Fortunately this little corner of the world the CB and I find ourselves in has a supermarket which may be bereft of bog rolls but has shelves stocked with Stella, Sav and Syrah. I think our home state of Queensland is the only political jurisdiction on the planet outside the muslim bit where you won’t find this. Since Boris announced yesterday that all bars, restaurants and pubs would close as of today, this has assumed life sustaining importance. So as I sit back in our hotel room contemplating the Alderley Edge Hotel’s empty carpark and the absence of any noise I am able to sip an ice cold beer and the CB can sip a Rosemount Chardie – a good value Aussie quaffer which costs as much in £’s as it does in $’s at home. Incidentally, that applies to just about everything here.
The family wedding the CB and I came over here to attend was completed in the nick of time yesterday. Today would have been a no-go. We were so happy for the bride and groom because the times were rapidly conspiring to make their big day a complete disaster. As it was, plenty of guests including two of the bridesmaids were unable to attend or didn’t want to attend. In less unusual times there would be severe recriminations for bailing out I am sure, but some people are following government directives to the letter so there isn’t really a case to prosecute. Notwithstanding, we have already encountered attitudes ranging from casual indifference to practical pragmatism to full-blown paranoia when it comes to avoiding COVID-19.
If you add the closure of most touristy places to closure of the pubs, bars and restaurants and the abandonment of everything sporting, this place has become instantly boring so it’s just as well we are heading home in two days rather than on our way to Ireland tomorrow. We can look forward to two weeks of isolation with logistics more akin to a spy swap than getting a cab when we land in Brisbane. Our kids have to avoid contact with us so our son will drive our car to the airport and our daughter will follow. Our car will be left for us to drive home and daughter and son will return to their respective homes in daughter’s car.
Bear in mind that we will have just spent 20+ hours in a crowded aeroplane so despite the best laid plans (of mice and men) and the imposition of restrictions the fun-police in Iran would be proud of, contact with other humans is unavoidable in some circumstances. And the people we encountered today in the above mentioned supermarket and in a coffee shop and at the hotel reception didn’t interrogate us as to whether we have participated in crowd forming activities recently. So it’s all a bit scatter-gun really.
Fortunately our son-in-law is manager of a supermarket so the fridge at home has been stocked this week and the local booze retailer home delivers. Netflix here we come.