An Australian journalist has written a heartfelt letter to the Irish people with tips and advice on how to weather the storm of a second national coronavirus lockdown.
With Ireland now firmly back in Level Five, we’re all adjusting to a world made small again by tough new restrictions on movement and retail.
But Virginia Trioli, a journalist with ABC Melbourne – a city just about to emerge from a 15-week lockdown – has a message for the Irish people: “The sacrifice is worth it.”
As of tomorrow, Melbourne’s five million residents will emerge from a lengthy lockdown after the city recorded no new daily deaths or cases.
Trioli, who presents a morning radio show in the city, wrote movingly that “just like your mum might have told you when you came down with the measles – this is going to get worse before it gets better.
“I think you know how this goes,” she said, in an open letter addressed to Ireland as a whole.
“You have to try to find some pattern within the monotony and take joy from the clever way your community will create enchantment.”
Trioli urged us to stay away from the baking craze of lockdown mark one, and shared relatable insights about the return of Netflix binging to our lockdown lives.
And on golf courses – which have been forced to close their doors in lockdown – she wrote hilariously about the “high-profile loudmouths who feel that being denied 18 holes twice a week is the greatest infringement on their personal liberties since Julian Assange was taken away.
“They're just a different kind of human, they are,” she said.
The journalist wrote passionately: “If I was to distil all this to postcard-size, I'd say — it's worth it. The sacrifice is worth it.
“You closed down so that when you open up again, you'll have as many of your fellow citizens with you as a humane and careful society can hope to have.
“Be brave. Go on.”
