Donuts Galore

At the time of my last update Victoria had achieved the unthinkable - three days in a row with no new Covid 19 infections. Just a few months ago we were in a much different position, with daily new infections over 700. I am pleased (actually ecstatic) to announce that the sequence of "donut days" has continued for another week. We have now had 10 consecutive days with no new infections and no deaths. Perhaps even more remarkably, we now have only 4 active cases remaining in our entire state.

Today we take another big step towards reclaiming our freedoms. The much hated "ring of steel" around Melbourne has been removed, along with the 25 km travel restriction. All Victorians can now leave their houses whenever they wish and travel as far as they want. After being confined for so many months, it represents a massive change.

Not so popular was the news that we can still only have two visitors per day to our homes and a maximum of 10 people can take part in an outside activity. That means that extended family dinners and large group bike rides are off the agenda for at least another two weeks.

Against the backdrop of our improving Covid 19 status, we have daily reminders of how dire the situation still is in most of the world. This is especially the case in the USA and Europe where the daily infection numbers are setting new records virtually every single day.

The USA has had another event to distract from the long-running Covid show. Last Tuesday was the US presidential election. While the rest of the world looked on and hoped that the four-year Trump debacle would finally come to a peaceful end, in the USA the outcome was not so sure. For millions of underpaid and undereducated Americans, Trump has become some sort of cult leader. The more outrageous his behaviour becomes, the more they seem to adore him. It is sad but true.

The lead up to the election has seen the USA more and more divided into two warring camps. On numerous occasions we have seen news footage of heavily armed Trump supporters marching through the streets, threatening a civil war if they do not get the result they want.

The best possible outcome would have been for a decisive victory for the Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Although at 78 years old he appears to already have one foot in the grave, he does seem to be a decent and honest man. At such a precarious time in world history, perhaps the voice of reason and experience is what is really needed.

It did not turn out that way. Due to a record number of postal votes having been lodged, the counting continued day after day. It soon became evident that the final result was going to be tight. After several days passed, Joe Biden slowly moved into the lead. Eventually, on Sunday, he was finally declared to be the clear winner.

That would normally be the end of the matter. At that point, the loser generally contacts the winner to offer their congratulations and best wishes. Trump was never going to behave in such a gracious way. Instead, he has bunkered himself down in the White House, sending out a torrent of uppercase tweets, These childish ravings accuse the Democrats of having "stolen" the election. He also seems to think that all the postal votes are "illegal" (apart from the ones that favour him). It is looking increasingly likely that he will need to be dragged out of the Oval Office, while he stages a full-blown kiddy tantrum.

I guess you can add the weird goings-on in the USA to the huge list of unbelievable events that have already taken place in 2020. What a year this has turned out to be.Read more