After keeping an appointment at the Townsville University Hospital , a distinguished royal personage of mature age went to a nearby walk up Covid-19 vaccination centre , hoping to get a jab. Attempts by phone to get an appointment had failed in previous weeks .
However, at the slick hospital facility, she was quickly ushered in , given Pfizer and a lollypop.
Feeling pleased, she caught a bus into the CBD , intending to do some shopping at Woolies but said the place had "gone mad". Word had gotten out that there was to be a lockdown of Townsville , Magnetic Island and Palm Island ; there were lines of people raiding the shelves.
Scared off , she caught the ferry to Magnetic Island, tripped down the gangplank into the IGA store ... only to be greeted by another seething mass of humanity , some pushing trolleys with familiar bundles of white essentials , chocolates also in demand .
There was very little left for the royal lady to purchase . However, she did manage , after more than an hour in the shopping ruck , to find a roll (not of toilet paper ) but dog food for her Curlews and some sweet potatoes for the Wallabies that come calling at night .
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| Well fed Curlews . |
The Day of the Triffids Down Under
For those hooked on midnight horror movies , The Day of the Triffids , in which the Earth is threatened by meteor showers , like the above one over Townsville , which blind most people , then killer carnivorous plants suck out their brains , came to mind during the rush to be tested for Covid on Magnetic Island.
An incredibly long queue , part above, snaked off into the bush next to the Health Clinic . From time to time , a mournful crow flew in and added to the feeling of impending doom .
One wondered if the SES members, who set out the meandering course with tape , were also there in case of attacks by Death Adders , because they recently staged a public function at which they taught how to bandage a snake bite .
With more than 2300 people to be tested on the island, lined up in the David Attenborough wilderness , the odds were surely that somebody would be fanged .
And that inquisitive croaking black Crow ,such birds regarded as harbingers of death by superstitious types , which flew in to see what was going on , added to the spooky scene . Weird Pommie murder television series often feature a Black Raven .
In the Northern Territory decades ago , there was a man at Pine Creek who loathed the mournful cry of Crows so much he fitted a silencer to his rifle and used to shoot them . Police manning a roadblock on the Stuart Highway became very stroppy when Crows suddenly started to drop about them .
Some people on the island were lined up for eight or nine hours before they were processed , or turned away until the next day . Because it was not a drive up testing station, parked cars were lined up in many nearby streets , nearly as far away as Nelly's groyne .
People in the queue , which included some in wheelchairs , a few in gophers , sent out runners to the nearby Otto's cafe for coffee and tucker, which was good for business. Those in the know and better equipped, brought books to read , rugs, chairs and pillows . Blotto ? Take away bottle shops did well in Townsville and on the island.
