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Quantum of Solace
Jan. 12th, 2022 03:21 pmI took my mother to the Auckland Art Gallery today to see the Mary Quant exhibition that's on tour from the V&A. It was great to see the clothes and to reflect on how Mary Quant basically singlehandedly changed fashion in the 1960s from the stuffy (if beautiful) clothes of the 50s to the super-modern short dresses that kicked off the Youthquake. It's fascinating that so many huge changes in the world turn out to have been started by a single person or a few people. It always reminds me of the quote from Margaret Mead:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Then after the exhibition we had lunch in the gallery's cafe. So what, right? Well, yes, except that for both of us, it was the first time visiting a public indoor venue since August. It felt pretty freaky, but the exhibition was a masked/vaccine pass affair, and our Delta numbers are now very low (17 cases in Auckland today). We have Omicron in our border quarantine facilities, and it's bound to get in sooner rather than later, but so far we're not having to deal with that. So despite my mother being in a very high risk group, she felt pretty safe. She massively enjoyed her small dose of normality, especially as she knows she'll be back inside again when Omicron hits (and to keep her safe so will I).
Our current alert settings don't require Aucklanders to wear masks outside. I was very happy to see, however, that virtually everyone on the street was masked anyway. Practically nothing seems to stop Omicron, but I can't help hoping that when it gets here our high compliance levels might at least slow it down a bit and give our vastly underequipped hospitals a fighting chance.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Then after the exhibition we had lunch in the gallery's cafe. So what, right? Well, yes, except that for both of us, it was the first time visiting a public indoor venue since August. It felt pretty freaky, but the exhibition was a masked/vaccine pass affair, and our Delta numbers are now very low (17 cases in Auckland today). We have Omicron in our border quarantine facilities, and it's bound to get in sooner rather than later, but so far we're not having to deal with that. So despite my mother being in a very high risk group, she felt pretty safe. She massively enjoyed her small dose of normality, especially as she knows she'll be back inside again when Omicron hits (and to keep her safe so will I).
Our current alert settings don't require Aucklanders to wear masks outside. I was very happy to see, however, that virtually everyone on the street was masked anyway. Practically nothing seems to stop Omicron, but I can't help hoping that when it gets here our high compliance levels might at least slow it down a bit and give our vastly underequipped hospitals a fighting chance.
