Playgrounds

Level Four Lockdown: Day Forty-Six

Curfew. 9 p.m 

Mood: Middling - better for a Baileys

Black and White Photo Challenge: Day Seventeen

They opened the playgrounds on Monday and Melbourne breathed a collective sigh of relief. 

Going for a walk on Monday, it was a joy to hear the giggling and screams of kids as I passed the play equipment. The number of photos friends have posted photos of ecstatic children on swings and slippery dips is incredible. 

The looks of joy on the faces of the parents even more palpable. The family have somewhere to go. In Melbourne, we are given two hours a day to exercise, or meet one other in the park,or heaven forbid, take your kids to the playground where they can run around with other kids for a bit. 

Friends are bemoaning their children have suffered from lack of stimulation and socialisation over this period. The older the child, the better it seems to be for them - at least the older kids can use the internet. The little ones have a harder time of it. 

I wonder what it will be like when the adults' playgrounds start opening up again. The bars and the restaurants and the theatres and the cinemas.

From Monday week, Cleo, Jay and I should be able to exercise outside in the park once again, which means different equipment from the pump bar and the 30 kgs of weigh plates we've borrowed from the gym. I am looking forward to using kettle bells again. Never thought I would be saying that. 

There is a hope that one day, we will get back to 'normal'. The kids have bounced back on their play equipment. They're happy. Here's hoping when we are given back our freedoms, we can appreciate them in the same way. With a smile on our face, the wind in our hair and in no way taking any of this for granted. 

Today's song: