(Apologies for the enormous gap between episode 63 and this one - its nearly been a month! Here's a tune to listen to while you read on, for reasons that might make sense 2/3 of the way through)

I didn’t expect to be finishing this episode off under a new Melbourne lockdown. It was almost written - and after all the Hermit Kingdom was meant to be in the future, a beacon of a post-COVID world where life was almost ‘back to normal’. But it’s a mirage - without a successful vaccine rollout, we have actually managed to be stuck in the past, and thus more exposed. And so here we are again.

Just before this latest lockdown I caught the tram over to the Royal Exhibition Hall and got an ‘ahead of schedule’ first shot of the AZ vaccine. Although the staff noticed I was under 50 they waved me through - and somewhat shockingly there were no queues. It was straight from the door to the needle! Australia has been so complacent about vaccination that it is infuriating - and that’s even before mentioning the political incompetence - an example of the Aussie “she’ll be right” attitude. Most Melbourne folks are angry right now. They should be.