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Two men in yellow overalls came to the door, carrying a bag of tomatoes, a carton of 18 free range eggs, two litres of pasteurised, low-fat, permeate-free milk and two T-bone steaks.
Two. Proper food. The Grasslands beef burgers were unavailable.
It was like the relief of Berlin when the Americans air-lifted in food to beleaguered West Berliners cut off from the rest of Western Europe by the Soviet Cold War cordon.
The two delivery men from Woolies were wary.
They obeyed the 1.5 metre exclusion zone. I wasn't allowed to sign for the food but one of them took a picture of it on the doorstep.
I have survived for nearly a week on the generosity of colleagues. They have turned up with food - but, and I make no complaint, friends bring stuff I don't normally eat: chocolate eggs and muffins.
As Karl Marx said: "Home workers of the world, unite. You have nothing to lose but your chocolate eggs."
And my friends have brought fruit. Fruit!
Don't tell your children, but there's not much point to fruit, in my opinion. Just occasionally - about two or three times in your life - you may taste fruit straight from a farm, naturally ripened to perfection by the sun, and that's worth eating.
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But supermarket fruit is tasteless after forced ripening. It's barely edible unless it's laced with cream or alcohol or both. Eat the fruit first to get it out of the way is my advice and then enjoy the rest.
But fruit doesn't actually harm while chocolate and biscuits and cake expand your girth. They are the food of weak-willed choice when you can't leave the house and the working day is unstructured.
And the rule of snacking is that one biscuit is never enough. Once a packet is opened, it's over.
In an office, under the eye of the boss, routine is firmer. You arrive on time and work visibly. You take breaks at designated times.
Working at home is less structured. The work-flow is more fluid. Tasks can be postponed until right up against deadlines, later in the evening.
If home-working is the coming thing, we need to organise our time more rigidly. We need to be disciplined.
We cannot live by Tim-Tams alone.
- For information on COVID-19, please go to the ACT Health website or federal Health Department's website.
- You can also call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080
- If you have serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, call Triple Zero (000)
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
