Celia Waldron
Planes flying.
Traffic jams on freeways and Lygon Street, Carlton. Road rage. swimming pools and beaches open as the sun shines. Happy faces smiling, whooping children, and toilet rolls on supermarket shelves.
And shops open and welcoming smiles.
Parks alive! Work places with desks occupied and people chattering on the street.
Lipstick and make up needed again. No need behind a mask.
Restaurants open for those with money. Lights on at night. Toyshops and children’s libraries open.
Nurseries open and no bloody masks!
Staying home to be mask free is a silver lining. Remembering to keep a supply in the car. Arriving at the supermarket or tyre place, in my case, without one. Back to the car! Ten minutes of our one hour exercise allowance gone. Muddied with guilt.
Empathy with health workers for whom masks, crackly plastic PPE gowns and suffocating plastic face shields are 24/7 uniforms.
You do not see or I haven’t noticed kids tempted to graffiti or personalise masks with paint and textas, flowers and smiley faces.
A nurse just said she must be going deaf. She had just asked a patient in another chair – the mantra -“are you allergic to anything”. The tired answer was, she thought, “Yes, Russell Crowe “. To allay the nurse’s fear of deafness approaching, I stepped in to say, “She may mean that. “
Picture this in joy – a day of sunshine – after wind and rain – and grey skies. The Rosellas returning to my seed donut hanging, tempting, to find it finished. Make a note and get another one. Or make one. It looks easy. A bag of seed and whatever keeps it all together. Must be edible, but what?
Celia Waldron is a member of the Daylesford U3A Writers’ Circle.
