Lockdown in Italy, 5 April 2020

Originally posted on my Facebook page on 5 April

Every morning I wake to the Smartraveller email alerts from The Australian Government. I remember the first one that mentioned "a novel virus" had been discovered. At the time there was no travel advice, just a brief statement.

Since then the Smartraveller emails have grown longer, often arriving 2 to 3 times per day, and the language has become more urgent. "State of emergency", "limited capacity to provide assistance", "nationwide curfew". 

At first the alerts were all about quarantine measures for people travelling between countries, then they started warning travellers about limited commercial flight options to return home, then the long lists of countries closing their borders, and now we receive even longer lists detailing the different lockdown restrictions in different countries.

It's been a bird's eye view of history unfolding. 

In just 2 short months the stage has been wiped clean of the props from our last play. Now is the time to dream up a new story. Then we can build new props, choose our roles, practice our lines and come together to perform again. Let's write a good one. #lifeisaplay