With coronavirus restrictions easing — at least in Queensland — life is regaining some semblance of normality. Recently I ventured out and enjoyed a chicken schnitzel at the local pub, as well as breakfast at a favourite cafe. Yes, it was smashed avocado and it was delicious!
My local art gallery has reopened and I can’t tell you how good it was to lose an hour wandering amongst all that creativity. In a different lifetime I used to buy art. Then I had babies and we all know how much they can drain the pockets. These days I get off on just taking it all in and sniffing out new pieces like a petrol-head getting high on the fumes at the Grand Prix.
One thing I really missed during self-isolation was live music. Thank goodness for my vinyl collection, which dates back to 1974. I’m not so sure the neighbours were impressed, but as Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “Without music, life would be a mistake”.
I’ve collected tickets to listen to a celebration of women’s voices from the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s: Vera Lynn, Billie Holliday, Etta James, Patti Page and Doris Day just to name a few. I’ll have to make sure I don’t start singing along. And I’m going to frock up — lipstick, heels and all. Talk about a thrill!
Next is the biggie. The real McCoy. The cat’s pyjamas! The big one that will really make things feel like they are getting back on an even keel.
My local Rotary Club is holding a sale of pre-loved books as a fundraiser for both national and international projects. It’s not the usual version with books laid out for your selection but more of a ‘pot luck’ affair because of limited numbers and social distancing rules.
It doesn’t matter to me … A box of adult fiction for $20 or a bundle of kids books for $10 reminds me of fossicking through a show bag from the Royal Easter Show in Sydney when I was a child many, many moons ago.
Anything sci-fi, dystopian or with a dragon on the cover will be shared among friends or end up at the Little Community Library. If there’s one thing this pandemic has achieved it’s to remind us to be a little kinder to each other.
Heck! I even had my hair done recently — the first time since December 2019!
I suppose my message in all this, particularly to those in areas still battling infection numbers, like my friends in Victoria, is ‘hang in there’. We’ve got this!