The day it all changed

New York City, New York: 10 March 2020

I went to bed last night and woke up this morning thinking about Coronavirus. Today things feel changed. I’m someone who loves the news. I’ve been keeping up-to-date with everything that has been happening but, at the same time, going about my travels unchanged. I’ve been to Broadway shows, the basketball at MSG, the Met Opera, museums and Central Park and loved every minute of it. But today I feel a change.

I woke up to a message from my next housesit, asking if I’m still comfortable travelling. I said I was, pleased that they would be happy to have me in their home. I wonder how many other housesits might either not want someone who’s been travelling around, or might decide they didn’t feel comfortable travelling and so cancel their plans. Only time will tell.

I had ticket to To Kill a Mockingbird in the historic Shubert Theatre - something I really wanted to see once I knew it was on broadway when I was in NYC. I didn’t consider not going, but I felt conscious of it. Conscious of going on the subway, of walking in the streets, of sitting in the theatre. I wonder how long the crowds of New York can go unchanged…

The show was incredible. A wonderful take on a classic novel. Standout performances by Ed Harris playing Atticus Finch and Nina Grollman who played Scout. I sat next to two men who obviously taught chemistry at Columbia University and were lamenting how they’d teach their classes remotely.

I went to Whole Foods Market on the way home. I wanted to get some flowers for the homeowners for their return. It was busy, really busy and I wondered if that was because of the virus. They were’t buying toilet paper but it seemed like tinned food sections were almost empty.

I felt like I wanted to get back to the place I was staying, and even more to get out of NYC to Canada tomorrow. Toronto, Canada seems like a safer place right now. out of the international moshpit that is NYC, and also ‘closer’ to Australia somehow. Maybe I believe in the Commonwealth after all.

 The day finishes with Trump’s Address to the Nation (says so much about the US that he did this at 9pm). The panic now feels official.