Dancing the COVID Waltz

We have now lived in Pakenham for almost seven years. In that time we have often heard mention of a beautiful nearby walking and cycling trail, however we had never taken the opportunity to experience it for ourselves. That trail follows part of the old disused aqueduct that was once part of Melbourne's water supply network. It is now called the Cardinia Aqueduct Trail. When the forecast was for a glorious, almost spring like day, we decided that we should get out of the home and see for ourselves just what the trail is like.

We had actually tried to find the trail several times in the past, but the lack of signage makes it rather tricky to locate. The lack of parking also makes it hard to find a place to leave your vehicle when you do find the trail. In spite of these obstacles, today we did manage to locate the trail and walk along it for several km. It was well worth the effort.

There was one problem brought on by the beautiful weather and that was that about 200 other people and their dogs also decided that it would be a perfect day to get out for a walk. After we managed to squeeze the car into the tiny car park, Maggie looked about anxiously at all the others who were already there. Although they were (mostly) wearing masks, Maggie has this belief that COVID 19 virus particles are capable of leaping huge distances from person to person. She sees every approaching walker as a potential carrier of imminent death. This can somehow detract from the normal enjoyment of a beautiful walk.

Nevertheless we unpacked the dog and waited till the coast was relatively clear. We had not gone far before Maggie noticed the first small bunch of walkers.

"Wait here", she instructed, before stepping about 5 metres off the side of the trail. This process was repeated every time another walker came in sight. This strange manouvre has become part of our everyday life. Every time someone takes a step towards us, we take two steps backwards. I recently heard this strange sequence of movements called the "COVID Dance". I think it is a pretty accurate description.

The sad thing is that I suspect that we will be doing this dance, even long after the pandemic is finally behind us. This sort of human behaviour can be very difficult to break, once it has become instinctive. I really miss those times when we used to be able to smile at people and share a conversation without regarding them as an evil Typhoid Mary.

So what about the trail itself ? Once you have located the start, the trail is relatively easy to follow, the surface is good and the views are glorious. Because it mostly follows the old aquaduct, it is generally flat, although it does have a couple of rather steep sections where the path deviates from the aqueduct itself. It is a fairly heavily treed path, so you would have good shade on a hot day. Apart from a couple of rather rough sections, it would also be a great trail to explore by bicycle.

We arrived back home around 1.30 pm, just in time to catch up on the latest COVID numbers for Victoria. In any normal time 397 new cases would be a disaster, however considering the even higher numbers we have been getting, it almost seemed like good news. I did not watch the latest press conference, but I heard that we may be entering into even stricter restrictions tomorrow. If that happens it will probably mean that all shops, apart from supermarkets, will close, along with all non essential businesses. It will be enormously damaging to our economy, but we may have no other choice.

On a bright note, we did have our weekly delivery of groceries from Woolworths. That is always exciting.Read more