I'm not diminishing the gravity of the Covid crisis at all, but it's human nature to find a laugh in even the most dire of circumstances. Cass and I have been fascinated by the emerging labels around assistance given to people during the crisis: it seems that even extra funds given by governments need to have jingly catchphrases and quick media bites these days. The most obvious examples are the government assistance programs of Jobkeeper and Jobseeker, along with the obliquely rhyming, Jobmaker. All of these have merit, and actually describe quite well what they are seeking to achieve. We've wondered, however, if the government advertising gurus could go even further.

How about Jobreaper? It could refer to those part time workers who have scored a bonanza of work during the pandemic in those areas of the economy that have seen a notable uptick, like the gig economy, delivery and takeaway etc. Those folk who have embraced the lockdown as a chance to leapfrog others at work into higher positions due to their ability to keep working, while others are hampered by restrictions or commitments could be Jobcreepers. Much like a teabag in a cup, how about those who keep ties to their employers even if they're not tied officially to them by Jobkeeper: Jobsteepers perhaps? Job-beepers could be going backwards in their careers like a reversing truck, Jobdeepers are doubling down at work and being twice as productive working from home, while Jobleapers are cheering the loudest of them all! We've decided that the most accurate description for our current situation, leaving paid employment of our own accord at the time of our choosing, could be suitably labelled Jobleaper. We're lucky to be in this position in these very uncertain times. 

A quick glance at the above photos gives a slightly skewed snapshot of our activities of late. We've had various meals with Cassy's parents along with a country luncheon with Kristin for her birthday, yet have mainly confined ourselves to our daily walk of wonder along the Bather's Way and methodically, if slowly, sorting out our day to day lives. We've had to attend to many long neglected matters, including building and apartment concerns that we've had for many years, but have been unable to fix satisfactorily due to the fact that we didn't live here, and we couldn't get people to deputise for the myriad duties that have subsequently cropped up!

We've had tradesmen and deliveries and commitments many days, each of the tasks fairly small, but requiring our attendance and diligence. Quotes and jobs have been sourced, adjusted and supervised. We're starting to get on top of our apartment unpacking, but tell-tale sheets and dustcovers still drape across artworks stacked against walls and unpacked boxes lurk threateningly in dark cupboards! We'll get there: we've just made a pact not to get too frantic about these things and let them be a slow burn. The chaos in the basement carpark space is not even worthy of mention here, lest my OCD tendencies start really kicking in!

We've read a few books lately. Cass read The Nickel Boys and rated it an A-, which is fairly high in her discerning scale! She's tackling Hilary Mantel's quirky Wolf Hall at the moment and I'll await her verdict upon completion. I read The Hunted, an Australian thriller by Gabriel Bergmoser, after reading it had elements of Michael Connelly and Lee Child. Let's just say, it didn't, and leave it at that!

We're going to watch the Knights play St. George today in the last home game of the season....Go the Knights!

 

After a stint of indecision and procrastination, then more vacillation, and ending with an eye for experimentation, I've come to the tentative conclusion that I'll continue to post entries on this blog. Some members of our immediate family have enjoyed reading it, and many of our friends around the world check in from time to time, so we'll continue for the time being. albeit in a less timetabled structure, which suitably mirrors our less structured lives.

In a strange foreshadowing of nearly twenty years hence, I decided to claim the URL "casandavid", an exact amalgam of our names, to head up this blog rather than the nickname of the blog, "Taipei Life". As it will now, for the foreseeable future at least, be "Newcastle Life", that decision has worked quite well.

Our transition to a post working reality has been a strange one to say the least. As previously described on these pages, the apocalyptic scenes in Taipei's normally bustling international airport, the police and army personnel locking us down for two weeks quarantine, and the subsequent release into a Covid-19 locked-down world were quite confronting. What has occurred in the two and a half months since then has been a whirlwind of mixed emotions and bursts of frantic action, interspersed by some of the most beatific calm we've ever experienced! Confused? Let me try to explain...

The shock of our shipping arriving in lightning fast time and in horrific volume was our first hurdle. Was that shipping container sent on a jet boat?! The shippers beat all previous records and the 54 boxes were on our doorstep before we knew it (yes, despite weeks of culling and throwing, there were still 54 boxes, many containing items of questionable quality!). Two dining chairs had cracked legs, but otherwise, everything arrived unscathed. When the un-packers departed, we were confronted by room after room of paintings, clothing and stuff that somehow we'd deemed essential to our new lives in Australia! To be fair on ourselves, we'd been forced onto an early flight, so we'd made some necessary decisions to ship some items and "sort them out on the other end". Here, somehow, and largely thanks to Cassy's calmness in the face of adversity, we managed to squirrel a lot of items away, at least to have what resembled a clean living space in the front area of our apartment!

On top of the shipping arrival, we were variously discombobulated and confused by being back in Australia. The notifying of change of address to dozens of companies and suppliers took weeks, we didn't know how to use our various bankcards and the engaging of internet and phone services was bamboozling. We'd become very Taiwanese: I'd become used to people being very forgiving of my rudimentary Mandarin and falling over themselves to assist. Here people expected you to be concise, knowledgeable and fluent: what's that all about?(!) It was also awkward (and continues to be) to see family and friends. We'd been teaching for months in masks, but it was purely precautionary in Taiwan: we were operating on the mildest of restrictions and didn't contemplate not meeting up with friends and colleagues. Back home in Australia, we became all too aware of the dangers confronting the elderly or compromised, of whom there are many in our circle of family and friends. This realisation has meant, like everyone else, a restricted foray into social gatherings of any sort, large or small, and an inability to see those people close to us, or those we want to re-connect with.

On the other hand, when we can wrest our minds away from thoughts of the pandemic, we have luxuriated in the most blissful of moments during the past couple of months, none more so than in the few weeks since our ex-colleagues returned to work for the start of another hectic school year. On the first days, we'd remind ourselves of what we'd normally be doing back in the beginning days of the school year at certain random times of the day. A flood of euphoria enveloped us, knowing that not just this day, but every day in the future would be timetabled by us, and us alone. We also had flickers of nostalgia: we really loved our jobs, and in some ways we felt guilty giving up such positions: it was a teaching utopia! Those tiny flickers were immediately obscured when we recalled the daily 5.30 a.m wake-ups and the hundreds and hundreds of essays and speeches and poems and paragraphs and the endless, mind-numbing grading and meetings and discussions....ahhhh!! Enough! So, the flickering embers of nostalgia were very easily extinguished!

We're not sure what the future holds, and I know we're not alone in this thought. For now, and as all our regular lives balance on a gossamer thread, we're happy hunkering down, enjoying the sun and the ocean on our daily 6 km walk, and slowly sorting out our domestic chores as well as the occasional visits to our parents. Oh, just a final thought. We've also been wallowing in rubbish we normally wouldn't watch on TV: who would know that the local TV news could be such compelling viewing?! After nearly two decades away, we're finding Australian social pastimes (and mores) quite fascinating and entertaining, and local TV is a great source for both. Our fascination is slowly waning, however: apparently there is a lot happening in the rest of the world, yet it barely gets a look in!

Thanks for re-connecting....I don't envisage posting with the religious regularity I did previously, but I'll get into some sort of vague pattern! Photos, just a few, of our time back so far....

Oh (again), and after endless months of not updating our reading, I'll try to do a better job from now on. Cass has read hundreds of titles since my last update, but they'll just disappear into the ether, I'm afraid! She is reading Lionel Shriver's The Motion of the Body through Space and I'm reading The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. It won the Pulitzer this year, but seems to me an insipid follow-up to the more impressive, The Underground Railway.