Here we are again, New Zealand. It was only the other day that I was saying how lucky we were over here on the other side of the pond, only one national lock down – back in March last year at the start of the global COVID crisis. But, here we are again with national lock down number 2.
Let’s get real here, we have still got it very lucky compared to the rest of the world in relative terms, but a snap national lock down after only one community case was a huge shock to many. With only 4 hours notice, the entire nation was shut down again, with the estimated cost to the economy of $1.5bn per week.
The world press criticised Jacinda, but as a New Zealander (dual British Citizen) personally I think she did the right thing, even though we did not know at the time if it was the delta variant or not (which of course, it is). Within 24 hours we have 10 confirmed community cases and we expect that to increase exponentially before it starts to reduce. So personally, I don’t think this will be just a 3 day lock down.
I seriously hope that people are taking this with the seriousness that it warrants.
- Someone in MIQ caught delta from another MIQ resident simply because they opened their door at the same time. That is how infectious this is.
- I know someone in the UK who is a similar age to me, her partner died suddenly this week, of COVID.
- I know TWO people who have recently lost a close loved one to cancer, their funerals now cannot go ahead in the way that they had hoped.
Do I need to go on?
I was thinking that the New Zealand public were different to the rest of the world. They were more likely to do as they were told, this was why we have largely escaped Covid in the community. That was till today when one of the locations of interest announced was a casino in Auckland so a bunch of numpties staged a NO VACCINE protest outside, breaking the lock down rules completely.
Will our lives ever be the same again?
Perhaps we need to look a little closer to home than the terrorism in the Middle East that we have all keenly had our eyes on, while not even paying attention to what is happening under our noses.
SNAP. In a moment all the freedoms we take for granted can be taken in an instant. Long lines at the supermarket (why??) and the bottle store (WHYYYYY?!?!) when a lock down is announced. Locals are complaining, but France had a lock down of some type for over a year. Parts of Australia are back in lock down again, and have been for more than 4 months already. Some (more) small business might go under. Don’t I know that stress as a business owner myself who’s business can only do around 20% of its trade online. So yep that is a forecasted 80% drop in revenue with fixed overheads still to pay all the while. If you are an employee, think yourself lucky right now. That stress doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to your boss.
Get used to this new life of constant adaptations. Get used to constantly changing rules around freedoms. Think about those that have gone before you… various wars (think of the Afghans!!!) then consider again, do you have it tough? Probably not. We can re-build our lives if we need to. We can get new jobs if we need to. We cannot get new lives if we need to, we only get one shot at that.
Will you adjust to another lock down (or two, or three)? Probably.
Take this as an opportunity.
Do those jobs that you have always been meaning to do. Contact those people that you haven’t phoned for years. Pick up those hobbies you stopped doing because life got too busy. But most of all, find the beauty in the simplicities of life and get used to your own company. You are your own best friend. Get used to it.
Here’s hoping this snap lock down is short, but frankly, I don’t think it will be.
I’m off to make a list… of all the magic I can create while confined to my own wee bubble.
Peace.
Melanie Magowan 