I Think They're Longing To Be Free
They are partial to that partial light.
The population was as confused, anxious, terrified even, as they had ever been.
The supply chains were breaking down.
The blizzard of government diktats grew worse, more strangulating, more confusing. Western Australia remained cut off from the rest of the country; already an island nation, more deeply divided than ever before, each state was already well on the way to becoming its own principality. The vaxxed, the unvaxxed, the believers, the sceptics; the supreme arrogance and indifference of those who had completely stuffed the country.
Class riven. Ethnically riven. Nothing the government did was of any assistance to the ordinary person; and ultimately a government which does nothing but generate complexity and difficulty in the lives of the citizenry will collapse.
Partial to that partial light, as Nick Cave had put it, that evocation of the spirit Ghosteen, there were times when he could feel them moving around him, and others when he ignored him, or they were far off. The warship had landed on this remarkably complex battlefield. Everything was circular. Everything was crying out.
While the Watchers on the Watch wavered between self righteousness, curiosity, boredom and self-interest, he too wavered on the precipice of enlightenment or flinging himself determinedly into the mud; never to be seen again, never to be haunted, never to fulfil his destiny, to die early and unhealthy; or to live a long, productive, and what was left of it, happy life.
Tired, tormented if you will, by the social isolation, Old Alex stepped out on to a different field, and moved graciously amongst the trees, and murmured in the half light, the glow worms lining the banks along the dirt road; there in the beautiful,. staggeringly beautiful upper reaches of the Kangaroo Valley River, there amid the ancient forests, truly, staggeringly beautiful, ancient and calm, of a different type; and went camping with Jackie and her acquaintances from a Meet Up group.
He'd never done anything like it before, camping out like that, and it felt perfectly natural, and fun, and a revelation in itself. Humans are social animals. The abrupt disconnection of his thoughts, remembering something embarrassing he had said to an assistant in a chemist shop 56 years before; but forgetful of breakfast. Disjointed. With and without mission. A year like no other. Yes, this would be a year like no other, for himself, for the country.
There were moments there in the frequent assignations; he stopped in the Kangaroo Valley village, normally overrun with tourists on Australia Day. But it was much quieter than usual. The internet was down; Australia had the worst or virtually the worst internet in the world, after the public had been ripped off for $100 billion dollars or more in direct costs or loss of value in the telcos, and already beleaguered businesses were forced to take cash only; at a time when the hateful forces of control were incrementally eliminating cash altogether. Everything was under control. Everything was lost. The natural spirit of the people had been crushed.
They wore their masks; and when he went to arrange a birthday for his son, where he could once again say, "nobody could ever ask for a nicer son", he realised all were guilty, that it would not be possible because of vaccination status; once again the whole vaccine passport routine for cafes, restaurants, clubs and pubs had been re-imposed, he heard. He, like so many others, had simply given up listening to the news. Everyone had already decided which hill to die on.
And so the humans muttered in their discontents, pleasant or unpleasant, they varied so much, sympathetic or not, understanding or not, here in the half light, here at the dawn of another era, as business after business collapsed, as micro-economy after micro-economy lost all functionality, and the easiest place to be, at least for many in a suburban country like Australia, was to stay at home.
He didn't want to be here, he didn't want to be there; and instead he grasped his destiny as he always knew he would have to, to be.
The imperial warship had landed.
"We come at the end of Empire."
A sacred rite. An ancient aristocracy. And the visions swirled past him in that choppy clime.
Welcome to the New World, or, as the snake oil salesman masquerading as politicians put it, the New World Order, the new Covid Normal, frightened, anxious, and compliant.
It would not just be a remarkable year, but a frightening one.
I think they've, well they've gathered here for me
I am within you, you are within me
I am beside you, you are beside me
I think they're singing to be free, I think they're singing to be free
I think my friends have gathered here for me
I think they've gathered here for me
To be beside me
Look for me, look for me
I am beside you, you are beside me
You are beside me
Nick Cave
There is no blank slate upon which works of true originality are composed, no void out of which total novelty is created. Nothing is original because everything is an influence; everything is original because no influence makes its way into our art untransmuted by our imagination. We bring to everything we make everything we have lived and loved and tessellated into the mosaic of our being. To be an artist in the largest sense is to be fully awake to the totality of life as we encounter it, porous to it and absorbent of it, moved by it and moved to translate those inner quickenings into what we make.
That is what Nick Cave, part Byron and part Baldwin for our own time, explores in an issue of his Red Hand Files — the online journal in which he takes questions from fans and answers them in miniature essays of uncommon insight, soulfulness, and sensitivity, opening up improbable backdoors into those cavernous chambers where our most private yet common bewilderments about art and life dwell, and filling those chambers with the light of sympathetic understanding.
Maria Popova.
MAINSTREAM MEDIA
ABC
Australia Day barbecues are under threat as Omicron infections continue to cripple meat-processing operations.
Most off the menu are chicken dishes. Australia's biggest poultry processor Ingham's (with a 40 per cent market share) has had to stop producing some items and curtail production of others.
It's affecting clients such as KFC and supermarket meat shelves are largely bare. The Australian Chicken Meat Federation said last week breast fillets, drumsticks and chicken wings will be hard to find for at least several weeks.
The response of employers and government has been to relax health protocols for meat workers, reducing isolation times and keeping them on the line if they have been in contact with someone infected with COVID-19, or indeed even if they have the virus themselves.
Teys Australia told COVID-positive staff at its Naracoorte beef abattoir in South Australia on January 9 they were required to work "as normal unless you are feeling unwell".
SKY NEWS
Western Australia Police Minister Paul Papalia has urged residents not to behave like a "knucklehead" with a mask mandate in effect for Australia Day.
Masks will be required at all indoor and outdoor public events across Perth, Peel and the South West on Wednesday, impacting events such as the Skyworks fireworks display.
Mr Papalia on Monday said residents should be attending the event already carrying their masks but police will be on hand to provide the face coverings if they have been left behind.
"Hopefully most people will bring their own along because that's the best outcome but if you don't have one and someone's forgotten or they've lost one then obviously police will be able to provide you with one," he said.
"The aim is to give you a mask rather than a fine but I've got to say that in the event people behave inappropriately that (Western Australia Police Commissioner) Chris Dawson's knucklehead rule will be enforced.
XXX
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Sunday revealed the entire country was moving to a red light coronavirus restriction after nine people tested positive for the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The country is under a red traffic light setting, meaning strict capacity limits will apply to hospitality venues, events and gatherings.
While some supported Ms Ardern's decision, British commentator Piers Morgan took a swipe at her "draconian" new restrictions, claiming the people of New Zealand were trapped in a "perpetual pandemic prison camp".
GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA
Concession card holders said they found it impossible to track down rapid antigen tests, on the first day of a federal government program offering access to free tests.
The scheme, which allows pensioners and concession card holders to access up to 10 free rapid antigen tests over three months through their chemist, had a difficult start on Monday, with supply issues hampering anyone attempting to procure the tests.
Rosanna, who asked to remain anonymous, lives in rural Victoria and said she needed rapid antigen tests to protect her father Lorry, who is critically ill.
But there were none available at any of the pharmacies within an hour’s drive from her home, leaving the family in a precarious situation.
THE NEW DAILY
Your weekly trip to the supermarket is about to get more expensive, with big supermarkets facing renewed pressure to pass on rising food costs.
In more bad news for household budgets in 2022, suppliers to the likes of Coles, Woolworths and Aldi are asking retailers for a range of price increases to help offset soaring freight costs amid the Omicron crisis.
A new survey of 45 suppliers published by Jarden analysts has found businesses are planning price hikes of 6.8 per cent on average this year.
They include large packaged grocery, frozen and fresh food suppliers.
And though suppliers report meeting resistance from retailers – Woolies in particular – to the price hikes, experts said households will soon see the higher grocery costs flow to the checkout at their local supermarket.
“Shoppers should start to expect to see some lift in prices, even across dry groceries,” retail expert and QUT professor Gary Mortimer told TND.
“Ultimately suppliers and food manufacturers can’t continue to hold cost rises.”
SMH
For those looking forward to Australia becoming a unified country again, the news that Mark McGowan is keeping Western Australia’s borders shut indefinitely due to the health risks associated with the Omicron variant would have been devastating.
Beyond the inconvenience of having plans abruptly cancelled, hopes suddenly dashed, or expectations cruelly thwarted, however, what grounds for complaint do these Australians have against McGowan’s plans?
The right to freedom of movement at the domestic level is a basic and essential freedom. It allows people to exercise their basic right to freedom of association, by spending time with loved ones.