Life in the Twilight Zone

Way back in the early 1960's, one of my favourite TV shows was The Twilight Zone. Each week our family sat in front of the flickering, black and white Astor TV to watch Rod Serling's tales of the weird and macabre. To a young child with a vivid imagination, it was the stuff of dreams. That introductory theme was enough to raise the heartbeat in anticipation of what strange story might be coming next.

I don't have to watch the Twilight Zone any more, since I feel I have been living in some sort of parallel universe for the past five months. It is a place where time has lost its meaning, where all the days of the week are nameless and structureless. It is a place where we have been separated from the family and friends we love and the activities we previously used to share. And I don't like it at all.

The past week has been cold and wet, probably the worst weather we have had so far this winter. When you combine the terrible weather with the harsh lockdown, it is little wonder that people are starting to reach their mental limits. I think that part of the problem is that we have no idea of when the end might be. Although we keep hoping that the worst is behind us, the path out of this nightmare is still very uncertain.

We have just had two consecutive days with new cases in Victoria under 200. This is the first time in many weeks that this has happened. It was almost a cause for celebration. But then came today's figures - the total had increased again to 208. We have been told that we should be prepared to wear masks for many months (or maybe years) into the future. Social distancing means that we will no longer be able to physically touch our friends. No handshakes, no kisses or hugs. It's just not the same.

Over the past few days I have spoken to quite a number of people and it evident that they are all feeling the pressure. It is so easy to become depressed in a situation where you feel that your world has changed forever and has become a place where you can no longer gain pleasure from the simple things that used to mean so much. We cannot get in the car and go for a drive, we can't share a meal with our family, no more group bike rides, in fact our world has shrunk to a five km circle around our home. Even within that tiny circle, we only have one hour to "enjoy" it. It's not easy.

I keep telling myself that this will eventually come to an end. Every other pandemic in history has eventually run its course and allowed life to return to normal. We have the advantage of being able to protect ourselves with hand sanitiser and face masks, we have the Internet to keep us connected and entertained and we have Woolworth home deliveries to keep us in groceries and toilet paper. It could be worse.

According to my calendar I should now be in Saarburg in Germany, before the start of our 2020 ride along the Moselle River. I am trying hard not to think of all the things I am missing out on, but it is not easy. Any form of international travel looks to be quite a long way off.

Yesterday I was chatting on the phone to a friend who was also feeling a little depressed. He remarked that he was sad to think that he may never get to go overseas again. I reminded him that at least he had taken the opportunity in years past to share many adventures with the Ghostriders. He will always have the memories and photos to remind him of what fun we had. So many people never have even a single such adventure in their entire life. It was some consolation.

So what happens now ? We are now almost half way through the latest lockdown. Although the numbers have fallen, they are still stubbornly high. Each day we are reminded of the great incompetence in the handling of the hotel quarantine. It was that incompetence that has now resulted in our entire state being brought to its knees. Will we ever hear an apology from those in charge ? I really doubt it.

We have another three weeks to go of these severe restrictions. Three weeks of being confined to our houses for 23 hours a day. Three more weeks of not being able to see our families. Our youngest grandson has just learned to walk, but we didn't witness those first steps. In fact we have missed a large part of the first year of his life and it saddens us greatly.

The problem that the government is now faced with is that people are growing very weary of this lockdown. Their goodwill is diminishing rapidly, along with their patience. This means that many will just be tempted to take matters into their own hands and ignore the restrictions. Many businesses will never recover if the lockdown drags on any longer. This leaves us in the very real position of where the cure might be worse than the disease. Hard decisions will have to be made at some stage, but in the meantime we all exist in this Twilight Zone. The only constant in this grey world is the daily release of new figures. Everything else has become something of a blur.

As a final note, there has been some more promising news about the development of possible vaccines. The Australian Government has apparently secured some sort of agreement with the group at Oxford University to mass produce their vaccine, if and when it is proven effective. We are told that there will be enough free doses for everyone in the country. I wonder how many people will volunteer to be the proverbial "first cabs off the rank" ?Read more