Covid countdown - Hornsby's Neal Park & Edgeworth David Garden

How long have we been living in (sort-of) lock-down? How many weeks ago exactly was it, that PM Scomo told us we could still go about our normal business and that he was still going to the footie? Two weeks, six months? Hard to say, but I just looked it up. It's about nine weeks since his footie remark, and eight weeks since the plan to ban all non-essential gatherings of more than 500.

Then in the following two weeks the legal gathering limit quickly shrank down to two! Since then it's all been a bit strange.

One of my special missions during this time has been to use my legal-exercise outings constructively, and to explore and document as  many as possible of the nearby parks and bushland reserves. I've discovered or rediscovered lots of them, and I'm so glad they are there.



Today's little outing was to the Edgeworth David Garden in Hornsby, which is adjacent to, or part of, Neal Park. It's a small area, but an unexpectedly attractive green and rainforesty patch.


It was the home of  Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David, geologist and war veteran who also led the first expedition to reach the south magnetic pole in 1908. He's got a nearby major road named after him too.





And he and his wife had a very nice garden!

"Just don't do it" won't restock the supermarket shelves

It's 6:55am at Thornleigh Woolworths. There's an orderly queue for the much touted oldies' shopping session. Which is a relief, after all the scary stories about how the oldies could out-monster all the younger shoppers when they put their minds to it!









Inside the store they'd stacked a few packs of toilet paper rolls in the aisle, and your correspondent managed to secure one of the last of them. And a chunk of meat. And a packet of Weetbix,and a few face tissues even.

Off then to Westleigh's Aldi, which turned out to be closed for restocking.

When it reopened, the queue was enormous.

During the morning, our beloved Prime Minister had held a much-awaited press conference about the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. He told us to stop this panic buying straight away. "Stop it. Just stop it!". He was very annoyed, and he showed it. "Just don't do it!"




'Scotty from Marketing' as he is sometimes kindly referred to, had showed us once again why he is no longer in marketing. Suddenly the queues are many times longer.