Day 10

Double digits! 18 days and 1 hour to go. Maybe.

The rates of infection have levelled and there was hope today that we’re on the right track, meaning we might be able to reduce to Alert Level 3 in 18 days, and one hour. It will be a welcome relief but will not be enough for business to get back to where it needs to, to be productive. Business needs level 2.

I missed some things today. I missed a weekend breakfast in the Cafe on the ground floor of my apartment building. I missed the hum of activity in the city. In global terms, Auckland is a small city, but in New Zealand it’s large, growing and active 24/7. It felt sad that the energy, dynamism and production has been stalled.

I got out on my motorcycle today, to clear my mail – that’s an essential service activity right? – and to get some supplies from the supermarket. It was great to be out on two wheels again and was pleased I hadn’t forgotten what to do!

I also got out for another walk – it was a gorgeous day – and now I’m pleasantly tired from physical exercise.  The Maunga of Tamaki Makaurau are great for the heart!

Not everyone is so relaxed though. Unsurprisingly tensions are flaring in supermarkets, although not where I’ve been. A person is set to appear in court after punching a supermarket manager in Warkworth. When it was first said we’d be able to get out to the Supermarket, my original plan was Warkworth, until the concept of “local” was put out there. Fortunately for me, as it sounds like a hotbed of frustration.

And there will be a lot of frustration. The housing crisis hasn’t suddenly gone away. They’ll still be large families living in homes that are too small causing untold pressure. They’ll be abusive adults with young children. Tragic, especially when you consider that not a single child under 10 has died, anywhere in the world,  from COVID-19. Who will be the first to say that this thing is a Boomer* thing? They’re the ones at risk, along with the Silent Generation. The economic and social victims are younger.

A warm message from the incoming Police Commissioner, who like his predecessor is taking a realistic Kiwi stance: “We allow people to undertake exercise because that actually is healthy for people, and this is hard. People are stuck in their homes and we’re only in the first week, so we need to be sensible about this.”  Empathetic Leadership.

Enjoy the extra hour of sleep tonight, and if you didn’t get it, enjoy a long day!

Stephen

*Baby Boomers were born after World War 2, 1946 up to 1960 although sometimes it refers to people born up to 1964. The 1960-1964 are “Confused Baby Boomers”. The Silent Generation are people born from 1925 to 1945. As far as I am aware there is no scientific or research basis for the generation descriptions and behaviours, which often surprises people as it’s spoken in common language as though it’s a thing. The only thing are the dates, all behaviours attributed to a generation are without a foundation.