Lockdown 29/47 – Beginning of the End?
Day 29 of my diary of a LOTR Fan Museum owner during our national lockdown (extended from 28 to 47 days: 33 at level 4, 14 at L3) – in NZ we’re uniting as a country to beat Covid-19 to break the chain and save lives, but …
The first day of the extension to the original lockdown (and what could have been the end of the new job of STAY HOME, be kind) and I’m feeling a renewed sense of mission.
It could be hearing the news this morning of a Kiwi in Spain talking about his and his partner’s 40th day of lockdown in Barcelona. They have no ability to go out and exercise. Spain is only just relaxing the lockdown slightly to let families take their children out for a walk! We have it so good here and I’m thankful.
There’s lots of second-guessing going on about the government’s decision to extend for a short time then go to a slightly more limited Level 3 lockdown. Some think it’s too soon, especially to send children to childcare and school, and others (mostly businesses) think it’s still too strict and that perhaps we even could have loosened things from today. On the other hand, many, like me, accept the decision and the certainty it brings. There’s no “good” options here, and I’m finding it useful to have a small amount of certainty amidst such a time of unknowns.
There was disturbing news this morning about NZ possibly accommodating some super-rich from the US. The idea is that they would buy sanctuary here, with NZ getting the $$ benefit. Something about this makes me recoil. We’re lucky to be here when other countries are doing it hard, and the stories of emerging virus spread in, eg, Africa and India, are particularly horrendous. To profit from our good fortune (acknowledging that we are still doing it pretty hard!) in this way would just feel ugly if not corrupt. As much as we can we still need to be good world citizens, to say nothing about the health of the planet and the impact of what we decide moving forwards.
This new job necessarily makes me lose myself in my head and focus on my own situation - but I’m going to keep trying to be outward looking and hopeful. JRR - you know what I mean! I hold forth the grit and determination of the small people in this world!!
And, let’s hear it for the odd LOTR goblin - I snuck into the Museum and beamed this goblin out into the virtual world as a bit of fun last night!
My thoughts today go out to those in lockdowns that are so much tougher than ours, and to those who have lost and risk losing loved ones. Best wishes, Kathy xx
