I was fortunate enough to travel to Victoria last week for a family wedding and it was interesting to view the pandemic from a place that has been consistently a couple of months ahead of New Zealand.

At first glance, Melbourne was like I remember it being the last time I was there four years ago. 

Masks were not a common sight at all unless you were on the public transport; then people did seem to take them seriously. I couldn’t tell whether that was from common sense given how we were packed in or if it was enforced. 

Shops, bars etc were just like they used to be, without masks being worn by shoppers or servers alike. This surprised me a bit given the death rate in Victoria which, at 319/m is not quite double New Zealand’s at 185. 

Melbourne also went through far longer periods of lockdown than we did so I had thought there may have been a bit more precautionary behaviour, but it appears not.

I had one night out in Melbourne where things seemed a bit quieter than I remembered them from previous visits but the next morning was where I did get quite a shock. I love getting up early in big cities and watching them wake up and on past visits to Melbourne, the place was humming by 6.30-7 am.

I hit the laneways looking for good coffee around that time to find most of the cafes near empty or in some places, totally empty. The difference couldn’t have been starker than previous experiences.

I asked my niece who has lived there for twenty years why she thought this was and she reckons its down to people still working from home; avoiding the cost and hassle of commutes now they have got used to the alternative.

While this change may not affect us directly in Central, it is an indication perhaps of how work life has changed and may result in more folk looking to our place as a viable alternative to city madness.