Charlestown's Laurie Bowman was talking to a lady the other day about the pandemic.
"She had a bad reaction to the second dose of Pfizer. I said we need the old Vera Lynn song. When I sang it to this lady, she said 'Laurie, you'll make me cry'," he said.
Then Laurie broke out in song: "There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover, tomorrow just you wait and see". [He has a good voice, too]
He was singing the Vera Lynn song, The White Cliffs of Dover. Vera had a top 10 hit with the song in 1942, during World War II. It's about hopes for a return to peacetime.
Laurie was born in 1937, so lived through the war years as a youngster. His dad served in the Pacific for 3.5 years.
He can see parallels between the pandemic and those war years.
"We were living in peacetime up until COVID hit. Young people were growing up with everything," he said.
"Now it's just like the old war years. People want their own way, they want to do this and that. But we have to make sacrifices. Sooner or later we'll get back to peacetime.
"Geez, I'm sounding like an old bloke, aren't I?" [Nah, you're spot on, Laurie]
He wonders whether any poets might be able to write some Hunter-based lyrics to Vera's song.
"I couldn't think of anywhere in the Hunter that rhymes with over," he said.
Here's some of the lyrics:
There'll be bluebirds over
The white cliffs of Dover
Tomorrow, just you wait and see
There'll be love and laughter
And peace ever after
Tomorrow, when the world is free.
The shepherd will tend his sheep
The valley will bloom again
And Jimmy will go to sleep
In his own little room again.
Vaccination Slogan
Laurie Bowman also has a pandemic slogan for us: "Get the vaccination and get the vacation."
And wouldn't a vacation be nice, hey.
Lockdown or Mockdown
We recently mentioned TV chef Adam Liaw in Topics for his cheeky suggestion that Newcastle should host the Australian grand prix when Melbourne cancelled it. Of course, that was before Newcastle went into lockdown. On Friday, Adam was back on Twitter, reacting to those who reckon NSW isn't in lockdown so much as mockdown.
Adam posted this: "I know lockdown in NSW is hard, but it's lovely that there are so many people trying to keep our spirits up by telling us we're not really in lockdown."
Chris McLay replied: "Worse than being told you've got Stockholm syndrome for supporting being in lockdown?" Michael Ryan replied: "Anybody done the Crocodile Dundee 'that's not a lockdown' meme yet? Happy to help". Then this: "If it's not Melbourne 2020 lockdown, it's just sparkling stay at home orders."
