Bar Beach's Sue Michaelson put up some posters saying thank you to "all essential service workers".
One is at the John Hunter Hospital roundabout and the other opposite Newcastle Police Station.
"We just simply wanted to let all the essential workers know that we really do appreciate all they are doing," Sue said.
What a lovely gesture.
Lockdown Life
We wrote on Saturday about a colleague living in lockdown by himself who had made friends with his toaster.
This relationship is a bit like Tom Hanks and Wilson the volleyball in Castaway.
We reported that our colleague and the toaster had a bit of a falling out. We think it's because the toast was taking too long, but our colleague wouldn't confirm or deny this.
We took it upon ourselves to give the toaster a name. We called him Terry. Our colleague was a tad miffed at this.
Colleague: "His name is DeLonghi".
Topics: "Well, we're changing our name to Nike."
We also had an update on life in lockdown: "Day 10: DeLonghi and I pulled an all-nighter".
By all accounts, they worked out their differences. They're friends again, but both have hangovers.
Why Are We Waiting
When Eleebana's Alan Cameron waited for almost an hour for a GP appointment a few years back, he had a light-bulb moment.
He noted that if he wasn't sick at the time, he would be shortly due to the coughing and sneezing by others in the waiting room.
"It struck me that if I ordered a pizza or a battery from the NRMA, an app would inform me in time increments when I would receive the order," he said.
"But I had to wait an excessive time in a decidedly unhealthy area for medical treatment."
Alan thought at the time that GP surgeries should have apps or some kind of message service to inform people when their doctor was ready to see them.
As Alan is in his 80s and happily retired, he wasn't too keen on developing the app himself.
"On the day of their appointment, patients would receive incremental notifications on the progress of the patient list," he said.
The size of waiting rooms would be "considerably reduced" and medical practices would "flow much more freely than the current situation".
Since the coronavirus has struck, GPs have been advising patients not to wait in surgery waiting rooms. Some GPs are sending text messages to let patients know when doctors are ready to see them.
Others have been offering phone appointments. And telehealth - in which patients and doctors are linked by online video - is also happening.
Wonder if this system will remain in place after the coronavirus crisis eases?
