Stephen Drill: Why birdsong is worrying in these COVID-19 times

You’d think the sound of birds would be a welcome change to the roaring jets at Heathrow, but their beautiful songs reveal a grim picture of the coronavirus pandemic, writes Stephen Drill.

I can hear birds singing outside my window and it’s grinding my gears.

I live under the Heathrow flight path, one of the world’s busiest airports with aeroplanes arriving as often as every 45 seconds.

Usually, it’s so loud that in the back garden you can’t hear people a couple of feet away from you.

I take Daryl Kerrigan’s view from The Castle about the noise and kick back with a beer outside in the summer and think ‘How’s the serenity?’

Picking which airline from the colours on the tail is also a game that keeps the kids entertained for a few seconds. I could use that during lockdown.

Now, there’s silence, except for the birds of course, with their beautiful songs.

And I’m frustrated because of what that means.

If I can hear the birds, that means the aeroplanes are not flying, which in turns means that people are dying.

If I can hear the birds, that means the aeroplanes are not flying, which in turns means that people are dying, says Stephen Drill. Picture: Istock

The coronavirus, or the Miley Cyrus, as some people have nicknamed it has become the biggest disruption to our lives since World War II, with the 500,000 cases mark hit late this week.

Everyone is affected with the killer bug already in 182 countries across the globe.

According to Worldometer, which has been doing a comprehensive job of keeping a tally of the virus infections and deaths, there are only 195 countries on the planet.

The UK has mostly been getting on with it and people have been following the rules as they became clearer under a lockdown.

When it was a request that people stay out of pubs and cafes, people slowed their visits slightly, but since it has become an order, from what I can see out my window, London has become a ghost town.

We are getting closer to the middle of the peak of the virus, which will happen in the next two weeks.

Australia has that to look forward to by about the end of April.

The UK lockdown only allows travel to the shops for essential food or medicine and exercise once a day.

The UK has mostly been getting on with it and people have been following the rules as they became clearer under a lockdown. Picture: Supplied

We managed to get a grocery delivery this week, which has saved a heap of heartache lining up at the shops, which still have plenty of empty shelves.

There was no milk in the order so I went down the local high street for the first time in four days to grab some and stopped in at the butcher on the way.

Beer has also been in short supply but there is still a lonely section of Fosters at my local Tesco, which was sitting there from my previous trip four days earlier.

After a lack of meat at the supermarket last week we have been ploughing our way through vegetarian sausage rolls, which are surprisingly OK, I also grabbed some steaks for dinner.

The UK government has been relatively clear in its advice and has provided simple solutions, such as paying 80 per cent of people’s wages up to $A5000 per month, for both employees and now self employed people, while they ride out this crisis.

They have certainly done a better job than Australia, with its confusing and complicated payment system for businesses.

Down at the local park, while following social distancing rules, a friend said that the 80 per cent rule had given her certainty to keep going.

That’s the sort of confidence that Australia needs so that when this health crisis is over people can get back to work in the same job.

The photographs of Centrelink lines did not give me much hope that Australia is on the right track.

Now’s the time to put the fire out, not say we better not use the water in the dam because we might need it in the future.

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