Feast or famine … too much or not enough … overpopulated or deserted … these words aptly describe Lorne through 2020 into early 2021. First, Covid-19 and ‘the lockdowns’ kept people away for nearly nine long months; then – with the travel brakes released to coincide with Lorne’s annual silly season – it was suddenly open slather in this geographically confined but beautiful town of ours. Seemingly in the blink of an eye, we moved from a winter and spring of heightened anxiety about jobs, businesses, and the viability of restaurants into a frenetic, insane summer!
Sadly through troubled 2020, we bid sad farewell to several long-term business stalwarts along Mountjoy Parade. David and Meryl hung up their collective polymath at the bookshop, though without missing a beat or a publication, Caroline and Wayne took over. We lost Café Kaos, the Beach Pavilion [despite its recent renewal in some new clothes], and the much-loved shoe shop to the complexities of rental pressure. But, despite these changes, to paraphrase comments from Ian Stewart [Great Ocean Road Real Estate – Lorne, and Chairman of the Committee for Lorne] …
‘… the impact of COVID on businesses in Lorne appears less than in other cities, metropolitan and country areas not as ‘seasonal’ as Lorne. The only peak period lost to trade in pandemic Lorne was Easter. However, had the virus hit in October and had lasted through our summer season, it would have been a very different story. With many landlords providing winter rent relief [one, in particular, granted their commercial tenant a 6-month rent-free period]; with a rapidly convened local team organising food, clothing, accommodation, and financial support for 72 trapped back-packers and for several un- or under-employed local families; and with first-class Federal Government rescue packages quickly established, Lorne largely dodged a bullet”.
Importantly, compassion and empathy was also extended by most town landlords. One business owner [name supplied] has recorded: “… after reducing my rent to 10% per month from April to October, 45% of the balance was then waived while I have until November 2021 to pay off the remaining 45%.” Respect and gratitude must be accorded to all landlords who took that view. Indeed, our town has many who deserve thanks.
For many long months, and despite the challenges faced by local business, there was a certain languorous pleasure in the slow pace of solitude. Town residents pausing to chat during daily exercise on near-deserted winter beaches … and by the way, let’s all call residents ‘a resident’ now and avoid the divisive epithet ‘local’ or ‘non-local’ … invariably observed: ‘how lovely this quiet, lonely beach is’.
Life slowed. There was time to observe and enjoy – even to nibble at the edges of that feeling so intimately natural to our first peoples … the sense of belonging, of ‘country’. While our westernised hard-wired pride in ownership somehow blocks our grasp of the same visceral sense of being – of belonging – that comes so naturally to those of aboriginal heritage, those winter days did allow space for the soul to reflect. Covid-19 may have taught us that individual benefit, despite the devastation it has wrought on countless lives and livelihoods, the world over.
We hunkered down, maintained our social contacts – if not our social closeness – and despite a few bumpy moments, grew together. And … we could park in town, meet for socially distanced coffee, and forge trusting friendships with each other. We took breath and relaxed. All this despite the limitations enforced by ‘the virus’ – and by our government[s] exceptional response to the pandemic – the latter, while debated by some, was by global standards, undeniably classy and on-the-money.
Behind the scenes, Lorne was changing. Many with holiday homes chose to ‘sit out’ Lockdown #1 in Lorne, their school-aged children home-schooling by Zoom, Skype, or Microsoft Teams. ‘Work-from-home’ – the mantra of Lockdown #1 – imperceptibly blended into the interminable [for metro-Melbourne] Lockdown #2. ‘Work-from-home’ worked. Apart from an occasional dodgy Internet connection [surprisingly rare, given the load], home-driven business and education flourished. The resident population swelled. The Lorne P-12 College enrolments increased. Although the true measure of the influx is hard to gauge, some have suggested 200-300 ‘additional’ residents were living in Lorne. One Lorne real estate firm has noted a ‘bounce’ in the Lorne market in the range of 20-25% since the advent of Covid-19 … “the biggest annual increase since the Lorne boom period in the late 80’s”. Now, post-Lockdown #2, anecdotal evidence suggests the drift back to the cities may prove only partial, with a tranche of new and permanent residents [old and young] having joined us. Welcome to you all.
An attempt is underway to quantify the Covid-induced population change by comparing winter-month power consumption as a metric. This may prove complex to unpick, however, while utility use may have increased through additional permanent residency, the restrictions on travel would have minimised usual weekender power consumption. Drilling down to a midweek-only comparison that cancels out non-attending weekenders might help … but time will tell.
So … famine or feast … or rather, famine then feast.
Bang! … like a ‘Goodnight Irene’ Muhammad Ali upper-cut, Melbourne’s Lockdown #2 ended, and Lorne’s summer began. To the lulled-into-solitude townsfolk of Lorne, it was on for young and old – it was like bees to a honeypot!
Bang! … summer hit! No slow and manageable up-swing in visitation as in other years, but a tsunami of people released from their entrapment jostled with each other as they motored the GOR – Lorne as their destination.
Bang! … queues of cars back to Cathedral Rock [GOR] and to the Welcome-to-Lorne signs [DMR] appeared as if overnight. Drivers tooted their frustration, parked across drives, U-turned into rare-as-hens-teeth parking spots, and failed to pull aside for the constant sirens of police, paramedics, and first responders. The traffic was insane! Perhaps above all, there was the garbage – oceans of it – but that is another topic altogether.
We should have been prepared. We should have known … indeed, we did know it would happen. But after such a languorous nine months, the ferocity still took us by surprise. Understaffed, profoundly overworked, and with no overseas back-packers to help out, our service industry [perhaps best represented by the supermarket staff], our restaurants, and our healthcare workers were collectively frantic – yet somehow kept their cool.
Now, as enjoyable February and March begins … [1] let us pause to reflect on our resilience to cope with winter’s adversities, and [2] let us pause to thank to our service industries, eateries, and our ‘keep-us-safe’ organisation [law-enforcement, healthcare, and first responders] … for you have all been truly magnificent.
John Agar
