Life is Level 2 is a reprieve and we slowly get going, but it feels different. Slower, quieter, more restrained. Listening to the radio it's a different world in our super city, Auckland, where they are still in Level 4. I would go up the wall but they have to see it through. There's a hilarious, Kiwi story, midweek about two gang associated members picked up by police cruising the back streets on the southern border separating Auckland from the Waikato. They have $100,000 cash in the car and a boot load of KFC. Going to celebrate a deal with their mates. KFC is such a Polynesian fast food thing. Cultural. Iconic Kiwi. Somehow this story gives me hope that life goes on regardless.
The kids are more subdued but happy, as we all are, to circulate and do teen things with their mates. Better for everyone's mental health. There's a shortage of building supplies round the motu, islands, as so much comes from Auckland. I call in to Accent Lighting to ask whether they have heard anything about the lights I ordered from Italy back in May. They haven't. International shipping is all over the place and I don't expect miracles. They're the light fittings above my kitchen island. I can see, I can wait.
The itchiness from the fungus retreats till Friday when it comes back on my neck and along my spine. Also, patches on my legs. I'm grateful I haven't got it all over like Kahu because it's even on his feet and his hands are bad. I change my clothes every day and do bucket loads of laundry. And encourage Kahu to put steroid cream on raw patches. We muddle along but this is a bit like head lice and Delta. You have to eliminate every last fungi, otherwise it will come back. Makes me sympathetic to people who can't access medicine today, and those in times past who couldn't. This would be vile to live with long term.
On Friday we have a restricted PPTA regional meeting to discuss annual conference papers. We only discuss constitutional change papers since conference, which is normally a two day highlight of the calendar where we get together with comrades from throughout the motu, is going to be a relatively short zoom meet this year. Essentials only. There are few at this meeting, symptomatic of the Covid slow down, it feels like we're wary and there's sense of waiting. For some, it's essentials only. But our national president, Melanie, is here, and we go out for a very tasty Maharaja dinner afterwards.
With my new found freedom I go out hunting for old hooks to hang my old mirror on Saturday. Vintage Wonderland is a treasure trove of lovingly restored and reasonably priced old bits. Alistair, the owner, behind the counter, is the greatest treasure of all. I find hooks and can't resist a couple of old tins. And buy a uranium glass bowl from another forager, Allen, on Marketplace. He's got his collection of old stuff in his living area, including his old mum knitting on the sofa. Classic. The bowl is shaped like a cabbage and glows green under uv. Spectacular for the 1930's. Uranium, the world changing material.
I drop in at Pete's and find Hana. She's earning some money while she studies and I realise the human connection of the build. We're friends. She poses with the picture and lets me take it home. I tidy the house in preparation for a girls' get together. Old friends. All of us single with so many tales to tell and a sincere love of gossip. Appreciated after lock down.
Sunday is Sharyn's last cup of coffee. We're both relieved and I take tape off doorways after she leaves. I point out Garry, the builder's, short comings to her project manager, Nigel, while we wait. A mumbled sense of incohesion. A bit like the house.
- Vintage Wonderland
Monday, 20th September
Auckland will end its five-week alert level 4 lockdown when it moves to level 3 for two weeks from 11.59 pm tomorrow night, with the rest of New Zealand to remain at level 2.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Cabinet's decision shortly after 4pm, saying the Government remains committed to its "zero-tolerance for cases" approach and urging Kiwis to follow the rules.
One part of the Waikato, with three new cases, would temporarily move into a "bespoke" set of restrictions.
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