A Brave New World

Today we woke to A  Brave New World here in Aotearoa, The Land of the Long White Cloud, New Zealand. We are in lockdown. But I am not going to talk about Covid19; everything has already been said.

But in our new world, we have to find ways to keep involved with others and keep ourselves occupied.

My blogging buddy and sister of choice, Chris at Bridges Burning and I are meeting each morning for coffee and Tai Chi on Face Time.  It isn’t very different for us as being on different sides of the world, in different hemispheres and time zones, we are used to talking via Face Time a couple of times a week. So what’s different? Well, it is now daily chats and includes Tai Chi. Everything is better when done with a friend.

And tomorrow we are meeting for drinks. We will meet with drinks in hand. 3 pm for me – oh yes, the sun is over the yardarm somewhere and surely it’s 5 pm someplace – and 10pm for Chris – she assures me it is not too late for a whisky at 10 pm. Who knows what Canadians get up to on long winter nights? Watch this space.

Yesterday I had afternoon tea with a neighbour. She brought her tea up and perched on her steps and I sat on my deck. We both enjoyed our tea and chat without getting close to each other. But how strange to be eating biscuits without offering her one.

And yesterday I drove ten minutes to the beach for my final beach walk for the foreseeable future. It was a perfect day and everybody was taking advantage of the last day of freedom to go where and when they wanted.

Walking is permitted within the vicinity of our home. While we don’t need permits to leave our house as they do in France, we are not allowed to use the car for other than supermarket shopping and visiting doctors and pharmacies. The police now have the power to stop motorists and demand where they are going. It’s not clear what will happen to those who flout the law. Again, watch this space.

Today’s walk wasn’t nearly as interesting, although I did meet others walking either with or without their dogs. And people working in the garden in the sunshine, children on scooters or bikes and everyone maintaining the 2-metre distance. People finding ways to pass time in this brave new world.

Those of us over 70 have been in lockdown mode since Saturday. It’s Thursday now and so we have six days experience. For most of the nation, it is day one. It will be interesting to watch how this pans out and how good people are at abiding by the stay at home rule.

Remember that now is the time to take care and stay safe. Be kind to each other and to yourself. And as my French Canadian friends in Montreal would say – “A la prochaine” – “See you next time”.