Lockdown Missive #3: 'Good' Friday
Friday 10 April 2020
Hello all,
I am writing this on a Good Friday unlike any other I’ve experienced. Although I’m not a person of organised faith (sorry, Dad), there was a certain comfort in the predictable routine of seeing Easter festivities from across the world. This Easter won’t be celebrated in the grandiose surrounds of St. Paul’s Cathedral, St. Peter’s Basilica, or even St. Peter’s Box Hill — it’ll be marked at homes around the world. As a work colleague remarked when I said ‘this will be an Easter unlike any other’, she said ‘as long as there is family and faith it’ll be a good one...oh, and food.’ I can heartily agree with at least two out of three of those!
We might be in lockdown, but I keep on arriving at this point in the week with more stories and photos to share with you. Work-wise, I created my second YouTube video, which was naturally a hit. I also conducted an interview with one of our authors via Zoom about her latest book which will be published next week. These times are a great excuse to do this sort of thing, because everyone’s on a level playing field, production-values wise. Ordinarily, you’d want to send a videographer to do this sort of thing (with the associated cost), but nobody can do that right now, so it makes the humble webcam the only option for long-distance video.
Working with the kids here remains very difficult and, as this harrowing (and accurate) article highlights, pandemics ‘expose and exacerbate the existing dynamics of a society — good and bad. They are like a fun-house mirror, grossly reflecting ourselves back to us’. And the author goes on:
This current situation is almost prophetically designed to showcase the farce of our societal approach to separating work and family lives. We are expected to work from home full time. And care for our children full time. And we cannot haveanyone outside our immediate household help. It can’t work and we all are suffering at the illusion that it does.
I’m inclined to agree and I’ll be honest — I have mentally done the sums on what would have to be cut to live off the government’s unemployment payment, not because I’m worried about losing my job, but because I’m worried about still having it in three months’ time and still working from home. It’s tough, but I’m thankful for the fact we have a backyard, that we’re close to parks and gardens and that neither kid is in a critical year of schooling. Like with the wars that have defined previous generations, the effects of this pandemic will last long after there’s a vaccine and the world has returned to ‘normal’.
Music and entertainment
I read an interesting article about how, despite the grim economic situation, US culture flourished during the Great Depression. This was due, in no small part, to FDR’s New Deal including artists and musicians in its scope. It’s very disappointing that our federal government’s own stimulus programs seem to (deliberately?) ignore the casuals and freelancers of the creative industries. Like many things, once they’re gone, they’re gone and no doubt those who miss out won’t be returning to create the art and music so important to our culture when this thing is all over. It’s a $111 BILLION industry. Let me repeat that: ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTY BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY. I think they deserve better.
Still, creators gonna create and there’s been no shortage of live-streamed this, that and the other. The Melbourne Symphony started live-streaming concerts, but have since stopped given social distancing restrictions. They are, however, now streaming previously-recorded performances which is really great.
Even Andrew Lloyd Webber’s getting in on the act, streaming recorded performances (though only for a 48hr period — you’d think a guy with an estimated net worth of £820 million (AUD$1.6B — with a B) could put them up for a little bit longer, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers. In-keeping with the season, the staging of Jesus Christ Superstar with Tim Minchin as Judas and a Spice Girl as Mary will be available shortly and it’s quite good.
The National Theatre’s also streaming and, given it’s going to be a while before any of us can visit the Londond’s South Bank once more, it’s as good as entertainment can get! While lockdown isn’t particularly pleasant, technology, at least, makes it a bit more bearable.
For Easter, I’m listening to this recording of Faure’s Requiem because what better time is there than now to catch up on CDs I’ve not listened to? And nothing says fun like a mass for the dead. It’s available on Spotify here should you also wish to join in the fun 🤗🤗🤗
Out and about
Archer is out of control
For our collective sanity, we’ve been out and about as much as possible/permissible. This morning, Maddie clocked on to do some work for a few hours, so the kids and I went for a wander to Deakin Uni and around Gardiners Creek.
The uni is now closed, but some construction activity remains as they finish up their new law building. This is a project we’ve seen every single step of close up, from earthmoving to pile drilling to formwork, plumbing and more. Frequently, a much smaller Archer and I would wander over in the mornings and see the site in full swing with diggers and bobcats and dump trucks and oh myy!
Deakin — 10 May 2018
We saw plenty of people and doggos keeping the appropriate distances for the most part (with the exceptions of the doggos, who Finn actively encouraged to come closer and closer).
I’ve also made it out a couple of other times with the kidlets — something we should all do more of. Archer’s currently taken to picking flowers from people’s gardens. All well and good until he gets too many and I need to carry them — and him! Fortunately there are some diggers in the neighbourhood which bring an absurd amount of joy to parent and child alike.
Finn’s besotted with my bike and the child seat on the back. All he wants to do is go for rides. Good in theory, but it doesn’t happen as much as it should in practice. So to tide him over, we ride around the front garden because what the heck else are you going to do in lockdown?
He’s also taken to wearing his bike helmet around the house. Whatevs.
My most exciting outing over the past week was to The Glen shopping centre to buy a new microwave. I even found some time to get a coffee at one of the few places serving them. Virtually every fashion and fashion-adjacent shop was closed, bar the barbers (weird). I don’t want to sound like one of those feral fishing/hunting people on Facebook banging on about ‘OI Y CANT I GO FISHING BY MESELF IN ME TINNIE TO CATCH FOOD 2 EET I DONT GOT NO VIRUS AND THE CHINEESE 5G VIRUS AINT GOINNA GET ME’, but it does seem strange that so many places are forced to closed, yet barbers and hairdressers can remain open.
We don't need no education (sic)
Term 2 won’t be like Term 1 at Archer’s kinder. Although they will be opening the kinder, classes will only be open for kids of parents who cannot work from home and to vulnerable kids. Fair enough. It means there will be sessions via Zoom, though how effective that will be for young kids remains to be seen. Again, very glad he’s not in a critical year of school — or even any year of primary school.
Turning (film) negatives into positives
Did you know I’ve shot 850 rolls of film since 2007? I know this because I’ve catalogued each and every roll in photo-safe polypropylene sleeves and, in turn, placed them in archival binders (both made in Australia by Albox — they’ve passed the Photographic Activity Test of the Image Permanence Institute USA and the National Archives of Australia, don’t you know?)
Well, I ran out of 35mm sleeves this week. A sad day. Of course, this was easily resolved by purchasing more, which was good. 100 more 35mm sleeves from Albox in South Australia — supporting a local business during a difficult time etc. I’ve also had some time to continue scanning and editing my film, some of the results of which you can see below.
Finn and Archer are also enjoying my very high-quality Seagull 海鸥 SLR, although neither has quite gotten around to snapping any pics with it — just posing with it.
Conclusion
Well, the end of another week. Though every day feels much the same as the next. Perhaps, like Robinson Crusoe or Virgil Hilts in zee cooler, I should start scribing tally marks on the wall to keep track of how long it has all been. Though the owner of this house might have something to say about that ;)