ISOLATION: DAY FIVE


 My first New Zealand Saturday morning for fifteen months started the way I like it - Kim Hill on the radio. Kim is a bit like the bucket fountain, in that she divides the nation but I am a long time fan and believe her to be quite possibly the best radio interviewer in the world. I usually listen to Kim while consuming a generous portion of bacon and eggs but I had to settle for cereal, yoghurt and toast today. And a new blend of coffee, I have finished the first 250grm bag I brought with me and am now into Waitrose Java blend, which is very good. It looks like I will have to order another bag before I leave?

I found another English speaker during mid morning exercise, a guy from Holland who works in the bulb industry and is in isolation before heading to Invercargill, where his company grow many acres of tulip bulbs, which are exported to Holland for the early spring flower trade. Who would ever have guessed there was such a global bulb industry? He started asking me about Brexit, wondering if the UK was totally sane. "What can it hope to gain? It's crazy!" But perhaps we will leave that one there!

When I got back into the room Kim was interviewing Nathan Harries about his new novel, his first, "The Sweetness of Water" which is long listed for the Booker Prize. She was bubbling with enthusiasm for it and past experience has shown me that she is usually right on these matters. So I changed my plans for the day, downloaded it on my kindle and settled down for a good read. I lost an hour and a half mid afternoon 💤 but I am two thirds of the way into it now and it is very good.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018817601/nathan-harris-intimate-civil-war-tale-treads-new-ground

By lunchtime the news of the first Covid case in the south island for a year had broken; someone had flown from Rotorua to Blenheim and tested positive. Hopefully it's under control. A lot of Covid in Wales arrived with the influx of English tourists in the summer and the South Island is in a similar position to Wales, it needs the tourist dollars but it doesn't want the virus. It's a public holiday weekend, Monday is Labour Day, which I have always thought is a strange name for a holiday? The airport was quite busy for a while this morning, as folk flew to family and loved ones for the long weekend. I was left wondering how many of them would bring back more than their luggage?

The evening meal was steak, eggs and potato Lyonnaise, and very good it was too especially when washed down with the rest of my red wine. I failed to find any rugby on TV - there is no Sky channel so I settled back down with the book. 

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