doughnut day

This was the day that Victorians had anxiously awaited.  The end of the lockdown was in sight but a new cluster had suddenly developed and a lot of testing had been done in that area.  The suspense built as the results were announced.  No new cases and no deaths.  It was instantly declared doughnut day (the doughnut representing the zero result), and the Victorians bought up on doughnuts much as everyone had bought up on toilet paper earlier in the pandemic.  Shops were quickly stripped of doughnuts, but nobody minded. It was a shortage they were happy to have.  Then there was a second day of zero results, happily declared a double doughnut day.

 There is a real National Doughnut Day, or Donut Day, declared in America to be on the 1st of June.  It celebrates the actions of the Chicago Salvation Army who supplied doughnuts to American soldiers in World War 1.

 The arguments over who got the last doughnuts were eclipsed by the arguments over the spelling of doughnut/donut.  I argued that, although it was clear from citational evidence that Australians still regarded doughnut as the proper spelling for Australians, they were used to the commercial spelling donut.  And in this particular case the o equating to zero cases and deaths was much clearer in the short spelling than in the long one. It was a kind of in-joke that Melburnians shared as they rushed off to buy the -o- food. I think they are entitled to as many jokes as they want.