Here We Go Again...
As of today, all of the Greater Sydney area & some outlying regions, are in lockdown, due to the Delta variant of the Plague spreading like... well, the Plague
It started about a week ago, with an airport driver infected by an aircrew he was, ironically, delivering into quarantine... he then went to a bunch of places in the eastern suburbs - an area notoriously reluctant to social-distance - & thanks to the Delta strain's higher contagion ability, it's spread to just about every part of town, with 2 locations in my northern beaches area listed as contagion sites... neither L-SP, nor myself have been to either of them. I had a Covid test a few days ago, when it looked like it was scaling up, just so I could reassure people I was 'clear' when I go into their houses for flooring measures etc... 2 days ago, masks indoors became mandatory, yesterday the eastern suburbs went into lockdown & today, the rest of the city has joined them
I'm not sure what it means for my work... Last year, it didn't affect my actual job, as flooring is linked to the building industry & so was considered 'essential'. It did lead to a 25% reduction in trade though, but at least I was getting paid regardless. This time, as a self-employed 'sole trader', if the clients dry up, so does my weekly invoice!!! The Federal government is no longer paying the 'JobKeeper' allowance, so FIIK (Buggered If I Know) where the money will come from...
You would think that we would have learned from the last lockdown that it doesn't automatically mean we're going to shit ourselves a whole lot more, but no...
Long-Suffering Partner took this photo today, in the aisle where the toilet paper (normally!!) is, alongside the disinfectant sprays & other cleaning products... The supermarket was full of the, by now, usual panic buyers with overloaded trolleys - mostly because of the 3 jumbo packs of bog roll in there - & boy, were the Boomers getting testy... obviously due to their sudden incontinence...
If I have to panic-buy anything in the coming days, it will probably be loaves of bread & jars of Vegemite, as that's all I'll be able to afford for my 3 square meals, when my work dials down...