You know when you leave things too long – like calling up a special friend or wanting to make an art or craft piece that you never quite get around to doing – and you kind of feel a bit guilty for not taking action, well that’s the feeling I have, regarding posting here on my blog. It has really been just too long, and it seemed like that the longer I left it and didn’t post, the more confronting it was to get back in the saddle.

Well, I’ve found the courage and I’m in the saddle…writing this now…

It has indeed been close to 5 years, that’s FIVE years! since I’ve published a post here. I wrote a couple of draft posts in that time, but never published them.

I guess I had this long hiatus for more than one reason, and not the least of which is that Life has been extremely busy and demanding for me these past few years, to the extent that I deprived myself of sleep for a long time. So I had to leave some things aside and accept that I can’t always do everything I want, when I want. Sometimes you just have to surrender for a bit. Also, during the last five years, so many more changes and developments have been going on in Bondi, which I’ve found a little overwhelming, and just needed some time to process everything. I think I’ve processed enough for now. Which brings me to this post…

Sometimes, in order for someone to take action on something that they need to do, it takes for a crisis to happen, to motivate the action. Maybe this is what is going on for me right now (see, I’m still processing…)

We are in a crisis at the moment. ‘We’ being not just Bondi, not just Sydney or NSW or Australia, but the whole world. This COVID-19 / corona virus pandemic has been the biggest game changer that most of us have ever seen in our entire lives, and it has literally just very quickly descended upon our world and is causing a huge disruption in all facets of our everyday lives.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny, 28degree Sunday afternoon in Bondi. Normally, the beach and Campbell Parade would have been packed. But not yesterday. The beach itself was completely empty. This is because about 24 hours prior, Bondi Beach was officially closed by the authorities. It is still closed and will remain closed indefinitely. This is the first time that an indefinite closure of the beach has been enforced since World War II. The closure was a reaction to the lack of adherence by beach goers, to the social distancing rules that the authorities set up, in order to curb the spread of the virus. The behaviour of some beach goers seemed to disregard this directive, and has potentially put many people’s lives at risk. Thus the decision was made to close access to the beach and water. This public health order gives NSW Police law enforcement powers. Breaching the closure could land you in jail for 6 months or an $11,000 fine. As our politicians keep saying, these are ”unprecedented times.”