AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

Was country singer and white-bearded icon Willie Nelson in some sort of restricted movement situation, or enforced home confinement, when he penned his famous 1979 lyrics: “On the road again. Just can’t wait to get on the road again…”? More specifically, the second verse’s: “Goin’ places that I’ve never been. Seein’ things that I may never see again…”?

While these invitingly lullaby-like song words seem equally, if not more so, relevant to thousands across Australia and citizens across the world today, where government lockdowns persist in an attempt to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, to some people such an escapist idea will largely remain just a beautiful ideal.

And that’s because, for many, their more pressing health concerns – like cancer treatment, crucial surgeries, CT scans, blood tests for diabetes and treatment for the frequently ensuing kidney problems –