Yesterday was #FreedomDay in Sydney; the day marked in everyone’s social calendars as the “day we get out of lockdown” and safe to say, I had to hold it together here in Melbourne.
It got to a point where I actually had to put my phone away for hours. Every time I found myself scrolling down Instagram, all I could see was sexy people cheers-ing spicy margaritas, dancing on pub tables, roaming the beachy streets of Sydney (every suburb looks like Bondi to me) looking like captives set free into a music festival.
So, I thought, what’s the harm in finding out how Sydney-siders actually spent their first day of freedom? I couldn’t possibly feel any more FOMO, there’s nothing to lose.
I put a call out on Instagram and went for a stalk of all my Sydney friends, to see what they got up to.
To my surprise, not everyone went crazy.
Much like Sydney venues, of which most had lines out the door and around the corner, some people went from 0 – 100. While others, didn’t feel ready to expose themselves to the madness just yet.
“It was rainy and miserable,” one friend told me. “Every corner pub was packed and had such massive lines, you’d have thought it was a public holiday.”
“I went and saw Respect at the movies (by myself)” another friend said, reminding me of just how much I miss going to the movies.
Sure, projectors at home are pretty cool, but there’s nothing quite as calming and being in a dark, cold cinema, waiting to be whisked away by the magic of film.
“I only left the house to take the dog for a wee,” said someone else, reminding me that yesterday was just like any other day at work, but actually busier, because things were starting to open up again.
“I went solo bar-hopping in the city,” one of my closest friends told me, through her clearly very unpleasant hangover.
“I caught the ferry from Rose Bay to Circular Key, started at Door Knock, then Baxter’s Inn, where I settled for a bit and met two investigators who are on the Australian War Crimes Case.”
“Now, I’m hungover as hell, at work.”
Sheeesh. I’m not envious of the hangover, but I do missing a solo bar hop, and just dining alone in general.
“I booked a table with 10 friends at our local pub,” someone else tells me, which sounds like exactly what I would’ve done.
“I am definitely paying for it today.”
While three people—absolute troopers might I add—told me the exact same thing: “a fucking assignment”, which sounds pretty terrible given the circumstances, I have to say.
“I went to the gym for the first time in months and it was both terrifying and incredibly difficult,” a colleague told me, which impressed me a helluva lot actually, because I barely find motivation to go to the gym on a usual day, let alone my first day of freedom after months of lockdown.
The same colleague, said they then went to the pub, which was “even more overwhelming”.
“I bought several pints and had the thrill of standing in a queue and making small talk with strangers,” which honestly sounds divine, because how great is random human interaction?
But despite the excitement of #FreedomDay, there was also some angst too, understandably. Not only was it socially overwhelming and slightly “anxiety-inducing” for people to go out in the world and socialise “normally” again, the Sydney pubs were said to be a “bit too packed.”
“It felt like going from 0-100 real quick, and not in a good way,” said a Sydney-sider who indeed went to a pub, last night.
“The pub I was in was also super disorganised. We didn’t get asked for vaccination status and it was definitely above the 1 person per 4sqm rule, but the police came in to check and didn’t say anything?
“My friends and I were having a bit of a joke about how fucked we’re all going to be in a few weeks.”
Eeeeek. That doesn’t sound super promising. But also, it’s kinda hard for me to be cynical when I’m so friggin happy that my friends got to experience a taste of freedom again.
It’s not long now for you Melbourne. Hang in there.