A few snippets of life in Perth on the blog this week.
Mlle (our daughter recently back from London) is now on Day 10 of her mandatory home self isolation period of 14 days. So far so good, fingers crossed. The police did come by last week to check up on her – fortunately this is the first time we have ever received a visit from the local constabulary concerning one of our offspring! All routine in this case – they are doing spot checks to make sure returned travellers are continuing to self isolate at the addresses they supplied to border control officers.
From midnight last night (Sunday 5th April) Western Australia is (for the time being) a separate country. We now have a hard border between ourselves and the other Australian states. Exceptions are made for freight and goods suppliers, some interstate essential workers and on compassionate grounds. However paperwork is strict and anyone coming into WA has to do mandatory quarantine for 14 days at a government supplied hotel. I believe people bringing in freight and provisions are exempt from this requirement though, in order to keep the supply chains going.
On our regular local walks, we have begun noticing teddy bears and other soft toys appearing in people’s windows along with pictures and drawings of rainbows. It’s a lovely initiative thought up to give children, in particular, something positive to focus on whilst out with their parents on walks and bike rides.
Monsieur is convinced he set the trend as we have had a toy panda head displayed in the window of our attic/studio room for many months. Every time I took it down it mysteriously reappeared (much to my chagrin) but now I have no excuse to complain!
The cuddly toy displays are definitely a Perth-wide initiative judging from social media posts and may indeed be a worldwide one! The rainbow drawings are also a good way for parents to keep kids distracted now that they are all staying home from school.
Another positive note has been the continuation (apart from a couple of weekend showers) of the glorious autumnal weather. Gardens are looking wonderful and the birds and bees are out and out about in abundance! Spot the little willy wagtail below!
Stay safe and healthy everyone! À bientôt!
Copyright © 2020 Rosemary Thomas Le Chic En Rose. All rights reserved
Le Chic En Rose 
The rainbows are definitely in evidence here in the UK, but – not that I’ve noticed – soft toys. Every community is finding its own way forward I guess. You sound to be coping quite well, as we are. Good luck, as isolation continues.
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Thanks Margaret we are doing well – does help that the weather is lovely and warm this week. We haven’t really come into flu season here yet either – no one really knows what to expect over the winter here. At present we do seem to be flattening the curve with the strict measures. Hope solutions will present themselves going forward. Rainbows are a lovely positive motif! Good luck too and take care 🙂
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I can’t believe the police checked up on your daughter? But I guess we are living through some very extraordinary times. I am glad she is home safe, will she return to London at a later date? We have just finished our 14 days of quarantine, following our return home from SE Asia, it was not too difficult and most importantly we are healthy. I love all the rainbows appearing everywhere, we are getting them here also, it does make me smile. Stay safe xx
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Yes they are taking it very seriously here. I think all the states are doing random checks to make sure people are self isolating. There are heavy fines for non-compliers and the prospect of jail for repeat offenders! Glad you have finished your 14 days quarantine safe and sound 🙂 Mlle isn’t sure what she will do next as she had in fact resigned her London job and was planning to move to Berlin in September where she had a job offer. Everything is on hold for now. Her stuff is all being stored at a friend’s in London and she certainly hopes to go back to sort her things out and see all the friends whom she couldn’t say goodbye to. Like many others her plans are all up in the air at present. It’s lovely to have her home for a while albeit in unusual circumstances! Rainbows are a lovely way of spreading positivity at the present time! Stay safe and healthy too xx 😉
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What a lovely cheerful post, Rosemay. Got me smiling 🙂 🙂 Yes, that is a nice initiative for children. Squared that opening photo would make a great entry for Becky’s challenge! Good that the police are checking, however strange at the time. Take care, darlin!
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So glad it made you smile Jo! I just think we could all do with some positive news at present otherwise it gets rather overwhelming. I’ll have to check out Becky’s challenge – I tend not to join in these things apart from your Monday Walks! It does seem strange with police checking up but unbelievably they have found quite a few people not complying. It’s so selfish as overseas travellers have been our major source of infection apart from cruise ships and it certainly appears that people can be infectious even when they have no symptoms. Now you have to do your mandatory quarantine in a hotel room organised by the government- rules changed the day after Mlle got home! Have a good week in these strange times and take care! xx
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How lucky was that!!! 🙂 They are trying to close off the Algarve because it’s such a target for the Easter holidays, but it makes it a bit miserable for the rest of us. I can see the beach from my roof, but aren’t allowed there, and the weather isn’t even cooperating 😦 Onwards and upwards! Sending hugs 🙂
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Very lucky indeed!!! I can see how the Algarve would be a hotspot for tourists with Easter coming up. Such a pity you’re not allowed to walk along the beach at present but think you can still get out for walks? Yes hope the weather perks up! Onwards and upwards indeed – sending a virtual hug your way too! 😃😃
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The rainbows are very present in Canada as well so I think it is worldwide trend though I haven’t seen teddy bears here yet maybe it will be the next thing. Glad your daughter isn’t showing symptoms. Here they have decided that the strict measures of closing everything will last till May 4th… Stay healthy. (Suzanne)
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Thanks Suzanne – the rainbows are a lovely idea maybe you’ll start to see the teddy bears soon? Day 11 of our daughter’s self isolation period – 3 to go, fingers crossed all going well 🙂 May 4th seems a long way off – hope they can get a grip on this virus in the meantime. Not sure what will happen here though cases are stabilising now that the number of returning travellers has reduced. Plus we have strict quarantine measures. However we are going into the cooler months though it is glorious warm weather at present. I do believe it will be many months before things can return to a “new” normal though. Take care and stay healthy too 🙂
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Glad to hear all is well with you and the family. I think it is an excellent idea to have the police checking up on people who have returned from overseas. A pity we aren’t as thorough here. All these folks being repatriated from other countries and many with high rates of infection and they are not even tested on arrival, just told to go home and self-isolate. No checks on whether they do or not. My son in Queensland says schools remain open there, well not at the moment because of the Easter holidays, but apparently they will reopen after Easter. I believe their infection rate is quite low. And they do have to stay close to home to exercise, but fortunately can walk to a lovely boardwalk at Nudgee. And they are allowed to drive to a local beach too, for now. Wish we could! Stay well Rosemary!
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Thanks Jude – yes think it’s really good that we have such strict controls and quarantine measures here. Our case numbers are doing quite well at present and the majority of cases have been returning overseas travellers and cruise ship passengers. They are now starting to test people with fevers and other symptoms with no travel history or connection to a confirmed case so they can get an idea of whether there is community spread or not. Schools are open but only for essential workers like health workers and the Easter break starts on Thursday here in WA. We are expected to limit outings to essential trips only but we can still exercise and we have a nice area of bushland within walking distance of our house (which you can see in many of my posts recently!). So we are lucky and fingers crossed the daily exercise will be ongoing as it really helps. Stay safe and healthy too! 🙂
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We have lots of rainbows and bears here too. It’s a lovely idea.
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Yes it is a lovely idea – have found more appearing each day I do my walk! 🙂
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We have teddies and rainbows here in Tassie. Also Police checking on people in self isolation. Police will be be monitoring the usual holiday destinations, to avoid crowds in our rural areas with higher aged populations. Hopefully everyone will do the right thing over Easter weekend. Take care.
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Many folks in WA have always referred scathingly to “east”, so the had border is no surprise! The one that surprised me was Tassie. We were there in November when the slogan was “come down for the air”, a reference to the beautiful countryside and relatively clean atmosphere. They were the first state to put up the barriers in the current pandemic! Can’t say I blame them!
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Yes it’s quite ironic that WA now has a hard border with the “east” – they did try and go independent at one point! Yes Tasmania was a bit of a surprise but it appears they do have a problem especially in the north west part of the island so it’s probably a good idea to try and keep non residents out. Will affect the tourism industry badly there though. Hope you are staying safe and well!
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