Isolation diaries part 16: This life-like dream

I WENT out for dinner on Friday night for the first time since March.

It wasn't a celebration of anything particular, nor was it a special meal.

But I had long said when I could, I would go out and get a parmy (that's right, it's a parmy, not a parma you weirdos) and I did.

It was highly enjoyable, and afterwards I sat down, had a beer and watched the football.

I think I needed it this week as I'm once again falling into the throes of frustration over our situation, and how some people are behaving.

Regional Victoria was ticking along nicely, days on end with no cases at all, no mystery cases in what seems like months.

And then, one person decides the rules don't apply to them, and we have a cluster in Kilmore.

If you are mad at this person, no one is going to blame you.

One can only wonder how - after seeing how one individual mistake can blow up into the second wave as we have seen in our never-ending lockdown - someone could still be so selfish.

As a result, things are again stagnant.

The zone statewide seems to be 10-15 new cases a day.

In the peak of the second wave, we would have loved nothing more than to see case numbers like this.

But having had multiple days in recent weeks where the numbers were under 10 - quite regularly in fact - people are starting to get frustrated again.

There was a belief among us that things would be going even better by now.

Were we right to think that?

Maybe not.

Dan (Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews) kept saying things were ahead of schedule, maybe we were naïve to think we would stay there forever.

But, as a result of how quickly it moved to start, now the frustration has arrived.

People in Melbourne are peeved that things aren't moving fast enough in the city.

The regions are annoyed the city is holding us back.

The rest of the country is annoyed we got into this mess in the first place.

You're annoyed, I'm annoyed, everyone is annoyed.

And as the cases hover in their current position, it feels like the same things just keep repeating themselves.

Another day, another 10-15 cases, another announcement that things are going well, but another day of feeling like they're not.

It is beyond frustrating for all of us, and there really isn't anything we can do about the matter.

We have no choice - quite literally for us in Victoria - but to wait it out.

So we wait, and we wonder what's next.

Or, more so, when is next.

ISOLATION DIARIES

Isolation diaries part 15: and now we wait

Isolation diaries part 14: The end of the line

Isolation diaries part 13: It’s a beautiful day

Isolation diaries part 12: A road to somewhere, and a penguin parade

Isolation diaries part 11: old friends, bookends

Isolation diaries part 10: baby steps

Isolation diaries part nine: homeward bound

Isolation diaries part eight: hitting the books

Isolation diaries part seven: COVID-free, lockdown bound

Isolation diaries part six: How a runny nose led to a COVID-19 test

Isolation diaries part five: Greetings from Echuca

Isolation diaries part four: what a Tangled web I weave

Isolation diaries part three: Free as a curve-flattening bird

Isolation diaries part two: one week down

Isolation diaries part one: greetings from Tasmania