ISOLATION: DAY TEN

Well so far so good! The powers that be have decide to hold off with closing down Christchurch, at least for the time being; partly because we are sitting at close to 90% vaccination level in this area. But then, the UK is estimated to have 92% of the population, either vaccinated or immune and look at the mess that remains over there! Extensive testing is been undertaken in Chch and hopefully will prove that no serious spread has occurred - yet. This also includes samples from the sewers which can be used to estimate the level of infection in an area. It's interesting to notice how a little fear can change peoples thinking: I look out over the short term car park at the airport. There are not too many flights at the moment but there are usually people arriving or leaving and it has been very noticeable that nearly everyone was wearing a mask yesterday, a few days ago hardly anyone was wearing a mask! Why don'y they just stop non-vaccinated people coming to the South Island? That would be very easy to police, its only a few ferries and planes a day!

There are of course lost of gaps in the car park outside my window, which might explain that the annoying sign that is always flashing in the corner of my eye is advertising car parking? Having spent a little time watching it, I have a now realised there are only two commercial products being advertised, the rest is basically Christchurch Airport filling the gaps in its hoarding, including the welcoming Spring one which continues to annoy me! The two products that are paying for space? Meadow Fresh Milk and Smirnoff Vodka! White Russians anyone?

They also announced a change in isolation rules today: if I had chosen to arrive after 14th November, I would have only been imprisoned for seven days, plus an additional 3 days at home. Seems a sensible transition. In first quarter of the New Year it seems likley that fully vaccinated folk will be able to do just home isolation,


This morning saw another significant event in the progress of my stay. I opened my third pack of coffee! I arrived with two legally imported packs of Waitrose ground coffee because, as I said before, I wasn't prepared to do coffee cold turkey while in isolation (and drinking instant coffee is worse than coffee withdrawal.) So 500grms later I opened  my third bag, of Hummingbird Oooomph, which I had ordered from the nearby supermarket. The Waitrose coffee has been fine but its a bit like driving a mini is better than walking. I get fresh coffee beans delivered from Pact each week in the UK, and they are very good. But this is real coffee! I had not realised how much I missed that rich taste. That first cup of Ooomph has been the single most relevant reminder that I am back in New Zealand! Aaaaaaah!

I've been fairly patient through this protracted withdrawal from society. I mean there is not much point in being anything but placid, it's not as if anyone is going to notice if I lose it for a minute. But I did lose it for a minute this morning, with a sachet of washing up liquid! It was one of those silly little plastic sachets that sometimes contain shampoo in cheap hotels (So over the years, Fran and I have had quite a lot of them! 😂) or chocolate sauce or salad dressing. And it refused to open! They are supposed to have a little notch in them that you tear, but often they don't, or its in the wrong place or it doesn't work. This one didn't have a notch, the plastic was slightly stretchy so it wouldn't tear. There are no scissors supplied, presumably it's too dangerous for us to be left with a pair of scissors in isolation? Eventually I cut a little notch with my faithful Leatherman, only to find the seal extended below my cut and the bloody stuff still wouldn't come out! So rather rashly I bit it! It doesn't taste very nice! I cleaned my teeth immediately to get rid of the taste and there were lots of bubbles! The sachet is still in the corner of the room and I am not bloody picking it up! So there, take that you horrible little sachet!

The book edit is finished. I'm bouncing it off a few people, the cover design team is working on it (Thanks Jak!) and I have my research team working on internet publishing. (Thanks Linda!) 

And the playlist is finished. 

I have a little piece of paper that says my release time is 2.20pm on Monday - and don't show up too soon! It also warns me that once I leave, I can't come back!!! Like really???


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