I am 95, have had several bouts of cancer and was in hospital with pneumonia early this year. Therefore I am in the cohort that is particularly susceptible and while at my age I am not planning too far ahead, I would prefer to get through this difficult time.
I was not worrying too much but I live with my son, his wife and 3 children, all of whom are working and were concerned that they might bring the virus home.
The family took over and arranged that I spend time with others of my family who live in the country and who could provide social isolation. So for the last few weeks I have felt that I was playing pass the parcel with me as the parcel.
I have spent a few weeks at the Victorian surf coast. While there I have done exercises, following classes on the internet for over 60’s, done some walking and read 8 books. I am now living with another daughter at Somers and following the guidelines for those in isolation.
In Australia we are lucky. We have excellent epidemiologists helping the government. We are also lucky in that we are now a wealthy country.
During the Depression there was no Jobkeeper or Jobseeker. We received what we called the Susso which was about a pound a week. We grew our own veggies. Had fruit trees. And only ate the cheap offcuts of meat like tripe or tongue.
Some people suffered badly. I remember kids at school in winter in shorts and shirt, no shoes or jumper, living in humpies. I was lucky as my mother was a good knitter and we always had warm clothing.
There was no Houseparty around back then. We didn’t have many people to visit because we were too poor to feed them. But as kids we’d play cricket if we could find a ball. We’d play footy with newspaper wrapped up with string.
I am looking forward to the restrictions being lifted so that I can resume my usual life such as playing bridge and socialising with my family.
Thanks very much to@jack_arundelfor taking the time to share your story. If you'd like to see more of him he has an instagram account that you can follow here
