A world in solitary confinement

‎Tuesday, ‎21 ‎April ‎2020
I have some things to do on Wednesday, and couldn't face waking up at dawn to catch the early-morning shopping hour.    I used the self-checkout at one of the smaller suburban supermarkets, then went to the ATM. Since they were both touchscreens, I used my hand sanitiser freely after each encounter

DICK TRACY (1945) - Mike's movie moment
I admit it, when I saw this RKO B-movie was on You Tube, I expected a cornball cops & robbers romp.  Was I surprised when right from the first scene (a murder on a dark street) it furnished a lot of thrills in the best "film noir" style.  Way better than expected.(Director William Berke)

 ‎Saturday, ‎25 ‎April ‎2020
I have never been to the Dawn Service on Anzac Day, but this year things felt a little different.  In lieu of the usual commemorations, people were encouraged to gather in their driveways to participate.  So at 6 a.m. I walked down the front path and sat my lantern on the gatepost.  All was dark and still in my street and I stood there for a minute or two, thinking of all the people in my family - uncles, cousins and parents - who had served in the armed forces. 
Lest we forget. 

I had never thought much about my 70th birthday, but I certainly never imagined anything like 2020 if I considered it at all.  I never went through a war or the great depression, but we now have some vague idea of what life must have been like for previous generations.  But I have been encouraged by the cards, e-mails, messages and phone calls from friends wishing me a happy birthday. (And the cake that Gill & Graeme dropped off!)
Let's hope that next year we will all be together as normal.



TERMINATOR: DARK FATE (2019) 
Mike's movie moment
Having seen the first five Terminator movies, I found it startling for them to go back and make a sequel to the second in the series. Linda Hamilton and Arnie reprise their roles and Canadian actress Mackenzie Davis registers strongly as the time-travelling cyborg soldier.  This was a big noisy movie, but that's not always a bad thing.

 ‎Sunday, ‎26 ‎April ‎2020

A quiet day at home (of course).
In the evening, being a bit disgruntled with television, ate dinner and listened to an audio drama THRESHOLD, a spin off from a Doctor Who episode.    Scriptwriter Paul Finch supplies an imaginative plot but doesn't quite get to grips with the medium -- a story that relies heavily on weird noises and strange voices can often leave the audience confused as to what is actually happening


‎Tuesday, ‎28 ‎April ‎2020

Again the days fall into the familiar new rhythm.  After breakfast, one feeds the poultry, lets the cat out and listens to the Premier's daily briefing on ABC radio.  If it's a nice day, lunch in the garden and read for a few minutes on the Kindle -- today a novelette by John Russell Fearn.  Then a walk down to the old railway bridge.  No trains run on that line anymore, but I remember the days when Julie and I would walk her dogs down that way, waving at the engine drivers as they roared past, feeling a little like the main characters in THE RAILWAY CHILDREN.
Today I unloaded some feed I bought earlier in the week.  After all these weeks of staying home, it only just struck me that if I bought two bags of wheat instead of one, I would have to venture out half as often.  Slow and steady, O'Brien, slow and steady. 

 (I realize that most of my posts fall into this sort of pattern: there will be a description of the world from my viewpoint, some throwaway references to classic science-fiction or English literature, ending up with some self-deprecating humour. I see how it works, but the leopard can't change his spots.)

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‘The change is enormous, ”  John Suchet told THE GUARDIAN straight after presenting his morning radio show on Britain's Classic FM. Instead of being inside a professional radio studio, he has just been broadcasting live to the world from the spare room of his flat in east London.

“I’ve never had so many emails and texts in nine years of doing this programme. I mean, they are flooding in,” he says in amazement. “And the one phrase that most of them seem to be using is: ‘Thank you for keeping us sane.’ ”