Diary

Tales from Brisbane March/April 2020

19 March Stephen and Vera arrive in Australia after a fraught flight from UK

Well, we made it! A day later and the border would have been closed. Same thing happened in Norway last week for us.

Lynn and family are relieved to see us and have arranged a separate section of the house for us to use for our 14 days of self-isolation. There is a bedroom with sofa bed, a bathroom and lounge. (previously known as a double garage) All tastefully furnished and with an adjoining door to the rest of the house. We talk to each other over the “fence” which has been put up in said door, mainly to keep the grandchildren a certain distance away, which would otherwise be difficult to achieve. During the day we can open the garage doors and look out onto the street. On the other side of our bedroom is a patio with BBQ and seating which we can use in turns.

Not a bad house arrest. I know of others that have had worse.

Arrival at the airport this morning took longer than normal because of the quarantine regulation explanations but the officials we met were good natured and aware of the anxiety shown by many. We are, after all, lucky to be visiting family and not confined to a hotel room for a fortnight. We met a number of Australians on the flight that were returning home as they had clearly been given to believe that the border would be closed soon and they risked getting stuck somewhere in SE Asia for the duration.

20 March

Getting used to the house now and the distance we have to keep from the rest of the family. Lynn is looking forward to getting rid of “ the bump” next week but it will be difficult for us to look after the children as planned during the critical early days. We will still have another week of quarantine and unable to touch them or even pick up items that they will then touch. A little frustrating but we will find a way to do things.

Managed a solid eight hour sleep last night and are feeling much better for it.

Not being able to leave the house it is difficult for us to say how Australians are responding to the emergency. Looking at a news website it seems that the politicians’ pleas for the avoidance of social gatherings etc are falling on deaf ears. There are pictures from a packed Bondi Beach in Sydney yesterday afternoon where the locals are clearly unconcerned by the risk of contagion.

Vera’s birthday today but not sure how we can celebrate, apart from a cake and  much appreciated communication with our family and friends around the world.

22 March

A few pics of the girls in the house this morning, over the fence as we say. We live close to the airport so we can see planes coming in if the wind direction is right. There are still flights coming in from Thai, Emirates, Air Asia and the like, presumably with returning Australians as foreigners will no longer be allowed in.

This house is in a suburban residential area where I would expect to see quite a lot of activity on a Sunday. But, no! Not a soul has walked past the open garage door while I have been here, hardly a car has passed by and there is a silence all round us. Strange. We get on with our slightly disjointed lives in the two sections of the house, stopping for occasional conversations held at the regulation distance from each other which we are slowly getting used to.

23 March

A little overcast here today but the temperature is fine for sitting in the lounge with the doors open still.

Not much news to report so far today. Theresa’s husband Stein Arne (NB: Stephen’s son-in-law) starts working evenings from home in Bergen this week. This is an attempt to help couples looking after children at home to spread the load, so to speak, allowing them to alternate between work and child supervision. It is not easy to concentrate on both work and children in the home environment.

24 March

A little overcast and a breeze today, so trousers not shorts. Must be getting acclimatised as it’s still 26-27 degrees.

Elisabeth has got chickenpox – Christine has just got over it. So that makes the practical arrangements for the birth tomorrow a touch more complicated. Andrew will have to be at home with the girls. Lynn will take a taxi to the hospital and may stay there for five days, without visitors, to reduce any risk of infection. We feel helpless but have to stay self isolating.

25 March

Pleased to confirm that a baby girl was born today without any difficulties. No further detail available as yet but we will let you know more later……

Lynn will be in the hospital for five days to try to shield her from infections. No real name for “Poppy” as yet but she weighed 3.2kg and was 50cm – about right, we understand! Pretty hectic here at the moment but all very pleased.

Later: I can confirm that the new arrival’s official name is Isabelle Lynn but will be called Poppy by the family if they want.

26 March

(No entry. Too much going on.)

27 March

A difficult morning. Elisabeth is feeling very poorly, with chickenpox sores all over her body. We have to look after her when Andrew is at the hospital. Not sure Lynn and Isabelle can possibly come home before E is better as she will be highly contagious for several days ahead. Christine is full of life and needs attention too.

28 March 

This is Day 10 of our isolation and the time has flown by as so much has been going on around us. We are in the garage this morning with the up-and-over door wide open onto a sunny view of the street. A few dog walkers have gone by and some cars but still quiet. Planes are taking off over us today and there are still a number of large ones, including Cathay and Air Asia. We still have return flights confirmed, although not on the same dates as booked. Andrew is looking after the girls. We are taking turns cooking now, as we have had to venture of necessity into the main house. No problems with food supplies and even a bottle or two of wine around.

Lynn and Isabelle are fine at the hospital, both sleeping well thankfully.

29 March

Difficult day again with Elisabeth covered in painful sores. Lynn and the baby will come home tomorrow and we have moved upstairs so they can have our rooms in self isolation. It will not be easy to keep the children away from her but we must try.

30 March

Sunny Brisbane calling !

All’s well here. Lynn and Isabelle arrived from the hospital a couple of hours ago and are comfortable in our old isolation quarters.

Elisabeth is still very poorly so both she and Christine can only look on from afar. Seems to be going well, even so.

We were slightly concerned yesterday afternoon that we were getting a fever but realised after a while that running up and down the stairs a dozen times moving our things up and Lynn’s things down was causing a slight sweat even when the humidity here is low. We can now confirm that we are still in the best of health!

31 March

Lynn and Isabelle are resting nicely. Elisabeth is a little better today and Christine full of life, as usual. The most important event event around us this morning was the collection of rubbish from the curb outside the house. Andrew said he had found someone going through our bin before it was collected to retrieve empty bottles which presumably have deposit which can be reclaimed if you know how to do it. Some people here must be short of cash already.

1 April

Another sunny day here.

This is the last day of our house isolation so tomorrow we can go for a walk!

Regarding flights. As we booked through Trailfinders, we cannot contact Malaysia Airlines directly to enquire about alternative flights. Probably not a bad thing as I expect to find Trailfinders much more efficient and customer friendly. I sent them an email yesterday asking their opinion on what we should do ie:

“Do you recommend us to sit tight and wait to see what the situation is nearer the date of our planned return (our preference) or should we look for alternative ways to get home now (government advice)?”

No response yet. They must be inundated with requests like this and we have understood they take the most urgent cases first eg. the stranded, hungry and broke, which we are not.

In the meantime we do our best here in what are still rather difficult circumstances. Elisabeth has kept to her bed today, still covered in painful sores. We play snakes and ladders etc with Christine and talk to Lynn on the patio (as long as E is not around).

2 April

On our first walk we take Christine out to explore the immediate area and spent some time in a local park kicking a ball around. There were plenty of others of all ages exercising but also keeping a good distance from any others as required by the new government regulations.

Given the situation in our house, with the newborn and a three-year-old with highly infectious chickenpox, we have agreed to limit how much we interact with the outside world, even though we may now go shopping as often as we like as long as we practice social distancing. The concept of “frugality” has come to fore again, as I remember it from my early years growing up in London. The memories of the war and rationing were still strong and food was never to be wasted.

Looking at what we have in cupboards, fridge and freezer we have a surprising amount to eat and it could last us quite a long time. Menus have been discussed and written on a white board; ingredients in short supply are allocated sparingly; children’s favourites are put to one side .

For lunch today we found some stale bread rolls which when dunked in water under the tap and refreshed in the oven tasted delicious. They were filled with Pacific salmon – the type I remember being brought out for Sunday tea in the 50’s, then splashed liberally with vinegar, today slightly more exotically with lemon juice, a touch of mayonnaise and accompanied by fresh lettuce from the garden in a balsamic dressing.

3 April

A hot day today but we will take a walk later when it cools down a little. Christine was our guide yesterday when we ventured out to one of the local parks for some exercise.

4 April 

A quiet day – it’s Saturday. Andrew made a good lunch for us with a Greek touch, much of it coming from tins, dry goods and the garden. Delicious. This evening’s meal will be leftovers from the fridge.

The big news here is that Queensland is trying to shut its borders with New South Wales. Not quite sure whether it is part of the general need to cut down on unnecessary travel or the wish to stop people travelling in Easter week when many would be on holiday and the hoards from Sydney would drive north to the Gold Coast resorts. Police road blocks are in place on the major north/south highways, causing enormous tailbacks and much frustration.

Lynn and Isabelle are doing well in their quiet isolation. The other two girls play easily with each other and Elisabeth is definitely on the mend but still not particularly photogenic.

5 April 

We have just had a BBQ with tasty burgers and sausages. Elisabeth is feeling much better today, even able to run short distances which she has not been anywhere near doing for several days.

6 April

Another working week starts and the builders and decorators working in the houses around us are out in force with their white pickups parked by the curb. The occasional large lorry rumbles past with its load of scaffolding or cement but we are not disturbed by excessive noise in any way. We will go for our walk to the park shortly as yesterday’s started so late that we came back in darkness but not before seeing the sun setting behind the city skyscrapers from the top of our hill.

Still no news about our return flights and not a great deal we can do to heed the government’s strong advice to return home ASAP. Checked our booking today and it is still showing a confirmed flight to London but notes in brackets that we will arrive in KL from Brisbane. If only we knew how! Well, as the locals say here “ no worries, mate”, we are not likely to become a burden on the Australian authorities and will bide our time until an alternative route home is found.