Wednesday, January 5

 

It’s almost 8.30am and I’ve turned off the TV news; I’m seriously fed up with the doom and gloom which fills our news bulletins, and the heart-breaking scenes of cars lined up with people waiting to get a test for Covid.  I don’t see an end to it and I can only be grateful that Tassie, on the edge of the world is better placed than most other regions.

 

I can’t help thinking about the 1959 film On the Beach where the last survivors of civilisation come to Australia to escape the aftermath of a nuclear war.  It had Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner in it and its most famous scene has them embracing each other in the surf.  In that film, the Australian Government issued suicide pills and they were free!  No price gouging by retailers in those days.

 

It’s typically quiet in Longford.  When we moved here, we were worried that it might be noisy, living so close to other people. We share fences with four other units and there are two more opposite the driveway.  But, we could be the only people on the planet.  There’s not a sound, and not a movement.

 

We only know the name of one other neighbour.  Jen is a single young woman who lives in Unit One.  Unit 3 has a young single man living there but it is rare for him to be at home.  Marilyn has decided he’s a FIFO worker who only uses his unit as a base.  He leaves the TV on to deter burglars and that’s the only sign of life.

 

We sometimes see the top of the head of the woman in Unit 4 as she hangs out the washing but the fences are too high for us to make eye contact.  Again, she’s very quiet and we suspect she goes off to work each day.

 

Over the back fence is one of the original houses of the area.  It’s a long backyard which has at one time been used for growing vegetables but the occupants are now elderly and their gardening tools are rusting away in corners.  From time to time they have a family party and it’s great to hear the voices, especially of the children.

 

The other two houses, opposite us, are occupied by families.  One is sometimes a bit noisy with a couple of yappy dogs; the other is clearly Indian and the woman has the habit of hanging her colourful laundry over the fences.  I find myself collecting pegs which have fallen down on our side and throwing them back over into their yard.

 

Our little slice of Longford is nothing like the community you see depicted on shows like Call the Midwife but It suits us very well.