Last Sunday night (March 28) at midnight spelled the official end of Sydney’s last few major COVID-19 restrictions.

Acting upon advice from the Health Department, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has seen fit to allow public transport commuters to travel mask-free from this week.

Limits on numbers attending weddings and funerals have now been removed, as have restrictions on private gatherings (ie, in the home), while singing is now permitted in places of worship.

While crowd limits are still capped at some major sporting and social events, it’s almost become a case of ‘business as usual’ for most Sydneysiders over recent weeks.

Normally a lively and colourful parade along Sydney’s Oxford St, this year’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras on Saturday March 6 was a celebration of 36,000 spectators, who packed into the Sydney Cricket Ground for the official parade, where approximately 4,000 people marched.

There were no floats, marchers were capped at 40 per group and social distancing was well policed.

Authorities and organisers have praised the community for what they have described as a peaceful celebration.

A rally at the Sydney Town Hall on Monday March 15 saw tens of thousands of people gather together and march peacefully to Parliament House to highlight the cause of sexual assault reform, as well as cultural change.

Unrestricted Crowds For NRL

Capacity crowds at Sydney NRL matches are now permitted from this weekend’s Easter Round, with attendances at both Good Friday’s South Sydney Rabbitohs versus Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs match and Easter Monday’s battle between the Wests Tigers and the Parramatta Eels both expected to nudge or even exceed the 20,000 mark.

With the 2020 Golden Slipper run in front of an empty grandstand because of COVID-19, it was quite ironic that this year’s renewal at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday March 27 should be won by the very aptly named Stay Inside!

Last Saturday’s $3.5 million event – the world’s richest horse race for two year olds – saw the crowd capped at 10,000 but larger attendances may be permitted at ‘The Championships’, a two week carnival at Royal Randwick during April.

Having been cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19, it’s exciting news that authorities have given the green light for the Royal Easter Show at Sydney Olympic Park to go ahead, although numbers at this year’s ‘Show’ will be down on previous years.

The popular two week gathering, which has been described as the largest yearly event in the Southern Hemisphere, has an App with a traffic light system to monitor the number of people at the various events and exhibits, and public transport will no longer be free with a ticket…. commuters must pay for travel with their Opal card or payment card.

Royal Agriculture Society of NSW Chief Executive, Brock Gilmour recently told Channel Nine News: “you can feel safe when you come to the showgrounds ... all the attractions will be there, all the animals, all the showbags.

"We've also invested in some software, which will scan people in and out of the various pavilions.”

Commencing on Thursday April 1 and running until Monday April 12, this year’s Easter Show is also different in that unlike previous years, show goers must specify which day they want to attend.

On site at the Sydney Showground, there will be increased cleaning, hand sanitisation stations, COVID marshalls and socially distanced queues.

Daily attendance caps were set by NSW Health about three weeks ago.

The Resilient Building Game

One industry where COVID-related disruptions to projects weren’t nearly as widespread as initially feared, was the building game, which provided to be far more resilient than some anticipated.

Building and construction was widely predicted to be one of the industries hardest hit by the knock-on effect of COVID but that certainly hasn’t been the case, with construction work falling by less than one percent in 2020.

With many Sydneysiders either working from home or being made to stay at home during lockdown, people have taken the opportunity to focus on home improvements and renovations.

At Yes I Can Project Group, where we offer more than 20 services related to home improvements – from tasks as simple as hanging a picture on your wall to renovating your bathroom or kitchen or renovating your entire home – we completed our busiest year ever in 2020.

We are Sydney’s most innovative building company and if you’re looking for expert bathroom renovations in Sydney – or quality kitchen renovations for that matter – then you should look no further than Yes I Can.

Some of our other areas of expertise include full home renovations and renovating terrace houses and we have several examples on this website where we have completed multiple projects on the same property for satisfied customers.

Not just the bathroom and the kitchen but the laundry, flooring, staircases, windows, doors, painting….you name it!

Please take the opportunity to peruse our “(past) Projects” and “Testimonials” sections of this website – we’re sure you’ll be impressed!

AND HAVE A GREAT EASTER!

• CAPTION: All the fun of the fair! Sydney’s famous Royal Easter Show is back in 2021. (Photo credit DESTINATION NSW)