Not quite business as usual

Just when we thought we were safe to get back into the waters of our local business demographic it turns out we are surrounded by clusters of Covid19 outbreaks and now the army is coming to test us all ...

Thirty six suburbs are in lockdown to the North and West of us. Look it's quite a gentle process. The army isn't threatening to shoot people of they cross the street between West and East Brunswick. No more Zombies are stalking the streets of South Carlton other than the usual array of souls lost to addiction and homelessness. We are still doing tech work in all suburbs and are equipped with PPE and alcohol and have the health Nazi management of Cameron and Angela to keep us in line.

However it has been it has been a unique three months. Wev'e had fires floods and riots and literally hundreds of minor acts of thefts and violence around our business here in Carlton but none of them have affected the local landscape as much as this.

Lygon St has been devastated as a commercial strip by the Covid crisis. Many restaurants and cafes have been put over the brink by their forced closure and the premises are now vacant with for lease signs. In fact I am minded of the streets of South east London in the eighties depression when I left the UK, fortunately we haven’t had the National Front marching the streets like Camberwell and Peckham had … yet.

We kept trading in a reduced fashion through the lockdown. The Custom Install side of the business kept going and otherwise my colleagues were working from home or taking holidays that were due. We are slightly reduced but haven’t lost any staff I’m pleased to say. Some suppliers and clients were very supportive and really helped us through … thanks guys.

With the ascending numbers of cases in Victoria we are now likely to go back to full lockdown procedures this week. The weekend has seen Lygon St bars and clubs open again with people clustering in the park opposite the shop at 2am on Sunday morning. We are back to watching the score on www.covid19data.com.au and hoping that we wont be visited by Mr Corona.

YONCHEON, REPUBLIC OF KOREA: (FILES) This file photo dated 26 February 2003 shows US soldiers wearing gas masks waiting for an order during an exercise for chemical warfare in Yoncheon near the inter-Korean border. South Korea's foreign ministry said 17 May 2004 that the US plans to redeploy US troops away from the tense border with nuclear-armed North Korea for combat duty in Iraq. AFP PHOTO/KIM JAE-HWAN/FILES (Photo credit should read KIM JAE-HWAN/AFP via Getty Images)