Lock-down Day 1

And so it begins… today is the first official day of nation-wide lock-down. Right across New Zealand last night phones beeped loudly (even those on silent) as the government issued a National Emergency Management Alert. New Zealanders are to stay home. If we don’t work in essential services, we are not to drive anywhere except to health centres/ hospital or supermarkets. Police will be making sure we follow these rules. A walk or bike ride in our local area is ok but only alone or with others from our bubble.

It is strange and surreal but compared to generations before us who have gone to war for their nation… being asked to stay home, watch tv, read & play games to keep the country safe is a pretty easy ask!

Last night I spent some time meal planning for the week and also coming up with a bit of a structure for my days… plus a list of things I need to do… some of it suited to sunny days, other things can be done on yucky days.

Here’s my first draft of a lockdown schedule

Given my body clock is set to waking up at 5.30 this morning I just got up and did the exercise then…well ahead of my 7am schedule… that felt good! I tried one of the online workouts Les Mills has made available for 60 days… something we don’t have at the gym called Sh’Bam #36. I felt so unco but it was fun to do a dance work out and no-one was watching – a good start to the day.

I checked email, Facebook, whats app messages then read a few pages of a Robert Goddard novel I started ages ago. At 9am as per schedule I did an hour of Māori study. Although I teach this language I’m not fluent – not even close. I don’t use much beyond beginner level in my daily life so really need to revise things I’ve learned before and keep working on advancing my skills. It will be great to spend an hour every day in lock-down doing this.

I was hungry at 10am so had a banana with dark choc peanut butter (thanks staffroom fridge). My nieces introduced me to this great combo and it carried me through til lunch (eggs, kimchi, salad & a potato w. relish) at 1pm. I had a really focused, productive TimeBank work session – mainly writing our weekly newsletter which goes out every Thursday. This edition quite different than usual because of new things we need to do in these new times.

After lunch I was tired. I did some kitchen prep for dinner and tidied up a bit in the kitchen. Then I went exploring in the garden. I discovered an absolutely huge zucchini hiding under the silverbeet… it was bigger than a marrow… it was just massive… and heavy… it weighed in at 6.9kg! Any suggestions as to what to do with it?? I plan to make zucchini bread for the freezer… but this will make A LOT!

To my delight I found lots of delicious grapes… green and purple. Pretty stoked there was still some there as last year Antony enjoyed them so much they didn’t make it indoors (!) I picked up pears off the ground from our second pear tree which is just coming ripe now. .. got eggs from the chooks and picked various coloured courgettes. It was such a nice warm day.

I watched a disappointing episode of something on tv then headed off on my bike ride to collect two pairs of handmade knickers from a friend’s letterbox! Yep, you read right…this is a first for me, but hopefully not a last! So much better to reuse material (in this case from leggings I never wore) and turn them into something usable than always buy new! I’m yet to try them on. Fingers crossed they fit.

I decided to bike home via the Ashburton Domain. It was just lovely observing all the autumn colours, stopping and looking at the ducks, the trees, the flowers. Normally I whizz through in a hurry to get somewhere!

One of the 5 Ways to Wellbeing as recommended by the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand is to TAKE NOTICE. Today I really delighted in slowing down and taking notice of the beauty around me… the beauty of colours and shapes and textures. Of big old trees and bright flowers. It was so lovely to take time… to not be in a hurry.

On my meandering bike ride around in the Domain I went to the spot where Antony proposed to me back in February 2013… great memories! He didn’t join me today on this ride as his style is to go hard and fast… which he did a bit earlier.

Once home I got tea organised and Ants helped cut up the fruit for the crumble… we watched an episode of Warsaw Spies, which hasn’t really captured our imaginations, but none the less I will watch the next episode to see what happens! We made a list of shows on demand that looked like they might appeal to us… that was the first one we tried… probably a 5/10. Hopefully the next show we try is better – we are open to suggestions. Last year we both loved Deep State… yet to find anything as good.

The day started off well following my schedule… but then it veered off in another direction… and I’m writing this blog post past ‘Lights Out’ time! Better call it a day… good night!