I’m languishing. This emotional and mental state has become common parlance in the frequent conversations where we discuss our fading mental health during the pandemic. This word describes that ever-present feeling, lying murkily between thriving and depression, that repeated lock down and social isolation has forced upon us. The dominant emotion of 2021. In response to a prolonged period of languish, where a rotation of tactics had failed to work (online shopping, more exercise, less exercise, binging Netflix, reading, more alcohol, no alcohol, mindfulness activities, good food, bad food, buying plants), I decided I needed a change. »

We had two weeks off for a holiday to Tasmania but inevitably a coronavirus spike in greater Sydney closed the borders and we were facing the third cancelled holiday in 12 months. Somewhat fortunately though, we had bought a car only 2 weeks earlier and so a road trip around NSW wasn’t such a bad alternative. After a life-sized game of tetris, the car was packed to the brim of camping gear and 4WDing equipment and we headed north. »

I read an article the other day which explained how, as a result of the global efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus, the planet is literally moving less. It said that the increase in people working from home and the reduction in transport movement and use of industrial machinery has created a noticeable drop in seismic noise - the hum of vibrations in the planet’s crust. This fall in human-induced noise could improve the ability of scientists to detect activity like earthquakes, volcanoes and waves in certain locations. »

Will life be fundamentally changed after this? In old age, will we look back on our lives and describe all of our major life events as pre-covid and post-covid? On 30 January 2020, the WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and on 11 February named the disease COVID-19 because it is a form of coronavirus and was first reported to the WHO country office in China on 31 December 2019. »

Japan has long been on the bucket list. On this trip we decided just to visit Tokyo. We stayed in Shinjuku City, one of Tokyo’s 23 city wards located to the west of Tokyo City. It is known for its karaoke rooms, nightlife, neon-lit red light district and Japan’s busiest train station. Despite this, like the rest of Tokyo, it is extremely safe and clean. Tokyo is like no other major city in the world: organised and tidy, the people are extremely polite and there is a seamless fusion of traditional and contemporary life. »