Tea With Alice Salon
Added 2021-07-05 10:23:29 +0000 UTCHallo!
Lockdown in Sydney is going well, though of course there are ups and downs. It’s fascinating the psychological impact of not being allowed to do something - how many people who otherwise are living very routine and boring and constrained lives (work, home, local cafe for a takeaway coffee) are indignant at having their liberty of movement curtailed. I have a friend who’s a gamer and might happily spend 22 hours a day in a single room during certain seasons of his life, who is very upset by the idea of ever being imprisoned.
This isn’t a suggestion of hypocrisy by the way; this is something I’m feeling myself. I guess the insight (if it can be said to be something that elevated). Having the option to do things is immensely powerful. It’s tied to all these driving things like hope and imagination and possibility and privilege.
The salon this week will be at 10pm on Tuesday in East Coast US time, which is midday on Wednesday for us east coast Australians and Not A Good Time for U.K. people. But that’s why we rotate the timezones, and maybe you’ll be awake for no good reason and need a late night cuppa. I’ll send through the passcode tomorrow and Do let me know if you have topics or questions or requests!
Topic: Tea With Alice Salon 28
Time: Jul 6, 2021 10:00 PM East Coast US
Jul 7, 2021 12:00 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83805154331?pwd=MVdqMHpCeXZxNjBFbXJZRlVaRlhhUT09
Comments
This may be an example of time making one more circumspect about past events and making them feel less enforced because the memories are just flooding back now. I had basically forgotten about all the restrictions. They feel so long ago. The entire state of Texas shut its borders in late March 2020. This was personally a big deal because my wife had gone to Tennessee in March to help her mother care for her dying grandmother, which had absolutely nothing to do with the pandemic. The trip had been planned since Christmas. Cancer took her grandmother. Texas closed their borders, and the airline canceled all their flights because that's where the hub was. The airline could only promise to get my wife to Chicago, so she very reluctantly canceled the trip back. A three week trip to help her mom turned into five-and-a-half months. So wow, had completely forgotten that started because Texas closed its borders.
Keith D. Jones
2021-07-06 03:38:09 +0000 UTCTechnically, I think we had one of those phases, too, but it was so hard to enforce that I don't think anybody ever paid attention to it. You would hear on the news about people getting caught and obnoxious about being caught, but it was rare. I don't even remember what the fine was, probably less than $1000
Keith D. Jones
2021-07-06 03:06:14 +0000 UTCWell, here you’re fined $1000 for breaking lockdown regs and it’s illegal to leave the country so definitely Not Allowed is how I’d frame it.
2021-07-05 21:53:16 +0000 UTCWelcome to my world since March 16, 2020. I set up a shared excel file at work to count the number of days back when everyone thought it would be two months tops. Today marks 476 days. I find the use of "not being allowed" interesting. It's more about "being responsible" than "not being allowed", but I definitely understand that "not being allowed" feeling.
Keith D. Jones
2021-07-05 21:16:01 +0000 UTCThat is a great picture.
Ben Ward
2021-07-05 12:31:40 +0000 UTC
