A funny thing happened on the way to quarantine
We endured a lot during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we also had cause to smile during those tough times.
A serious situation
COVID-19 still poses a threat, especially to older Australians, people with weakened immune systems and those with serious medical conditions.
Many people are experiencing the effects of long COVID.
The latest advice is for people over 75 who have not been vaccinated in the past six months to have a booster shot.
The Department of Health and Aged Care has general information about COVID-19 and vaccination here.
Consult your general practitioner for health advice specific to you.
While COVID-19 is still with us and may be forever, enough time has passed since the pandemic’s height that we can look at the brighter side of social isolation.
There were a few occasions that diverted and amused us, and kept us strong, during the sadness, frustration, anger, and other negative emotions we endured during lockdowns.
Hats off, first, to Rod Ponton, the cat man of Texas.
Don’t remember him? He’s the lawyer involved in a virtual court case over Zoom who had somehow turned on a filter that superimposed a cartoon cat over his face.
In a video that went viral, Mr Ponton is heard insisting, “I’m here live, I’m not a cat” as his assistant struggled to remove the filter and a bemused judge looked on.
He later told the BBC: “I did not know that Zoom could turn me into a cat. I did not know that cat Zoom could turn me into an internet celebrity, but it all happened in just a matter of hours.”
We were also amused by a variety of internet memes involving real animals – cats strolling across keyboards during online meetings, dogs barking over important calls, and even birds squawking while their owners tried to conduct business.
Some American companies embraced the new normal, organising online catchups solely for employees’ pets.
Meanwhile, being confined to home meant a lot of people tried to learn new skills, especially baking.
For some reason, banana bread became the go-to recipe. By early May 2020, it had spent 30 days at the top of the Google charts, with web searches soaring by 54%.
Model Chrissy Teigen made headlines when she offered to swap her home-baked banana bread for a romaine lettuce, which was unavailable at her local Los Angeles supermarket.
Speaking of supermarkets... some of them turned into war zones as people fought over life’s essentials, especially toilet paper.
Social media was flooded with memes and jokes about hoarding toilet paper, with some people even creating loo roll “artworks” to boast about their stash.
Meanwhile, as hairdressers and barbers were forced to close their doors, homegrown haircuts became a thing.
While some people managed to do a good job, others completely botched it – and some just decided to have fun with the whole thing and deliberately went for an eccentric outcome.
Add a dose of self-deprecating humour, and bad haircuts became another well-shared internet meme.
Also popping up all over online were people’s creative homemade face masks, some of them boosting a favourite band or sports team, and others designed to turn the wearer’s face into a cartoon character.
There were also videos of people competing in the “Quarantine Olympics”, which meant devising wild and wacky games they could play in their own homes. Events included hallway bowling with toilet paper rolls, sock sliding competitions, and backyard obstacle courses.
And while they weren’t baking banana bread, a bunch of celebrities assembled by Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot pooled their resources to create a video of the John Lennon song Imagine.
Although they meant well, the off-key performance was parodied more than it was praised.
It also reminded us that, for better or worse, rich or poor, we were all in it together.
