We were so looking forward to 2021, but coronavirus has reared its ugly head again. ‘Unsocialising’ is having a reprise, our new retirement lifestyle. In Australia, there are variants of restrictions and lockdowns.
Here, in Victoria, I wear a mask and sign in everywhere with the QR regulations. “A mask is better than a ventilator!” is what I consider.
‘Unsocialising’ is a term I have been using. We Australians, especially in Victoria, have a good reputation for lockdown living. It is a retirement lifestyle. We each handle it our own way.
Some join the stampede at the supermarket. Really, in lockdown, people can shop for groceries anyway. Lots of seniors are into online shopping, contactless.
I fell in love with spring cleaning, while lady friends of mine took up China painting or calligraphy. Most of my retirement friends have pulsating hips and knees. We normally are sedentary.
Significant males have been firmly instructed to spend their happy hours doing the garden until it is immaculate. Some seniors planted vegetable patches for self-sufficiency. It is now the battle of the snails and slugs for anything edible, like a jungle of slime on the seedlings.
I know of one older couple whose lifestyle lately includes backyard free range chickens. They did not stay fluffy and cute for too long. Those little mothers can give folk Avian flu, beware!
For the new retirement lifestyle, unsocialise! A friend of mine went with kitten therapy, now she has a couch shredder and has to get her fur friend neutered. Adorable!
Seniors, and others, spend lockdown gazing at TV cooking shows. Chefs ensue, so eating home baking that results turns winter fat into spring rolls.
Amusingly, Melbournians are the proud title holders as being one of the top two online dating fans in the world. Even the single seniors, retired dreamboats, are interrupting their solo dancing and tables for one. They are seeking banned bonking opportunities online. Guys and gals our age, we are supposed to unsocialise!
This is our new retirement lifestyle. Apparently, in our lucky laconic lockdown Oz, online gambling has broken all records. Lots of little suburban TAB betting shops are no more. In my little ghost town, there are many empty shops, banks closed, and vacant cafes.
Sadly, many Baby Boomer citizens have had to limit contact with their sprogs in their families, due to the virus potential. The young ones really miss the undivided love from their grandparents.
For retirement lifestyle, the over-60s can make informed decisions about being vaccinated, or not. With regards to Covid-19 vaccines, we must all listen to advice from trusted doctors, not the media or politicians who are not medicos. My friends and family who are vaxxed, did it with a minimum of fuss, nothing really to discuss.
All we can all do is hope for a post-pandemic world, if that ever happens. Especially for our young people. So, we must unsocialise and visualise everyone in Australia having a beer when this virus is no longer here!