Here in the apartment in Manly. Two days to go until we leave for our return to America. We are not required to shelter in place and the weather is drop-dead gorgeous (probably not a perfect phrase at this point in time), so it it very tempting to be out and about (in a careful way). Walking around Manly and doing some souvenir shopping doesn’t seem dangerous. Restaurants have cut their capacities by 50% to provide social distancing. We stopped at a big pub for a beer over the weekend and, while we were there, the manager locked all of the entrances but one and began counting the number of people entering and leaving. (I’m not sure that this idea accomplished much, other than to give the pub an excuse to stay open if questioned.) It is very tempting to go to a family-run restaurant that is looking at almost-certain closure and potential ruin in a matter of days, rather than going out to a grocery store to buy food for our last two or three meals. But it seems like it might be reckless. There is an odd feeling of near-normality here and, knowing that we are facing fairly intense quarantine in our near future, it is very appealing to get out do things that seem safe.
On Friday, the temperature was in the mid-90s, and staying in our apartment without AC was not a realistic alternative. So we walked over to Shelly Beach, stopped along the way for fish and chips and a beer at The Bower, and frolicked in the ocean. There were a fair number of people in the water, but it seemed relatively safe from a virus point of view. And the people on the beach made an effort not sit too close to anyone. We brought the mask and snorkel from the apartment and paddled around the edge of the aquatic reserve. We saw a lot of little striped fish. There was also a big seal sunning itself on a rock. I’m planning at least on more beach outing before we leave. Here are some photos from that day.
Shelly Beach 
We’re in the brick building 
Manly Beach
It turns out that at the exact same time, Bondi Beach, the famous beach in the Eastern suburbs, was completely packed with people seeking to cool off. It was so crowded that it caused a huge kerfuffle and the State closed Bondi Beach the next day for exceeding the limit of 500 people for an outdoor gathering. Manly Beach is quite long (as photos in prior blogs showed) and if you bothered to count the people on the entire beach over the weekend, I’m sure the 500 limit was exceeded, even though it wasn’t especially crowded. (That doesn’t even count the surfers, who are at the beach but not really on it. They show up, jump in the water, surf for hours and eventually get out and leave right away. On a nice day with good surf (like today), there are often well over 100 surfers in the waves.)
Australian Art: If you have been in our living room in Montclair, you will know that we love Australian Aboriginal/Indigenous Art. (The term indigenous seems to be gradually replacing aboriginal here.) So one of the things I wanted to do while I was here was buy a piece of art to expand our “collection”. I went around to a number of galleries specializing in such paintings, checking out the prices and the selection. We went to the Art Gallery of NSW to see their incredible collection. I discovered that you could find beautiful paintings for not too much money, especially since the Australian Dollar has sunk to a low agains the US$ that it has not seen for nearly 20 years. When you add the fact that you can get the sales tax refunded at the airport, the art is effectively half the price. A painting for A$1000 is the equivalent of US$500. It was too good a bargain to pass up and I bought a lot of art. I’d show you pictures but they are all wrapped up waiting to be brought home or, in the case of the bark painting and another work, have been shipped. Here are a few photos from the Museum to give you an idea.
Stickers: On the subject of art, Hannah’s partner, Mike, designs and produces hand-sized stickers that he and his friends put on the back of signs and other public places. It’s a little like tagging, but they are easier to remove and are actually nice looking. He goes under the name Bone-Wurm and you can see his designs on Instagram. He and Hannah thought that it would be fun to have Mike’s stickers on a different continent, so they sent us some. It felt a little weird going out at night and putting his stickers on things, but what are a father and mother to do? See below.
Enough for now…
nickinshoreditch 
You seem blessedly outside the general atmosphere here. We are in Vermont, where the rules are relaxed, but there is still only spotty availability of some goods (tomato sauce, paper goods (don’t understand that, if you have some rags, you can make reusable toweling and toilet paper), even the meat counters are spare. We have found a butcher here who can provide meat, but he didn’t have any chickens until Thursday (he keeps chicken carcasses for broth and that’s what I wanted them for, so we got exactly what we needed). People are singing at each other on Facebook, me (and Stearns, and Markus included), and living in their pajamas. In your large house, you won’t feel as confined as Keira, who is homebound in a one-room apartment in Buenos Aires, but not having restaurants to go to, or cafes for a coffee is uncomfortable.
I have gotten what I am deeming my version of the coronavirus. As you know, it can be symptomless, mild, or deadly, and I got the mild kind, but am not sure because if I haven’t been tested. The Vermont Board of Health hotline said don’t bother because the labs are overwhelmed, and they prioritize the ill, so I won’t get results for weeks. I’d like to know because if I did have it, I am probably less susceptible. This is one of the things that will slow it down – when many people have had it, they are at least partially immune, though there have been some recurrences. I had a heavy chest (COVIC is respiratory) and fatigue, with fleeting pains here and there, spent a couple of days resting and seem to be improving. I knew I was sickening, so I took 30,000-40,000 units of Vitamin D each day, 7-8 grams of vitamin C, two homeopathic concoctions (oscillosocinum and virex), and vitamin E to help with oxygenation. I also kept myself extremely warm, with a scarf around my neck, slept with a nightcap, took a hot epsom salts bath, etc. Now I feel fine, so either I didn’t have COVID or my treatments helped. A friend had COVID and she felt pretty sick for a couple of days, w ith fever, but recovered quickly. But the problem is that I am in the high risk range, being “elderly”, and people with compromised health to begin with are getting very sick.
See if you can buy alcohol wipes to be sure your airplane trays, seat arms, screens, and so on are disinfected. (There are no alcohol wipes to be had around here, but since OZ has not yet begun to suffer much, there might still be some there.)
COVID is not making the kind of headway in hot places, such as India (my son has teams he is working with in India, and his Indian colleagues believe this is because it is a hotter climate), as it is in cooler places, as viruses love the cold but not the heat. 90 degrees is above their tolerance level, but you’re heading into cooler temperatures now.
I’m piling on all this information because I’m worried about your flying so long, bringing about stress and certain exposure to some thing or person who has been exposed to another thing or person who has been exposed to COVID. The US systems are completely f-ked up from coast to coast, and even the promise that you won’t have to pay for testing, when you can find it, appears to be full of exceptions. So your only defense is things like Vitamin D especially, and homemade treatments. With this thing, you’re on your own, unless you get so sick you are hospitalized.
Pardon my lecture, but I love you both and want you to get home safe and sound.
Ann
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Sydney is basically now locked down. It happened as the day went along on Sunday and the idiot PM realized that he was being left behind. So suddenly everything is closed, as of noon on Monday. This was probably sped up by reports of young people in places like Manly and Bondi ignoring the social distancing warnings. Judie and I feel fine so far and I’m pretty certain that our apartment is pretty safe, so the only thing that worries us is the endless airplane flight. The idea of getting wipes is a good idea. I’ll go into Manly and see if I can find any tomorrow. Judie has to stop by her office tomorrow. Maybe they have something that would be useful. Masks are sold out. I wonder if they will give out hand sanitizer on the flight. I should be able to find Vitamin D at the pharmacy.
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