Day 4

At least 24 more days of lockdown to go. It has been a week like no other, shared I know by all of you here in Aotearoa, and probably in some similar form by all of you elsewhere in the world. We began the week at alert level 2 (of 4) and are finishing the week with our first weekend under alert level 4, and the announcement today of the first death from Covid-19 here in NZ. Level 4 means everyone stays home in their bubble (see below), or very close to home but doesn’t interact with those outside your bubble, and all business except for essential services are closed.

I had work booked for Monday and Tuesday preparing customers to work from home, as events were being canceled, the over 70’s being advised to stay home, and panic buyers were trying to clear the supermarket shelves. While in the office where I was working, we watched the PM’s lunchtime press conference: we are moving to level 3 now, and level 4 at 11.59pm on Wednesday. Stay home. Save lives. The phone system thought about going into meltdown but just survived. I wasn’t able to make outgoing calls but I did receive some.

I did a little food shopping on Wednesday, and things were a bit quieter than they had been, but not back to normal. My usual Friday shop was very different. The supermarkets have imposed limits on the number of customers, and as soon as that is reached, it runs on a one-out-one-in basis, managed by a security guard. Applying the 2m physical distance rule made the queue outside physically longer:

Inside, shopping was much more pleasant than it had been, until joining the end of the queue to get to a cashier - who you are guided to. This queue was much longer than the one to get into the shop. No tannoy announcement for “cashier number 3 please” though!

I noticed that people were very quiet - not really talking to each other in the queues. I also noted, along with the very small amount of traffic on the road, that most people were driving slower and more cautiously than usual. We have been told not to risk having an accident - doing anything, so no going to the beach to swim for me!

Nicky walked over to have a physically distanced chat with Jancis before the lockdown started. She is now stuck here until international travel is available again. Mary came over in the afternoon for some iPad support, again while she could.

Also on Wednesday the lovely Jacinda implemented a state of national emergency, which gives the government a whole range of powers for managing the country. I think the last time this happened was when the All Blacks lost three games in a row!

For Nicky and I we have quickly adopted a new normal of watching the 1pm and 3pm (if there is one) televised press briefings from the Government. Our days are very similar to the odd pre-lockdown days when Nicky had no social commitments and I had no work booked. We potter round the house, do the laundry, eat food, and sometimes even have a conversation! I was thinking of suggesting to Nicky that we have a “who can live in their PJ’s for the longest competition”, but then realised with her being a retiree and well practiced at this that I wouldn’t stand a chance. I have got more in morning walks (many more walkers around that usual), and we have had an evening stroll and will probably have a few more. 

Bakers Delight, our favourite source of hot cross buns (yes, there is a vowel in the month again) looked like they might be classed as an essential service and remain open during the lockdown, but no such luck. Our response has been to test the offerings from the two main supermarkets. Neither are as good, but they are very similar to each other and quite acceptable given the current (no pun intended because they have raisins or sultanas) circumstances.

On Friday I needed to use up some mascarpone cheese that was in the fridge, so found a recipe and modified it (mainly replacing the condensed milk with caramel because it had 20% less sugar!) and produced a lemon tart which turned out quite well. It went down a treat after the lovely omelettes that Nicky made for tea tonight.

My customers seem happy so far with my provision for remote support, and I feel it is a good “dry run” for when we go to Wanganui, which will be delayed with everything being closed down at the moment. My Deep & Meaningful group is experimenting with on-line meetups using Zoom, (so I think of them as ZoomUps) to keep in contact and have some stimulation during the lock down period. We have been using the technology so far to work out how to use the technology….conversational meetings are yet to happen.

We have also been introduced to the bubble concept - your bubble contains those who you live with. You do not interact with those outside your bubble unless you have to, such as shopping in the supermarket, when you have to keep 2m apart. Our bubble did a jigsaw yesterday, which we enjoyed, and today has been a lovely autumn day with some warm sunshine. Part of the bubble cut the grass and the other part made some vitamin D.

We are taking each day as it comes, and are aware that this lockdown may go on for more than the currently scheduled 4 weeks. We are both OK, despite having had minor cold symptoms for weeks, Nicky especially (well before Covid-19) but we are feeling reasonably well, and are in good spirits.

Take care, stay safe, stay bubbled. Rick