Unbelievable actually – what’s been happening the last while. Unprecedented in our time!

“Things have Changed” :    Strange that Bob Dylan recorded that song for the Oscars in Sydney Australia! We also were in that place a few days ago, “Well Dressed …Waiting on the Last Train”! We beheld beautiful Sydney and its Bay from the Bay – anchored there for what seemed like an eternity. We looked at a city and a country we had never been to previously and soon realised, we could not now either. If we are allowed to dock and disembark – it is from the Ship in the Port, straight to the Airport.

In my last blog – written on Friday 13^th March 2020 I wrote that “everything considered, despite the Bang-ups and Hang-ups, we are not seriously considering (returning home!) right now”!  On Friday 20^th March, one week later we were back in Cape Town in self isolation at our home in Alamein Road Milnerton.

A new itinerary had been offered to us: As Asia and the Middle East were closing up (or is it down?) and Europe was still some time away, the new route would take us around Africa to Europe. Did we want to do that or leave the cruise? We have spent some time in Africa! Time in Australia appealed – with family and friends on their home soil and travelling around the country. Perhaps also to New Zealand….

“Standing on the gallows with my head in the nooose. Anytime now I’m expecting all hell to break loose. People are crazy, times are strange, I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range. I used to care  – but things have changed.”

In hindsight, only a few days later, to think that we were contemplating these things is crazy. New Zealand closed and then fast paced lock down developments in Australia. It became clear that the right thing to do – and only real choice under the circumstances, was to fly home. But would we be allowed to dock the ship and disembark? And would the planes still fly?!

“The next 60 seconds can be like an eternity”

Things happened pretty quickly after we left Port Vila in Vanuatu. I wrote in the blog of 13^th March that: “Tomorrow and the day after promise to be further special Vanuatu experiences, at Champagne Beach and Pentecost Island ……” Then the Captain announced that Champagne Beach had just closed to visitors, there was a cyclone behind us that we must move ahead of, and we are now heading straight for Brisbane Australia – a port not on the itinerary but closer to us than Sydney. The unspoken concern was that Australia may not let us in  – and then what?! 

After travelling through rough seas for a few days, pretty much also the state of our minds!, we arrived in Sydney bay (Brisbane had fallen away by then!) quite early on Tuesday 17^th March. Incredibly beautiful – Sydney Bridge, the Opera House, the 360 degree view of Bay, suburbs, high rises and the multitude of boats and yachts all around. So near and so far!  Out in the Bay for a couple of days before docking. Not allowed ashore! At last the tickets came through and finally, early Friday morning, we headed to the airport and flew out beating the lock down by … not quite sure how much!

“I used to care but things have changed” sticks in the throat! Now that all humanity is focused on the same issue and our interconnectedness become more patently clear than ever before, now surely is the time for caring!! 

Yesterday saw a huge virtual demonstration in Israel: “Fighting for our home, from home”: Over half a million Israeli’s calling for democracy to not be undermined through the pretext of Corona Virus and a Prime Minister who conflates national, political and personal interests.  That is caring!  While fear has gripped humanity accompanied by self-preservation and personal interest responses, who hasn’t experienced small and large acts of care, concern and compassion the last few days? We were relieved to learn that Silversea, our Cruise Company, had chartered a plane to the Philippines for its over 200 employees from that Country. They had been so nervous about how to get home – after normal flights were cancelled. In each interaction and personal story: How will I get home? How will I earn a living? I won’t easily forget the relief on our housekeeper Wie’s face, when he told me that they had somehow managed to get him a ticket home to China. All over  – no work on the horizon and people frightened. Concerned about their families and their survival. So now is a time for reaching out, for compassion, for caring….

As Sheryl and I unpack and contemplate our next steps and As humanity faces the reality of the different, new world order, I am once again inspired by Tennyson’s Ulysses:  “tho’  We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”.

Written by Raymond

Quotes from: “Things have Changed” by Bob Dylan and Tennyson’s: Ulysses. Suggest reading the lyrics of “Things have Changed” All the powerful one liners, within the context of Corona, not limited to: “All the Truth in the World adds up to one Big Lie” and “I hurt easy, I just don’t show it You can hurt someone and not even know it”.