Perth Visit, Global Pandemic

[tcpip]

It's the wee hours and I'm doing an all-nighter in preparation to catch a stupid o'clock flight from Perth to Melbourne. I've spent the past few days in The Western Lands on accounts of caseopaya's brother having a decadal birthday, and made what I can of this flying visit. They have, as always, been superb hosts and it has been quite a wonderful few days. The birthday dinner was held at Nobu Japanese, highly regarded among those who have a preference for such cuisine, and the following evening was the party proper where I engaged in quite a few pleasant conversations, of which I must place an indirect association with The Long Dog, a favourite haunt in Dunedin, as quite remarkable. On Sunday I managed to arrange at very short notice a gathering of quite a number of people at The Dome in Maylands, which really is a superb old building with reasonable fare. It was quite a delight to see Lorna W., whom due to family commitments has had to miss a couple of previous events on my Perth visits, and it was also an opportunity to deliver several copies of Papers & Paychecks and Cow-Orkers in the Scary Devil Monastery to previous Kickstarter backers. On that note I have also managed to finish the last three thousand words for RPG Review 45, and will do the layout and notification tomorrow, just in time to go to see Color Out Of Space at The Astor on Thursday.

I rather suspect that will be last hurrah in terms of social activities for quite a while. Sadly Australia's response to the global pandemic that is COVID-19 is dangerously inadequate ("go late, go half-measures, go to Hillsong" as a former Prime Minister put it). The best policies (a fourteen-day self-isolation for all overseas visitors) being those following in New Zealand's lead. At the moment however, we're on a very sharp incline on infections, with the numbers doubling every couple of days. Current expectations is somewhere between 20 to 60 percent of the population infected, with 50,000 to 150,000 deaths, depending on measures taken. I suspect the measures will not be adequate enough, or quick enough for FlatCattening The Cuve and it will be more towards the other end. Meanwhile, as a glimmer of hope, a team of researchers at the University of Queensland believe they have found a cure and are hoping to engage in clinical trials as soon as possible.

Comments

[helvetica]

<3 wishing you the best!

[tcpip]

And to you!

We're at the beginning of a war footing, I suspect that's going to be a massive disruption to everything.

Stay safe.

[warriorsavant]

I love Nobu.

[tcpip]

Not my preferred cuisine, but pretty good :)