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.