'I was very frustrated,' he said. 'I get claustrophobic in a closed space, so it was not very good for me. I don’t want that experience again.'
Sassy's first taste of fresh air after five days of hard lockdown at the North Melbourne public housing estate was particularly sweet.
Moments after being allowed out of their public housing towers in Flemington on Thursday night for the first time in five days, teenagers were outside yelling that they were free, amusing one of the locals, Vas Crabb, and some of the police who had been monitoring the lockdown. Residents from the open towers, about 2500 of them, emerged for fresh air on Friday when the hard lockdown reverted to stage-three restrictions, like the rest of Melbourne.Liz Lipski found the past five days hard and "soul-searingly lonely". She was low in vitamin D after being stuck inside for so long, but feeling a bit better after getting out on Friday.Ms Lipski, from Melrose Street, went to the doctor on her first day out and did some shopping.
"As a community, listening to people call us things like a 'vulnerable community', 'disadvantaged community', but nonetheless the only support we got were from our own community." An information leaflet encourages residents to wash "smaller high use items" at home, while towels have been provided.
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