Expected, but still a bit disappointing: the lockdown here in Malaysia has again been extended another two weeks until 28th April. By and large, this means for us no change of our daily routines.
Francien, Marcella and I are still observers in this crisis, not directly affected apart from being in this lockdown. That is the good news. But it starts hitting closer to home with family of one of our friends in Europe seriously ill.
Day 23: on a non-lockdown day Francien and I would run in the nearby city park. Instead we sit on our balcony with a view on Jalan Ampang, a main traffic artery cutting through the city center. A police car using a loudspeaker urged the people to stay inside their homes. I saw two buses escorted by motorized police bringing people to one of the 45 designated quarantine facilities in and around Kuala Lumpur. In the evening a police helicopter with a search light was circling the city center, helping to enforce the lockdown. We received emails from the Dutch embassy informing us that two more repatriation flights from Kuala Lumpur took place, bringing Dutch citizens back to Holland. All surreal, stuff I only saw in Hollywood movies.
During the day I can see a constant flow of delivery companies on motorbikes, cars and small trucks bringing mainly groceries and ready-made food to our apartment complex. But also packages with anything one can order from Lazada, Amazon and other online shops were piling up in our reception area. The lockdown caused a spike in these deliveries. One morning a delivery truck of a supermarket dropped of around 40 grocery bags in the middle of the pedestrian walkway in front of our gate house. The people scrambled to find their ordered bag: clearly that service could be improved!
The virus is stopping me from going outside, but I long for fresh air. Should I admit this to you now? On Day 25 I took an empty shopping bag and carried it with me while walking past three supermarkets in our area. Not shopping but enjoying the stroll. Psst..... do not tell anyone. Honestly, I will not do it again. On the deserted streets I saw a few men and women wandering around, also holding empty shopping bags! It seemed they did not care to dress properly. Normally being in the business district, people here wear their business attire, but now flip flops, sloppy t-shirts, sports attire and shorts do.
Okay, this sounds all a bit negative, but in fact I am NOT.
The three of us have accepted the reality of our situation and created new routines to give us a sense of energy and purpose. We developed solutions to the challenges of our daily life under lockdown. We learned how to do virtual fitness classes and alternative cardio exercises. We had new on-line shopping and delivery experiences and adopted more ways to stay in contact with friends and family.
We also brought video conferencing to a new level, although this still went with the occasional slow connections, faulty mute buttons and unflattering camera angles. Nevertheless, we enjoyed in particular doing two video conferences with our extended families in the The Netherlands. Brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews all got together virtually to wish each other ‘Vrolijke Pasen’: Happy Easter.
I am sure nobody will ever forget how she/he celebrated Easter 2020.
Celebrating Easter with extended family
I dare to say I start to look a bit more into the future post-Corona pandemic. Thanks to unlimited media coverage, we get an overdose of COVID-19 information. But the world is still a beautiful place, ready to be explored and experienced. I replayed our last family holiday in Africa, immediately appreciating what it means to freely cross borders. What will our plans for 2020 be like? What do we want to do as soon as this lockdown will be relaxed? I agree with you, this is difficult to predict, but worthwhile thinking about.
I am privileged to be retired and not have to worry about my professional life, which makes my future less uncertain than for many people likely to be impacted by this crisis. But history teaches us that each crisis always provided opportunities. Look for them now e.g. improving our home delivery services, developing novel virtual activities, and alternative virtual group events. This crisis accelerated these trends using the internet technology even more than before. These developments will continue after this pandemic, driving the gig economy to new heights.
Another opportunity is to look for (travel-) shopping bargains after the lockdowns have been lifted. Companies will be desperate to get new customers and people will have a lot of catching up to do.
The number of daily new infections in Malaysia is dropping, so things are going in the right direction. It could be a little bit disaster fatigue, but the gradual opening of some non-essential businesses in Malaysia makes me feel positive. Yesterday morning sitting on our balcony, the first time since four weeks, I heard the buzz of the air-compressors and machinery on the nearby construction site. Reason for optimism.
“We are bouncing back”
It feels like we humans start controlling COVID-19 instead of this virus controlling us. Allow me to make a prediction: we will rebound rapidly but will have to live with new health protocols in our daily life’s. More inconveniences for sure e.g. entry screenings at airports, sanitizer stationing, face masks, health passports, travel restrictions, social distancing, health Apps, fewer visits to supermarkets and different ways of mass gathering. Back to a new normal.
Stay safe, people! Another two weeks to go and we can do this.