First week out of lock down and we're feeling buoyant. And glad we don't live in Auckland. It's drinks with the English department then drinks at Viv and Pete's. Then pot luck dinner at mine. I spend all day tidying up and organising food but learn the lesson when people arrive that I should have given more specific directions as to what to bring. I end up making a lot of the food for 20 people.
Meanwhile the doctor tells me I've got a skin fungus infection. Caught from Kahu who's had it for a while and been short tempered. I don't know how he put up with it for so long. It's freakily uncomfortable. I feel cold from the inside. The pharmaceutical treatment the doctor prescribes is to put gel on my skin after a shower and let it dry. We also have to wash everything that's been against our skin in hot water....sheets, towels, clothes. Coats are tricky and I try biking to school without one, but it's a cold spring. So, we're in a washing cycle...go to bed, get up, shower off the Pevaryl, wash clothes, dose with tea tree oil to ease itchiness, hand out clothes, wash sheets and towels.... It's hard work but the alternative is worse. And there seems to be no end. Kahu kind of gets it but his teenage brain kind of doesn't. I go for a routine overdue blood test and wait ages in two metre spacing.
The Saturday get together at my place turns into a party. Outrageous. We're out of lock down, just. It's good to catch up and we realise how limited life becomes without friends and outings. On Sunday I go for my first Pfizer Covid jab in a big barn out by the airport. Along with a stream of other Chichinians. Everyone has a mask and we're processed in a systemic flow. Feels like we're living 1984 in a dystopic world where life is reduced to survival by government intervention. My arm is a bit sore but otherwise I feel fine enough to tackle some left over wine. This medicine will give me a better outcome when Delta reaches the South Island and I contract it when I'm teaching in my poorly ventilated classroom. I'll survive. This bug will pickle in my blood.
The week goes. We're nearly back to normal. Gatherings are capped at 50. Spring is springing. We're not in Auckland.
No comments:
Post a Comment