Covid 19 - Mk II, History Repeating

Just a few weeks ago we all thought that the worst was behind us. Unfortunately the past two weeks have changed all that. Due to serious blunders on behalf of the state government and the inability of many members of the public to obey social distancing, we now find that history is repeating itself.

At midnight last night, the Greater Melbourne Metropolitan area entered into a second period of compulsory lockdown - this time for at least the next six weeks. This means that cafes, libraries, gyms, playgrounds, etc are all shut down again. The supermarkets have been beset by hordes of panicked shoppers, all struggling to buy the final roll of toilet paper and tin of sardines. It's crazy, but sadly it's true.

Yesterday we joined a very small group of Ghostriders for a final ride before the lockdown took effect. We met at Woori Yallock and rode to Warburton East and back again along the Warby Trail. It was a beautiful sunny day and that made it even harder to accept that it was going to be our final such ride until at least late August.

It is impossible not to feel pity for the battling business owners who struggled to stay viable through the first lockdown. Just as their businesses were starting to rebuild again, the rug is ripped right out from under them. It must be heartbreaking for cafe owners to, once again, just stack their chairs and tables and try to limp by on takeaway orders only.

We cannot even make a trip back to Inverloch. The instructions were clear - "you must spend the next six weeks at your prime place of residence". Apparently thousands of people did not take any notice of this as the major roads out of Melbourne were all jammed yesterday with loaded cars and vans heading to regional Victoria. This was exactly what they did not want to happen, but it looks like it may become the latest in a long sequence of bungled actions by Dan Andrews and his bumbling team.

And so the sad saga begins all over again.....En savoir plus