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The wonderful upsides of social isolation Phillip Frazer
canals of Venice may be fake news, but Venetians can see jellyfish where, just weeks ago, there was nothing but liquid crud. And consider the more subtle changes; little
liberations brought on by isolating and distancing. It’s great to be free to see no one and do nothing! The freedom to meet each day with no obligations of the leave-home sort.
Freedom to do all the things, or at least some, that you’ve been meaning to do for decades: such as sort the photos, the recipes, underwear, boxes of screws and bolts, almost empty bottles of cleaning fluids – and everything else you can sort. Freedom not to do things like planning every day of that 21-day holiday in Central America or Scandinavia. The urges that emerge in isolation, like mushrooms that grow in the dark, are also fascinating. There’s the urge (or is it a need?) to expose, reveal, confess, and empathise out in the open – to weep, and admit to weeping, on the Facebook posts of all your friends. There’s also the phenomenon of people posting photos of themselves as beguiling youths, or examples of former brilliance in gymnastics, or playing obscure instruments, or being young and frightened by explosions of weltschmerz (which is
of view, having our increasingly pro-development mayor as the sole arbiter of development applications would have been a wonderful bonus. Then again, with the currently unfavourable prospects of the tourism industry, the boom seems to have been nipped in the bud. Perhaps the mayor could act in a way consistent with his new responsibilities, by explaining how and why closing car parks reduces the
risk of COVID-19 infection? Perhaps he could also explain why swimming pools are closed when chlorine kills all living things? Finally, would it challenge your resources too much to install a soap dispenser in the public loo at Bangalow,
in keeping with the ‘wash your hands’ routine for which you are now the local representative. That’s right, you wanted to be emperor, but ended up a janitor. Fast Buck$ Coorabell
O
ne of the terrible things about our global virus-mania is the endless recitations on tele, online, and everywhere else about where we’re no longer allowed to go (of all the terrible things!). But how about the wonderful things it has done to us, or for us? Like draining the swamp known as our atmosphere from the billions of cars, trucks, buses, planes, trains, and electricity-generating power plants, and factories all over the planet – all running at half-pace since we’ve been obliged to stop running so much. From downtown Los Angeles to the Himalayas (as seen from India for the first time in living memory) the air is clearer. The waterways too are reviving since the industrial and agricultural runoffs around the globe have abated. The dolphins in the
Mayoral powers The wider community had a rare win at the last Council meeting. A majority of councillors rejected a cunning move by Council staff to give the mayor broad powers for six months in order, supposedly, to deal with the virus emergency. No doubt the Nationals, the big end of town, and the staff are disappointed that those councillors aren’t quite as gullible as thought. From the right-wing point
German for a deep sadness about the inadequacy or imperfection of the world). The urge to scream like the sweet and prim music teacher in the video – where she tinkles a few bars into a sugary tune on her ukelele, lifts her head to sing, and then screams, like the woman in Munch’s painting (or the fat cat in the version of the painting accompanying this article). That video has been watched more times than the
one in which Trump suggests we can beat this coronavirus by mainlining bleach. I keep making notes of other liberations, large and small, in our gargantuan social world, slowed down by a sub-microscopic virus, brainless, and with no more purpose than the rest of the benignly indifferent universe. Q Phillip Frazer muses on the state of things from the clear air of coorabellridge.com.
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Cryptic Clues
Quick Clues
ACROSS
ACROSS
1. Fanatic at court rejects Havana bar, evil trap (6,6) 8. Miranda, with a bloke for a couch (7) 9. Reckless race nut – a horseman! (7) 11. Narrators behind the counter? (7) 12. Chant about a cubit – it’s advertising (7) 13. Mountains, also two directions (5) 14. To make new order to raise mountains (9) 16. Sets a boundary around Murray – but it never ends! (9) 19. A long time ago, back round a spirit – but it’s only a little bit (5) 21. International organisation’s former chief journalist neutered (7) 23. Bucking about a circle (7) 24. And old coin is produced for the pope (7) 25. Notwithstanding, remove malice (7) 26. Beth confused with two fighting forces – they battle for the ashes! (3, 5,4)
1. Fanatical fan of a sport involving racquets (6,6) 8. Type of sofa or Turk (7) 9. Horse with the head of man (7) 11. Employees of a bank (7) 12. Trading, retailing (7) 13. Mountain range in South America (5) 14. Place in a different order (9) 16. Without borders (9) 19. Very small portion, especially of bread (5) 21. Neutered, without gender (7) 23. Bringing up (7) 24. Saint of Assisi (7) 25. Notwithstanding (7) 26. Fanatical English cricket fans (3,5,4)
DOWN 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Spilled the beans (7) Digits, figures(7) Scottish Island (9) Marks of approval (5) Ring shaped (7) Native of Teheran (7) DOWN Fanatical supporter of a sport 1. Told stories, embroidered around involving pigskin (8,4) the French (7) 10. Another fanatical supporter of 2. Three, five and ten anaesthetists (7) another sport involving pigskin (6,6) 3. The pub is on the house, in William 15. Definitely, guaranteed (9) Yeats’s island (9) 17. Imprisoned in a furnace with 4. Checks off parasites (5) Shadrach and Abednego (7) 5. Abolish a right, like a ring (7) 18. Automobile for hire (7) 6. Man from Persepolis: I managed 19. Less refined, cruder (7) Thorpe (7) 20. Small truck (7) 7. Walk, dance, leather: needed for 22. One who administers set portion one in pursuit of the winter game of medicine (5) (8,4) Last week’s solution N333 10. Mungo, they say; carpet weaver, T H E M E L B O U R N E C U P eavesdropper (6,6) A R C O N U O L 15. Without doubt, an idiot ruled badly N A R R O W I N G D R A M A over unknown (9) T E N L A G T Y R E D H O T S I D E S T E P 17. A thousand horrific aches around U M N A E English man deliberately burned M O S A I C E L E C T I O N by Nebuchadnezzar (7) O C C Y E L 18. Club around – 109 raised public I M P O S T O R P A S S E S vehicle (7) N O C S O E A R M A R K S R E T A I L 19. Cruder? Blimey, a bum inside (7) R I R A F F W V 20. Public supply a small truck (7) T O F F S T E R M I N A T E 22. Left over – consequently raised I I O O E R K N A S C E N T O F E V E R E S T supplier of medicine (5)
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