Coronavirus has defined the times and dictated the passage of time over the last two months.
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Now as we move to ease restrictions, fingers crossed it really is time, because a lot can happen in 60 days.
On March 17 I received an email from a friend in Paris describing events when France went into lockdown.
Parisians apparently poured into cafes and bars between 8pm and 1am for what he described as "last drinks". At that stage, the death tally in France was 264.
Lockdown in Australia started March 22, two days after Australia's version of "last drinks" on Bondi Beach, with the body count at 7.
We were already playing catch-up footy in a game no one wanted to win.
My friend and I took to exchanging observations about international hysteria. The similarities were kind of reassuring in an illogical way.
"Toilet paper became a hot topic here too," wrote my friend. "Together with pasta and tomato sauces ... empty shelves, as if pasta were the new fashionable anti-viral treatment. Totally foolish and demonstrates French people's ignorance. Everybody should know that rice, rather than pasta, should be associated with toilet paper."
Le-LOL!
I described personal lockdown achievements Down Under had included watching Iron Mans 1 and 2 with a view to going through the entire Marvel Comic franchise in chronological order. An intellectual challenge requiring vast amounts of spare time, which, as it turns out, we had heaps of in social isolation. I was discouraged early on to hear one of our lockdown team mention they felt this may be a waste life.
Over in Paris, the rigours of social isolation sounded familiar.
"So we are at home, behind closed doors, all the family with our two cats which keep wondering what's happening. We are allowed to walk outside only for highly necessary daily routine, such as shopping at groceries, visit to doctors or pharmacists, veterinary, tobacco stores (!) and... bakeries. You know, baguette and croissants. You could impose a restraining order on so many things, but certainly not on bakeries."
Same in Australia, I wrote. (Viva la France by the way.)
"Nobody is coming into the country, no one is crossing state borders, people are getting fined for leaving their house for "non esssential" reasons, like eating a doner kebab, and there seems to be an increase in public spitting ... on people."
"We hope that you guys haven't been affected, but we note the infection and mortality rates have been high.
"We have children at home studying online and making very hurtful comments about how annoying their parents are.
"This may have something to do with the fact that dad has won three of the last four games of Scrabble in something of a board game renaissance.
"Let the record show that he has been victorious both drunk and sober - so really bringing his all round skills to the table.
"We have been good citizens and trying to stay at home as much as possible, restricting shopping to once a week and going on a family jog at the end of each day.
"The vegetable garden is coming along and if necessary we will be able to live off our produce for half a day at least, if the snails and caterpillars aren't poisonous.
"The weather has been sensational which is just what you want when you are advised to not go out and enjoy it.
"Our government is advising lockdown will last at least another month or more, so if we haven't mastered Marvel by then, we haven't been trying."
That month has now passed and the Australian government is looking to ease restrictions and reboot the economy.
The grisly scorecard midweek stood at France 26,643, Australia 97. Don't even mention the US, Britain, Spain, Iran, Italy etc, for fear of seeing a future we've managed to avoid thus far.
Clearly something has worked so hats off to all responsible, but now to manage the recovery.
Unfortunately lifting restrictions doesn't mean COVID's been defeated, there's just more room in the ICU. A thought front and centre last weekend at a packed shopping centre looking to buy a Mother's Day gift.
Talk about social petri dish.
We haven't heard from our French friends in quite a while which I hope is not a reflection on my poor emailing skills, but I wonder what we might be writing two months from now. Hope it's all good because clearly a lot can happen in 60 days.
More from Simon Walker: The complete That's Life archive
