Diary of a family in quarantine #15

With pandemic restrictions now easing, this is the last column by Smiths Beach’s Lisa McLure, who says her family are now ready to take off in their van for school holidays. “I don’t care where we go, even if it’s Woolies’ car park.”

The Advertiser would like, once again, to thank Lisa, husband Tim and kids Angus and Evie for taking part in this weekly column during both the first and second lockdown, and as much as we love hearing her news and views, compassion, humour and honesty, we hope this will be the last lockdown lowdown.

“When the government made the announcement that regional Victoria was coming out of full lockdown I must admit I was a bit nervous.

After the first lockdown, it seemed we went from zero to a million, people just slotted back into their old lives. But this time it seems people have found a new normal, socially distancing, wearing masks, hand hygiene.

I started my outdoor personal training classes last week, because we’re allowed to do small groups and I’ve taken on a lot of new clients. I’ve not even advertised, but people are just keen to get exercising, especially since gyms – including my studio – will be among the last to open, in late November most likely.

The vibe in the group of six in my first class was fantastic. Having the music on, bouncing off each other, everyone smiling, gee it was nice. Throughout it all they kept a distance and cleaned everything, because that’s what we all accept we need to do now.

It feels like this is it, we’ve got it under control, we know what to do, take small steps carefully. It’s all being done better, and lockdown seems to have worked. Also we’ve learnt from last time – just because we want the virus to be gone doesn’t mean it actually is gone.

People say the Premier has made decisions for us to be in this position of lockdown, but it’s not just him. It’s a global pandemic and there’s entire government departments attempting to deal with this.

I have friends who run accommodation businesses on the island and for them, it’s like a veil of relief has been lifted, just to be able to take customers again from regional Victoria.

It has been tough for them, but they’ve got through with government assistance, and they’ve taken the time to get out on social media, paint, renovate, garden, working on steps to move forward.

I’ll be a bit nervous when Melbourne opens up and people start coming down, mainly because last time they came in hordes, shoulder to shoulder in cafes and supermarkets, and didn’t seem to care that this is our home and we’d been working hard to keep the pandemic away.

I think this time round, coming out of lockdown, we all get it and so I think we really need to be compassionate when they come here. Tim says as long as they all do the right thing, he’ll be fine.

Melburnians have been locked up in suburbs, with most 5km radius areas not near a beach or even a park. These people have been desperate, whereas we’ve had our lockdown on this beautiful island.

It’s not like it’s our island, we don’t have ownership, we’re not the traditional owners.

All the holiday homes around us in Smiths Beach have been empty the whole time. I’m going to leave a welcome back care pack on their doorsteps – a bottle of wine and chocolates. They will all be hanging out to come here.

Definitely there have been people down here living in their holiday homes, though.

I’ve tried not to let it get to me. If I was in their position, would I be trying to think of excuses to be here? What would I do if I was in their position and owned a holiday house in this beautiful area?

I think we all have to remember to be kind when Melbourne opens up.

The kids will both be going back to Cowes Primary on the Tuesday after school holidays. The school is taking a softly-softly approach with the kids, assessing where they’re up to – instead of where they should be – and going with the majority.

The friends who have been staying with us left about two weeks ago because they were offered a small window to get on a plane to Sydney.

For now, though, I’m a bit doped up on pain killers because I tripped over a kettle bell and injured my back. It wasn’t even a real exercise injury. So I can’t run. I’m throwing myself into making everyone else ok again, because I can’t do anything for me.

I went to the psychologist, who I see every six weeks, and we talked about guilt: the fact I find it hard to let myself rest.

Too often I’m cuddling the kids and thinking I need to do the washing or clean up, and when I end up washing or cleaning up, I wish I was cuddling the kids.

So I’m slowly learning to stop and let myself be in the moment, to enjoy it, rather than all the shoulds and musts.

And if I drift off into shoulds and musts, then I bring myself back to the moment. Just enjoying now.”

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