Accepting the inevitable

[Yesterday's blog post wasn't emailed out for some unknown reason, but is still available for anyone who wants to see it here.]

It was a cold start on the golf course this morning

Authorities in Australia face a conundrum.  On Saturday, large demonstrations in support of the Black Lives Matter movement are likely in Sydney and Melbourne and these will breach restrictions on the size of gatherings in these cities imposed by state governments to slow the spread of COVID-19.

If authorities play hardball and seek to stop the demonstrations, there will almost inevitably be conflict.  There is a groundswell of support for the demonstrators in the US, exacerbated by Australia's own poor record with respect to the incarceration of our indigenous population.  I suspect many are also motivated to protest against the policies of Donald Trump.

Demonstrators will turn out regardless of the authorities edicts, so I suspect there will be no physical attempt to stop them unless vandalism or violence occurs.  That would seem a good policy to me.  We are lucky in Australia.  With so few cases of community virus transmission (none in Sydney for ten days, and low single digits in Melbourne) evident, the chances of the virus being spread in the demonstrations seems low.  Much lower than in the US, where peaceful demonstrations have generally been permitted by the authorities despite much higher risks of virus transmission.

I got up early and jogged my scheduled three kilometres this morning before heading off for nine holes of golf.  The jog was OK, but by the end of the golf game my hip flexor was quite sore.  It's disheartening, but I have reached the point where I am just going to keep running to my planned schedule unless it becomes too painful.  Maybe I'll back off the golf, but I have to accept that after three weeks of zero exercise at my age, resumption was bound to bring some aches and pains.  Maybe, optimistically, as my body adapts the sore spots will diminish.