Diary of a House: Day 5- Home Invasion

Chris sends a text at 7am to say there's been an intruder in the night. The story goes, he was woken by particularly heavy rain and went to check the garage door. We'd left it open. The light in his 4 wheel drive was on so he investigated, looking upstairs as the door from the garage to the house was unlocked too. I didn't hear anything and when I check, my bike has gone. Third one I've had stolen- one in London during a tube strike when I biked into the City to do a cooking job, one from CBHS which Kahu left unlocked, now this. Given the deluge of rain last night, I'm surprised, but given the lock down I'm not surprised. Opportunist burglars come out during times of crisis. There was looting during the earthquake lock down. Friends of friends hired burglars to retrieve computer records they were not allowed to get themselves. I'm bummed. I use my bike all the time, it's my transport to school from College Ave. I brought it over last night to exercise while we are locked down in Cashmere.

The country now has 589 cases of Covid- 552 confirmed and 37 probable. A Guardian headline reads, "New Zealand site to report Covid-19 rule=breakers crashes amid spike in lockdown anger." And goes on to say, "Since going live over the weekend, the site has crashed at least once due to complaints over people playing rugby or frisbee and holding parties." Interesting...it's been pretty quiet in my neighbourhood.

The rain sets in again. The burglary makes me feel insecure and I realise my house is not that secure. There is an easy to pick lock on the gate and one of the french doors is open at the back. The only access as the lockable laundry door has been boarded up to weather proof. I take a heavy metal D lock. Inside, water has come through the bay window of my room which is waiting for lead lights. I wipe it up and put a tarpaulin over for protection. There's also a damp patch by the solar pipes for the hot water system.
When I leave I move the combination lock along the fence and padlock the main gate. As the rain clears I borrow one of Chris's bikes and find a hill to ride up. It's long and high and I'm pushing to make it. But it blows air through my lungs. And good to see other people: pram pushers, joggers, dog walkers, and walkers. Greeting each other, we keep our distance. Social isolation with social connection. Chris has been threatening to get groceries all day- mission of the week.