By akamau on December 30, 2020 ( Leave a comment )

Year 2020 Review: From my Perspective

2020 is the year that shock the world and it has not been easy for many of us. The year 2020 will be remembered as the Coronavirus year known as COVID-19 era. Like the Spanish Flu, also known as the 1918 flu pandemic was deadly, lasting from February 1918 to April 1920. It had infected 500 million people – about a third of the world’s population at the time, in four successive waves. The death toll estimated to have kill somewhere between 17 to 50 million people, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. Similary, today, Covid-19 infection and death toll is continiuing to rise and many of us will ever know when it will end and is the deadliest pandemic in our era

The month of March, will be the month that I will never forget. It was the last day that I went to work and few days before life as we have known it had dramatically changed. The rapid shut-down of our country, state and city began. The world began shortly thereafter as the venomous reach of the coronavirus pandemic struck Australia like the forest burning in New South Wales and Queensland states totally wiping out many farmlands and residential areas. This devastating effect was just the begining. The worst was yet to come unexpectly and suddenly that brought the world to its knees – the Coronavirus pandemic.

The SHUT-DOWN of International borders, lead to international flights cancelled globally. When Countries shut-down, lead to borders closed to each state. When the Cities locked-down, lead to no go zone outside our own home. With all the shut downs of international borders, country and city lock-downs lead to many businesses shutting-down. This lead to many people, once employed became unemployed overnight, unexpectly and suddenly. This created confusion and uncertainty on the lives of the people. Many called upon the government for help and the Government scramble to maintain calm and assurance to the very people that voted for them to be in power on how we will come through this pandemic and hard times we are facing. Grocery shops began to struggle to maintain stock levels, leading to many customers brawling over minor things. Many protest took place around many areas from regional areas to cities fighting for justice and recognition – Black Lives Matters (BLM). It was chaotic times like the world was coming to an end.

Pictures below shows deserted malls, restaurants, walkways and boardwalks during the pandemic

Never in our wildest dreams that we would have anticipated or even imagined such a devastating, life-changing global pandemic would take place and rock the world. To live through this, our hearts were broken. To see all this, it was devastating and traumatizing on so many levels that is hard to explain. It was frightening experience and worrying moments for us. Many of us questioned ourselves, how can we get out of this or how we needed to get out of this. We all scrambled for answers and solutions, was impossible for us. We all glued our attention to television, watching the news what was happening in our country and globally. We all wondered what was happening to our lives and when on earth our lives will ever be the same again. Many times, we all wondered, we have been thrown into an alien world that we do not understand or want to be part of. But… here we are. As we slowly began to come to terms with this pandemic and began to accept our unsettled lives in the midst of the pandemic, second wave begins to creep in. More interstate borders closed, surburbs lock-down in hot-spot areas and total restrictions of movement took place. When I look back and admit that we spent an entire year of our life wearing a mask when out in public, social distancing, constant us of sanitise, working at home, cooped up in our house and avoiding all the people we love, not traveling and avoiding people as much as possible. With not doing much of anything outside of the home, we focused on our daily walks, working in the garden, restoring and cleaning at home.

Follow Instructions Lifestyle

We went from being a free nation to being told we couldn’t go to work, couldn’t go to school, couldn’t go to church, couldn’t go to our grandma’s house, couldn’t pay respects to a loved one through a funeral… and when we were allowed to do these things, we were told how long we could be there, how far apart we have to be, what to wear, We were told to line up to enter shops as limited numbers allowed in at a time, We were told only cashless transactions accepted, We were told to follow the signs… Yes, our health matters. But we know what else matters? Family, friends, church and family vacations.

After Restriction Travel

Like many holiday-makers, we have canceled plans in all levels. We tried to completely rearranged my life and tried to settle into the new ‘normal’. When travel restrictions began to ease from total lock-down to travel within 50 kilometre radius, I began to explore some of Far North Queenslands tourism iconic destinations. I had road trips to Chilagoe Caves and Undara Lave Tubes. I then, visited Townsville recently, when it was feasible. Some of the best moments for 2020 was taking time to visit Port Douglas and Daintree region and the Atherton Tablelands with friends and work colleagues. These were the best highlights for me as we ventured out after coronavirus restrictions.

With all this, we have gone through for the last 12 months, I reflect on the year and thank God that we have survived and continue to live a “caution way of lifestyle”. Our lives have changed. I hope that year 2021 and beyond will be the year that we will avoid shut-down and mask-free.