And now, the quiet of the nation and the quiet of the town avenue are falling on both sides of the COVID-19 divide. The place you might be, the air of expectations, and actuality, that wraps round your shoulders has a special really feel to it. The questioning of what sound will break the silence – distant calls or shut shuddering – rises within the day like a brand new daybreak.
A checkpoint on the Calder Freeway.Credit score:The Age
At this stage, I’m nonetheless on the aspect of the lesser lockdown. If I drove just a few kilometres south down the Calder I’d enter the restricted zone, the place folks can depart residence for however 4 causes: looking for meals and provides, medical care and care-giving, train and recreation, and examine and work – if they will’t do it from residence.
The air by necessity should carry much less sound. Town and the suburbs are muted by this battle towards an enemy we can not see however in its victims. The silence is greater than the absence of sound. It’s the absence of life as we knew, and took with no consideration.
The angle of the sunshine, the depth and breadth of the sky, the repose or restlessness of the thoughts – all these merge into the quietude. The place the hustle and bustle as soon as was, now the strangeness of much less noise, and totally different rhythms, have insinuated themselves once more.