distance and also when they invaded our safe zone. I'd also passed several pelotons of cyclists on the way to the beach. There was no evidence of them adjusting their distancing and I imagined them clustering around each other in a cafe after their ride.

Seriously I've never been so aware of a mass of denial. I get the feeling that we, in Australia, are going to get hit hard.

Anyway, we can only focus on doing what we can do, and adjusting the choices we make from here. This was a good decision, up to the point of grabbing a takeaway. Not doing that any more. I really hope the other people I saw this morning, came to a similar conclusion; especially the cafe staff.

It's just not worth it. If it's to continue, it needs to be done very differently.

It was awesome to catch up with my mate and, as always, the conversation was rich. We're both aligned on our focus to find a way to help our family and others.

As an ex-CEO he was really interested in business leaders, at all levels, coping with the need to seem assured and in control when they're dealing with so much personal fear and uncertainty.

He was even keen to join us on the Humane Corona Support voluntary service.

Headed home and wrote the Day 5 blog. Had a call with my eldest about his Europe trip. He and his mates were well advanced in the planning and booking of a super exciting trip, in July, and were obviously in the situation of needing to cancel it. As well as disappointment, they were also anxious about the deposits they'd paid and flight refunds / credits / claims. As I'd paid for the flights, it was an opportunity to demonstrate some perspective.

Don't worry about it. Everyone is trying to figure this out, so just breathe and allow some space. Even if we were to lose it all, we can live with that.

Had a FaceTime with the other kids and they were in good spirits. The birthday party that my daughter had been invited to today, had been cancelled. I was really relieved about that. It was outdoor go carting and the organising parents were being mindful in their planning. And it was just something that shouldn't be happening, given the situation.

They obviously, quite rightly, came to the conclusion that the show must not go on. Kudos.

Made my DinnerTwist meal, which was unusually really ordinary. That was until I added some salt and a healthy dose of the chilli sauce that I'd made the day before. Then it was awesome! Settled in with a glass of red and watched some Altered Carbon season 2. I noticed some unusual head spins when I got up, a couple of times, and wondered if these could be some undocumented early signs of infection. Hmmm hope not.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring.