Isolation helps us appreciate what we have

SHE smiled at us with eyes so wise

Like the early glow of a tropical sunrise, “Your life has changed” she said with a grin

And now your wallet is somewhat thin. You can’t afford Netflix or your favourite wines

But outside the screen door, the sun still shines,

Well I’ve seen the Depression and days so dark

That I’ve been too frightened to walk in the park.

Yet you can still stroll on a glorious beach Thinking these problems are out of reach, We thought it too, but we couldn’t ignore When the Second World War came to our door.

Simple things in life, the most wonderful of all

Walking the beach or kicking a ball,

Play with the dog, go fly a kite

Waking up early for the day’s first light … I know its hard, this isolation

Perhaps you could see it as “Illumination”.

Maybe we could learn from years gone by and revive those gloriously unruly silly times!

We had very little in the early years of our great city, we had each other, we looked more at the local fun and inclusive things to do. We had our Brown Water classic on Ross

Creek (not Mount St John, pooooo), the many local festivals, like my Festival Of The Wind for the littler of kids, teaching them to fly kites, the Birdman Rally, all cheap and safe …

Well not the Brown Water classic, that was anything but safe, if you survived the possible sinking of your questionable craft, it was the vegies thrown from George Roberts Bridge that would get you, so no that wasn’t safe at all.

Nor was the Birdman Rally for that matter, though at the moment that would be one of the only “man” things that are flying.

This will be a time where we look after each other, both in business and in life. We did it then and we can again, I reckon. Why not a Magnetic Magical Mystery Tour, which I did more than 30 mango seasons ago, where we all jumped on a Hayles Ark, met Nippy Nell the open bus, and off we went for a jolly around the island.

We were robbed by highwaymen looking remarkably like Bluey Hyde from Horse Shoe Ranch, and even got picked up by the coppers, sirens and all, previously arranged of course, and many other most enjoyable activities (and highly irregular by workplace health and safety standards) along the way.

It gave us a taste of just how sensational we have it here, and maybe even cheaper than a journey further south.

From Mungala Station to the Mingela pub, so much here, and as we climb out of this mess in time, let’s go local.

Paradise is indeed outside our fly wire screen, perhaps we will enjoy, Illumination.

Happy days. Ooroo!