Isolation Take 2 week 2

We got the news yesterday that we are still in Level 4 until Tuesday night, and then hopefully some of the country (including us) will move down to Level 3. It's a funny feeling again. I think there was always some hope that we would move to Level 3 quickly, but it's sensible not to. Auckland (and possibly Northland) will be in lockdown for a while so it is particularly difficult for them right now. We are definitely lucky being in the South Island.

I'm watching the Facebook posts of my relatives in the UK travelling around and doing the 'normal' day to day things and thinking that was the other way around a while ago, with us in Level 1 and them in lockdown. Things can change so quickly, especially with this Delta variant.

When lockdown comes there are always a range of posts that pop up on social media that make you laugh, or that are particularly good. A couple that I really like at the moment are the One Day More Corona Parody (thanks to JJ for sending this to me) and the Aranui Community Trust's TikTok that reminds people how to stay safe - love the reo and the energy in this, it's fun but gets the message across.

This week has been busy - contacting students I work with, getting long needed paperwork done and having Zoom calls and Google Meets. I do find the calls difficult sometimes when the video and audio don't match, I realise how much I lip read in these situations and wonder how it must be for those that are hard of hearing and have no hearing aids to help.

NCEA exams have moved back 2 weeks. This will give students more time to prepare, but will also place more pressure on staff as they lose time that would normally be used for planning for the next year. It's a fine balancing act and I hope that schools consider the well-being of staff as well as the well-being of students. 

I am watching the paralympics at the moment. What amazing athletes. They have overcome so much and are competing at such a high level. I have learnt a lot about the classification system - this site helped immensely and I am continually referring back to it as I watch new events. It's so sad that the Paralympics don't get as much publicity as the Olympics, but I guess that is the way with many sports - someone makes a decision as to what gets airtime or pages in the news.

The good weather meant I could get out in the garden and the longer daylight hours have been great. I'm loving the spring flowers and the blossom on the fruit trees, The rain now means that I get more genealogy done and I am working on my mother's Sagar line at the moment which has been really interesting. Lots of Barons and property, very interesting history. The photo here is of my gg grandfather's Ironmongers shop - it has been recreated in the Abbey House Museum in Kirkstall which is where the Sagar family held a lot of land. I remember my mother saying the shop was exactly how she remembered it, right down to the smell and the bench she used to sit on. I'm loving the research and the gardening.  It's a win win for any weather for me at the moment.

How do I feel this week? I was feeling ok for a while, then had a wave of OMG how am I going to manage this, then after chatting with a couple of people I felt better again. Just shows how important it is to stay connected to others during these uncertain times. Make sure you reach out and have some good conversations each day. He waka eke noa - we are all in this together.

Isolation Take 2

 So, here we are again.

We found out on Tuesday afternoon that we had one Covid case in Auckland. By midnight the whole country was in lockdown. Today we find out we are in this for a while longer - at least until the middle of next week. 

It was strange day on Tuesday. I had no idea anything had happened and I went after school to buy some cat food and the carpark at the supermarket was full! It's never full. There were so many people there, I figured at that point that something must be happening, especially when I saw a lady come out with a trolley that had a lot of toilet paper! I was surprised how few people were scanning in, knowing this was probably Covid related, but I scanned (as I always do), dashed in to get the cat food I desperately needed and then came home. To stay for quite a while as it turns out.

I don't know how I feel. Part of me is happy to have the time to get all that paperwork done for school. I quite enjoy the extra time I have to potter in the garden, have lunch at home and pat the cats, lots. I enjoy being in the quiet and having the freedom to have lunch when I want and to pop out in the garden for 30 mins when it's warm.

But I also feel strange. It's just not comfortable and I worry for so many people on so many different levels. Much of this I went through during the isolation we had last year (you can read all my blogs on that) but I feel like I'm doing all that thinking in a much shorter space of time. Back then it was all new, we were finding our way through. It took days to work out what was going on and how to manage things. This time it's all been a bit of a rush. Here we are. Bang. Back into it. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

I have ways to spend my time. I'm working from home and have spent the last few work days getting some much needed paperwork sorted as well as planning for a continued lockdown. I've spent many hours on my laptop, sadly missing a programme I'd like to have to make life easier, but my work laptop is behind closed gates so I have to do without. I can still work though, as most things I do are online and I keep everything in my Google Drive. I have a website to make, some scanning to do, lots of sorting out of documents, gardening, genealogy - I can fill my time up quite happily. I even have a jigsaw here but I don't feel like doing one. Maybe it's the fact that the cat pulled the last one off the desk before it was complete (grrr), or maybe I've done enough lately.

We are lucky to have the technology we do - video chats, messaging, funny pics coming through to keep us entertained, but it's also a reminder that not everyone has that access. I think that's part of my battle. A lockdown is not equitable. Hmmm, more thinking on that.

Don't get me wrong, it is definitely the right thing to do. It just feels strange this time around for some reason and I haven't quite pinpointed it yet.