Kindly Yours

 

 The parade of comical obsessions continues. First it was with hotel quarantines. Then they moved on to no singing and no dancing. Next was a fixation with toilet paper purchases. Ah, they then were addicted to QR code scanning. Contact tracing became a competitive sport, with boasts of even a gold standard  Lockdown fever was not imagined...... Not satisfied, they penalised those who were detected 5km lingering away from home. Soon disclosure of exposure spots was deemphasised and then disappeared. Soon, it was to have proof of being "fully vaccinated" and the drive for individuals to have booster shots as soon as possible. Then the fad came to let go and be totally free. They emphasised case numbers are not important as dehumanisation continued.  Hospitals, medical staff, small businesses and frontliners were left to deal with the reality and the mess.  With opening up, it is the opera with testing proofs, validity of test results and how timely we receive them. No...

  For two years, we have complied. We took it on the chin, limiting ourselves to the kilometre distance pronounced by authorities.  We got used to face mask, even when we instinctively knew we did not breathe normally when wearing them. We made our hands dehydrated so often when we were asked to daily use hand sanitiser. People who went on the ship cruise of their life time came home to die of infections caught aboard the high seas.  Elderly people in commercially run aged care facilities -  and crowded economically challenged households - were sitting ducks as well. So many lost their livelihoods and incomes, while those who imposed public policy on the masses continued to have their pay packages protected. Small businesses and retail had to close, earning pittance in suburbs all over, like through takeaways.  The big commercial players in town prospered as discretionary monies were over spent on groceries, homewares and online purchases, to name a few. T...

 Wild boars are seen more on the streets of Hong Kong, so long dominated by densely populated humans.  We are asked to share the road, but it reminds me of we also being required to share the environment with fauna. It is also their space. The Earth moves on.  The smallest island nations are crying out for help as sea levels rise, truly threatening their essentially flat and coastal community existence.   Others find their primary assets, the bounty of the oceans, have been depleted not from their fishing activities, but by the swooping harvests of large efficient trawlers coming  from beyond their shores.  The Earth rotates on.  For public health reasons, more  disposable face masks and plastic containers have significantly risen in use since 2019.  The problem may not be in their manufacture and usage, but more in how they are disposed, choking our waterways and sealife.  The Oceans continue to move.  Disposability can be the...

Letting ourselves choose to be happy..... I can hear the pitter patter of an increasingly heavy rain downpour. Now, in the hour after sunset, nestled between the hills to the west and the ocean to the east. I choose to smell the refreshing moisture in the air. I choose to slowly unfurl at this hour to close the day. Soaking in water reinvigorates the body. I choose to anticipate the toast I am having for breakfast, uhm, tomorrow. I choose what uplifts me. I relish in getting my body break in sweat running up that hill - or soaking in the salty winds along the beach. I put my fingers to run over the bark of stately trees that stand like a sentinel of a friend looking over me - or breathe in the oxygen exuded by leaves as they make their chlorophyll. Tucked in bed, in a totally darkened space, my eyes look at the emerging stars across our Great Southern Sky. There is a lack of reflected artificial light, so the Universe up there becomes so much easier to discern and enjoy a view ...

With the arrival of another C19 mutation, Omicron, it looks like an increasing case of deja vu. Flight arrivals from the first hotspot nations are banned. There is a dearth of knowledge amongst experts, bureaucrats and politicians on how a new mutation will play out. Infections are confirmed amongst individuals who arrived from hotspot nations, but they arrived before any arrival bans. Such individuals had total freedom of movement when they visited what are now called exposure spots in the local community, before feeling unwell and testing positive. Will there be breaches at the control points of disembarkation and quarantine accommodation? Citizens and PRs of destination countries, coming from hotspot nations, are isolated for 14 days after arrival, but we are no longer told where exactly they are quarantined. The word "hotels" is no longer mentioned. The playbook in response by authorities looks amazingly familiar. After two years, there are seemingly no new ideas, ex...

  In transition between different and significant approaches in managing Covid, Singapore is at the cross roads. The journey so far for Europe is swinging from lockdowns to freedom and now back to lockdowns. No economy can endure lockdowns on and off, especially for one like Singapore, but the question is "at what price?". Here are key quotes from a televised address by the Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien-loong, to his nation on 3 October 2021. "Singapore cannot stay locked down indefinitely." "We are shifting to home recovery" "No more complicated flow charts." "Knowing what to do makes Covid not a scary disease." "Sooner or later, everyone of us will meet the virus." "Keeping connected to supply chains will help ensure Singapore's hub status." "We must ensure for Singapore's health systen and health workers, which is our last line of defence." "We must be our nation's first...