Testing Time

Pan Pacific Hotel, Rm 1214 (Melbourne)

Friday 8 May 2020

Before breakfast, or at least the delivery of my breakfast-meal-bag, I had the latest, Victorian Government’s Health & Human Services, “Coronavirus Newsletter” slipped under my door.  As before, it was full of questions in bold print I’d never thought of asking, with answers I hope I never have to negotiate.

Front and centre though, was the “Summary” at the top of the page, which read … “All returned travellers are being asked to complete voluntary testing for coronavirus (COVID-19) on approximately day 11 or 12 of their mandatory quarantine…”

Then the list of questions, with the accompanying answers:

“Why am I being asked to get a test if I don’t have symptoms?”

“Who is being asked to get a test?”

“What do I need to do?”

The questions continued, and I was chatting with Linda on the phone about this mid-morning and there was a knock at the door.  Nope, it can’t be lunch-time.  And morning tea with a couple of Tim Tams on the side would be too much to ask.  “I’ll catch you later Linda … someone at the door, gotta go, bye”   As you can appreciate, I don’t get many (any) visitors and I can call my wife anytime, so what was I to do … guys?

And who should be at the door but a group of nurses, at least three, but now I think about it, there might have been a fourth in the background, all dressed in the full-mask-and-suit-get-up. “Hello, we’re here to offer testing for the coronavirus.  It’s not compulsory, but would you like to have the test done?”

So that’s how I let a perfect stranger, dressed as a nurse, poke a long stick down my throat and up my nose. Same stick by the way – so it’s fortunate the symptoms of COVID-19 mostly exhibit above the shoulders.  If the symptoms were at both ends, I think I would have insisted on TWO sticks.

Makes me wonder what was with the rush on buying toilet paper a month ago??  Surely, if anything, there should have been a rush on boxes of tissues?!

Anyway, apart from a smarting upper nasal tract and watery eyes, that suddenly developed in response to the stick-up-the-nose-routine – (up as far up as my brain I’m guessing) all was good.  Not with the results, of course.   I won’t know them for a few days.  All finished, and just a few minutes later, I wished the nurses well, said my thank-yoos and shut my door. 

You’ll be pleased to know, ladies, that I called Linda back immediately, (as any dutiful husband would, right blokes?!) and reported everything blow by blow.

Having finished uploading all the photos from the Fiordland stage of the voyage, I moved onto other computer projects today.  As often happens, I got stuck on “MUST SEE” YouTube videos – not just kittens and baby goats in pyjamas, but also massive radio controlled model 747s and Concordes (plus baby pigs having their teeth brushed) – anyway, one of these videos was a very long interview from 10 years ago, with actor Sidney Poitier.

It was fascinating, and I watched to the end of it’s nearly 2-hour duration.  He’s an actor I have always admired and so I naturally looked up Wikipedia to find out a little more, such as when did he die … well, it turns out he’s NOT dead.  How about that?   If you’ve got a bit of spare time, and haven’t most of us, it’s one to put on your “to watch” list.  

Sidney Poitier 2009

I received a “how ya doing?” email around lunch time, from my younger sister, Rae-Ellen, which was nice.  Rae-Ellen and her husband Paul are both in “The Gideons” and she mentioned in passing that their society had recently received a donation from a woman who was in compulsory isolation – just like me – in the Crown Metropol hotel; which is just a few hundred metres from here, I can see their shining lights from here.

Apparently, the woman in isolation was so appreciative of the bible, that had been placed in the room by The Gideons, finding it … “a great comfort and inspiration”, that she made a $1,000 donation to the Gideons.  She also wrote a letter of thanks  to the Executive General Manager of the hotel to thank him/her for allowing the bibles to be placed in the room.

So naturally, Rae-Ellen was keen to know whether the Pan Pacific Hotel had bibles in their rooms, just like the Crown.

“Well, funny you should ask that Rae-Ellen”, I said … “because after a thorough scoping of my room/cell on arrival, I reported in my blog back  on Tuesday 28^th April, that there was NO Gideon’s bible in the room”   Where’s the Wally

Now I was curious.  Was it JUST room 1214, my room, that had no Gideons Bible, or was it every room in the hotel?  I had to know.  After all, it’s unlikely, but maybe the last occupant of this room stole the bible from the top draw…??  And all the other rooms still had their bible. Just putting it out there.

So, I called reception and asked the question.  “I’m not sure”, said the nice lady on the phone, “I’ll find out and get back to you”.  A short time later the phone rang, but only one ring sounded, so I missed picking it up.  I called reception back and it was a different person. They weren’t quite sure either, but informed me that a bible was being sent up and would be at my door in a few minutes.

Sure enough, true to her word, there was a knock at the door a few minutes later.  But when I drew back the door there was no one there.  I looked left, (just a masked man sitting on a chair – no Super Hero … disappointed?!) I looked right … and of course, just like feeding time, the instinct cut in … I looked down, and there it was, sitting on the doorstep at my feet. 

So, from all of that, I’m assuming each room does NOT have a Gideons Bible, but just like the hotel iron and ironing boards in the olden days … if you needed it in your room, you call reception. Here’s a photo as proof and I must remember to leave it in the room, along with the dressing gown and embroidered towels, when I leave. (Actually the towels aren’t embroidered, I made that up)

Returning briefly to a nautical theme. I read in the paper today that … “The Ruby Princess had just dropped anchor in Manilla Bay with 214 Filipino crew onboard”.  

Of course, the Ruby Princess is now known worldwide for all the wrong reasons, chief among them being linked to about 700 COVID-19 infections and 21 virus related deaths. Just tragic.  The article went on to say that the Ruby Princess joined about 15 other cruise ships in the same harbour, which together have around 5,300 Filipino crew – all of whom will naturally be tested for coronavirus infection. But won’t they all be overjoyed to be returning to their homes and families once again!!  

Reading the article, it got me thinking … “all those ships should show up on the Marine Traffic website”. And they did.  Have a look at the image below, which I took earlier today.  Talk about a cruise ship … and I nearly said graveyard … but what IS the collective noun for possibly $10 billion dollars’ worth of cruise ships, all anchored and idle together in the one place.    A “retirement” of cruise ships.  A “corona” of cruise ships … have to work on that one.  And get a load of the green dots… every one of them is a ship; mostly container ships, but general cargo as well. (The red dots are tankers)

And here’s a link to footage taken recently from a helicopter of the cruise ships …

Aerial (Helicopter) View of Cruise Ships in Manilla Bay

Back on the topic of the Bible … AND 1960s Pop music … which is an interesting combination.  But I was reading the said, Gideon’s Bible this afternoon and in the current “Coronavirus Reality” in which we find ourselves, I was naturally drawn to the book of Ecclesiastes.    

This is a book of “wisdom”, attributed to Solomon around 3,000 years ago, but I feel particularly close to this book because among my dad’s things when he died, I found a note to the effect … “this would be a good thing to read at my funeral”… with an accompanying Ecclesiastes passage.  Which I did.

It might not be so commonly known these days, but this king of ancient time, Solomon, had it all.  He was wise, rich, famous and powerful, you name it.  His quotes have endured and if he was alive today, he’d certainly be on the motivational speaker’s circuit and would put the likes of Elon Musk in the shade.  You could safely say that Solomon was the forerunner to Yoda, of Starwars fame, when it comes to the passing-on of wisdom … here’s a sample from Ecclesiastes:

“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

“Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit— YOU choose.”

“Give me the gift of a listening heart.”

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

“The one who walks with the wise becomes wise .”

“Better the anger of a friend than the kiss of an enemy.”

“Knowledge is of more value than gold”

“The lesser of two evils is still evil.”

“Without vision a people perishes.”

“Being cheerful keeps you healthy”

“Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be broken beyond repair.”

“A wise person will listen and take in more instruction.”

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”

There are just so many brilliant Solomon quotes, even more than Winston Churchill … it’s hard to know where to stop. There’s lots more. (You can see why every hotel room always did, and always SHOULD have a Gideons Bible)

But in these very difficult, COVID-19, isolation-times, we can easily fall into the trap of thinking our current predicament is the new permanent reality; that the bad times will go on forever.  I know, back in my working days, it was always a challenge advising clients through “market crashes” – and we had a few over the 35 years I was in business. But of course, like winter gives way to spring, we’ve got to expect things will one day get better. 

Again, reading Solomon, we get more wise advice from Chapter 3 where we read … “There is a time for everything  and a season for every activity under the heavens”

Of course, you might recall a paraphrased version of this passage from the song “Turn Turn Turn” by Pete Seeger and sung by the Byrds in the 1960s.  Lifting the words straight out of the bible like that, I suppose Pete Seeger felt pretty safe ‘cos he knew the copyright had run out on the material.  

I’m sure everyone is very familiar with the song, but this particular link has over 16.5 million hits and more than 6,000 Comments; some very moving. As it turns out, many people have read from Ecclesiastes at a funerals!   Might be a good song for all of us to re-connect with, particularly at this time of global uncertainty, suffering and loss. 

If nothing else, it shows the words and sentiments are as relevant now as they were to Pete Seeger in the 1960s and in Solomon’s time back in 950BC – after all, there is nothing new under heaven.

The Byrds – Turn! Turn! Turn!

Smooth seas, fair breeze and testing time

Rob Latimer

Knock, knock … Who’s there … you mean what’s there … Dinner …