It feels I’m now living in another world since I last wrote. The words being thrown around these days are COVID-19 and social distancing. I, and many others, have had to cancel our trips overseas. I’ve also been mandated to work from home. I suppose in a bizarre way, since I’ve been living on my own for the past 11 years, I’ve been practising a version of social distancing all this time!

Panic buying has taken hold of many people in Australia. I think I’m not kiasu (Singlish for “competitive”) enough for this world. I didn’t partake in the panic buying and now I have to depend on my current supply of toilet paper, paper towels and tissues to last me until it runs out. Hopefully by then things would have returned to a somewhat normal state and those people who have hoarded five years’ worth of those essentials would give others a chance to buy those items!

I went out for dinner earlier with a friend and we went to a mall which in normal times would have been bustling on a Friday night. Instead it was a dead town and usually packed restaurants were shutting at 7:30pm. The situation is shocking and depressing, and I don’t think this is the worst of it. I work within the investment consulting team of a multinational company and I’m getting market updates every day. The economic fallout is dire; my personal net worth has gone from little to very little. 🙁

With travel restrictions now in place in Australia, I doubt I’ll be leaving Australian borders this year. And really, a plane is the last place you would want to be at this point in time. This might be the only year where I wouldn’t be getting on a plane for the entire year! And the only year I wouldn’t be making a visit back to Singapore in the 11 years I’ve been away. My mum has also had to cancel her trip to Sydney next month.

I suppose my only consolation is that being stuck in Australia is much better than being stuck in a developing country, and that I’m not stranded somewhere else away from home. At least there is still fresh food produce to buy and there is no lockdown in Australia. At least medical facilities here are world-class. I really hope Australia doesn’t get to that stage.

This whole situation is playing out like some apocalyptic movie. It’s somewhat surreal yet everyone is caught in this big, real storm. Stay healthy and safe everyone.