When Pat Patt picked up her daughter Grace from Melbourne Airport on Thursday morning, she wasn’t just committing to a two-hour drive, but also 14 days of self-isolation.
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Grace, who was on holidays in South America, was able to secure a flight home, but will now be spending the next two weeks self-isolating to ensure she does not have coronavirus.
Pat Patt will be writing a column for the News every day, revealing how she’s passing the hours.
Now that the overwhelming relief at having Grace home safe is not occupying quite so much of our minds, the reality of isolation is beginning to sink in.
We are lucky, we have plenty of space and plenty to occupy ourselves with.
The hardest adjustment is doing the two-metre waltz around each other.
Grace is feeling well apart from a bit of jetlag and has been getting out in the garden to get some sunlight.
There are lots of roses that need dead-heading so she has started on them.
Although I could spend days indoors I know it isn’t a good idea so I am getting busy in the garden.
Last weekend I went to Violet Town Market and bought vegetable seedlings and seeds.
I planted the seedlings last weekend and they stand a chance of being weeded more diligently than usual, while sowing the seeds to be raised in the greenhouse will be a good job for the next few days.
With the need to get some exercise in mind I started walking around the garden at speed, but I’m not good with repetitive laps.
When I was little and had a tummy ache in the middle of the night Mum would get up to dose me with brandy, sugar and hot water (I’ve no idea what that was supposed to do and it probably explains my aversion to the smell of brandy) and then we would walk out the numbers and letters on the kitchen floor.
We have a large bare area in our backyard so last night I started on the numbers, tonight I might start on the alphabet (upper case first I think).
If this really drags on, who knows, I might be driven to spelling out song titles, or writing haiku!