Saturday, May 16th 2020…waking up to a cool calm morning, the sky is just starting to lighten at 6.30am and the Tuis are yelling to each other from the treetops. We wonder what the first Saturday of level two will bring; humans, cars, social gatherings (of 10) and undoubtedly a shopping frenzy for retail starved kiwis.

As the sun set on Friday night, a calm descended on our neighbourhood, the wind had dropped and the outsiders trickled in to their holiday Baches setting up camp for what promises to be a fine winter weekend.

Riverhaven will once again come to life, without the Bonnici-Carter’s who are now free of padlocks, warning signs, rules and ridicule! The lump in my throat had gone and is replaced by the warmth of family and friends, as we settle in for a kiwi winter.

A week of computer lockdown will be replaced by domestic activity and coffee catch ups.

With only a little more than a month away from the shortest day, we can look forward to next summer when, hopefully, the virus is swept under the mat and we can all get on with our plans and dreams and maybe go fishing!

The last two months, where time has stood still, we have had time to ponder our lives, our goals and our (uncertain) futures. This time has provided a welcome break from the treadmill we had come to accept as normal! The new normal has become tracksuit days, working from home, flexible working hours, planning the weeks meals, talking to each other and getting to really know our neighbours. We have shared our resources, reduced waste, had carless days and early nights and we have learned to give each other space (they now call it social distancing).

Yes the economy is uncertain (probably an understatement), but kiwi determination is strong to rebuild and renew all we have to work with. It is the time to be kind to those around us who are less fortunate, some may be jobless, some may be homeless, some may be hungry! (Well George always is).

And now the sun is up and the birds are still singing, let the weekend begin!

Friday 15th May 2020….A new normal

It actually feels like a Friday, work (from home) has settled in to a 6-8 hour day, five days a week, and a break at 10.30…

Which is usually a walk (400 metres) down the road to spend 30 minutes with Floyd and say hi to Steph. A lunch break around 1pm means 10 minutes watching the Covid 19 updates then work until about 4….time to get tea ready and relax…

In my new back garden with my old friends, who consequently were very vocal yesterday…cooing (that’s what doves do) away at George and I while we were working. They are kinda fat at the moment, knowing nothing about doves, breeding time? Or winter coat?

The new Normal of Level two is like the Christmas shopping Rush, or the pre lockdown toilet paper Rush. The supermarkets have longer queues than last week, mall car parks were full yesterday, food halls and cafes crazy….the warehouse saw trolleys of stuff leave its doors and cars and bad drivers are all back on the road! I guess, confidence is rising, with three days of zero new cases of coronavirus in our country, kiwis are thinking that they are safe. Bubbles are just bursting everywhere. People will get closer but we need to keep mindful, only we can now protect ourselves, keep our distance and keep washing the hands! No problem from this end…stay away from Riverhaven because that apparently is going to be a live bed of people touching things they shouldn’t…like locked gates and tractors! And just saying with the water use ban coming into force tomorrow – how are all the boaties going to wash their boats or tractors after a days fishing? These are government rules with big fines attached for breaking them!

On another note…the plant of strength at my new abode…Mint! We will not want for mint sauce with our lamb this winter! And health properties of inhaling and consuming this herb are many – beneficial to our digestion and wellbeing! Let’s get creative; mint tea, mint water, mint smoothies, mint salads, this list goes on.

Opening my eyes this morning in our new home, feels like a weight has lifted and I have been let out of Jail. Here, I feel like an adult once again and no eyes are on me. I feel motivated to get up and attack my day, build my vege soup, build my clients back up and build my confidence back up! With out even leaving my home!

Thursday, 14th May, Level 2…..new home, new life….I hope

The view from my Kitchen window. Looking at my cottage that we all have lovingly restored as our bolt hole, Dan, Russ, Sue, and a paintbrush and a bit of muscle from Jaxon.

The Kids helped me move yesterday, and set up in our new home for the next little while….just across the fence….so close and yet so far, with the freedom to come and go as desired, have the family around me and a bedroom each for George and I. Snoring will not now be an issue!

Those who compute together, stay together, we will see how this goes, but at least we can tap into our internet from the cottage without having to install again….and the Beer pong table accommodates us both and our equipment.  A dining room with a twist, can almost reach the fridge from my office chair.  Working from home has its advantages, and we wont feel lonely!

Sea view from our front deck.  A damp and chilly morning, but a wonderful sight! As the Kiwi workforce heads back to business, I climb out of bed, pull on trackpants, make a coffee and with the flick of a switch I am into action.

Today will be a good day, I will return to my cottage on the next fine day to do a big clean and final close up for the winter….with days in hand to be able to return at the end of the year if so desired.  Right now the desire is dampened and without some radical changes, the wonderful happy holiday environment of Riverhaven is somewhat doomed.  The Covid 19 has brought  some very mean people out of the woodwork.  In my kind heart, I will defend them, in that, I guess they are scared of the unknown, and being old feel threatened with something they cannot control. Still doesnt give them the right to pick on a woman (because she is on her own), and actually they picked the wrong woman…..  I will continue to be me, and the fun will emerge once again….maybe over the fence!

Tuesday May 12th 2020….our kiwi world reopens.

The government announced yesterday that on Wednesday at 11.59pm most of our world can reopen….shops, malls, hairdressers, gyms, pools, cafes and bars a week later.

Not sure how I feel about this, I know the young ones are itching to go, but the bubble life has been a blessing for me right now. While I cannot travel for some time, for the first time in years, I have had time…time to really work out the important things in life and to rediscover adventures buried deep in my memories. Time to really get to know the people in my neighbourhood, their names, their kindness and time to listen to their stories!

As I sat with my friend (three meters apart) at the end of the day and gazed out at a stormy sea, we discussed how lucky we are to be in a place that every day provides us with a different view. How it is small enough to ignore those who choose to break the rules and put others at risk, and also for us, a place we have stayed and lived in all our lives.

We both have motor boats, but the last six weeks, without the sound of a motor churning up the sea, has brought a new world back to Waiwera, a world where the birds and ducks provide the noises that wake us up, make us jump and make us smile! I kind of now understand the human affection for sailboats as opposed to motor boats.

A home cooked roast lamb on a Monday night (working at home allows this luxury). No beers, two beers or six beers, no one actually counts!

So many good things have come out of “the Lockdown” but I think most important for me in my world is…I know how to stop and I can actually put stuff off until tomorrow!

Time to get up and start my 2nd to last lockdown day, and enjoy every moment before the floodgates open! If a sunny Saturday in lockdown 3 is any indication, I hate to think what a fine weekend in lockdown 2 will look like. Maybe, we should go to Hamilton, everyone will be racing to get out of there after 7 weeks!

Sunday, May 10th – Mother’s Day 2020….

A couple of firsts for this mum here….

I won’t be taking my mum for a coffee this year, and I don’t have Russ to share the day with….

Also, First time in years I have all three boys on my doorstep even in this lockdown, luckier than a lot of mums who live in different towns and can’t see their offspring today!

Having a daughter in law just adds another wonderful dimension. Jaxon and Steph hosted a Mother’s Day quiz night bbq at their house last night, down the road in my double bubble. As they could only invite Trudi and I, George and Dan (our bubble), it was a very exclusive event. Trudi and I (the mums) came in a close 2nd to Dan and George (the sons) with a little help from the quiz masters (Jaxon and Steph). We really needed Russ’s help, especially on the sports section (and the history section, and famous places…actually most of it) The entertainment was followed by the traditional pulled pork cooked on Jaxs Bbq, plus steak and sausages, salads etc… great night out!

Roll back to Saturday morning, sea of glass, full tide, the level three adventurers came out to play! The morning seashore was littered with fishermen, their torpedoes shooting lines out towards the island. Further out and around the bay, a number of kayakers we’re enjoying the calm sea. I suspect also fishing.

George and I had a supermarket job to do, and our Saturday distance cuppa with Dad and Sandy. Driving through Orewa it was so busy with summer like crowds. The cafes all open for takeaways and the streets pumping once more. We thought we would see if our favourite bakery was open and buy dad a treat, apple turnover! I couldn’t resist a sausage roll, which I tasted all day as it repeated on me. First non homemade food in 7 weeks. Equally Dad enjoyed his treat!

On our return to Waiwera, the word had certainly got out that this is the best place to be…..visitors cars lined the streets, overflowing into the old pools car park. At low tide (by now) the beach was teaming with non local faces and families. I think the level 3 (essential travel, stay local) directive flew out the window yesterday, both in Orewa and our sleepy little town of Waiwera! It actually felt like this lockdown had never occurred with the human activity yesterday!

Last night, however, when we walked back up the road about 8.30 to our beds (I know early night – old girls) the streets were once again deserted! No cars, no campers no stray humans or dogs! Level three rules apply when the sun goes down and every sunburnt, happy, beach going, visitor person is tucked back up in their respective bubble!

Saturday, 9th May, 2020. A day off in our world where every day is a monday, online business doesn’t know the meaning of a weekend and it is three weeks since I have not turned my computer on!

Today is Saturday and today is a day off!

Every day I look out this window and sit at my kitchen table that has become my office desk. This is about to change and I will move work, move me, move george ….they say moving house is as stressful as someone dying….guess we’re getting used to stress!

It will be a change, why should we get too comfortable, when others can’t use their cottages because the government says so! Nope don’t leave Sue in peace….But wait….it’s not all about her!

On a positive note….it’s a day off! I can clean and shop and ring my friends! By all accounts the sun will shine!

As we soar towards Level 2 next week, where shops can open, haircuts can be had (by other than mums and wives), cafes and bars can open (to a point), social distance with strangers and small hugs with loved ones….we will realise the impact the economic freeze has had on our lives and find out if we still have jobs!

The aftermath

And now we gasp
To keep abreast
Of mortgages, bills and money stress

The working day
That’s flying past
Might actually be
Our very last

We work from home
We work apart
We work in hope
It’s just the start

The more we read
The more we know
The loss of jobs
Will start to show

Homes may be lost
Rents may be high
But we have each other
And we didn’t die!

Thursday 8th May 2020…..Monday and Tuesday zero cases but Wednesday one of the first clusters is still active. Two new cases and another death. Seems like this will not go away.

Meanwhile in the waiting room….

We are enjoying Autumn calm and…..

A perfect space to lift weights, medicine balls, laugh and cool off in the last of the summer wine! Gave the boys a couple of hours of eye candy to pass the iso afternoon!

No story yesterday and the day brought more late Autumn sunshine, cool breezes, thermals and puffer jackets. Another bi weekly trip to a very congested supermarket, work and a huge celebration! My oldest son has signed off his building apprenticeship (pending a first aid course that had to be postponed in the lockdown!) So proud and so would Russ have been! We knew you could do it!

So beach fishing is all go and my beautiful daughter in law is making the most of her teaching stand down….

A few hookups and throwbacks as the sun set in our little patch of paradise!

And to finish the day an almost full moon…

Bubble happy hour is now a small group and in the chilly evening, the moon heralded in the clear evening from our bubble vantage point.

Meanwhile, I asked our waterfront isolation buddy to snap the moon in the clear sky above sugarloaf island….while the walls are closing in, nature is providing us with beauty and hope!

Riverhaven (the camp) is a beautiful place, but unfortunately a place where there are rules for some and rules for others! There’s broken legs 12 month stint, and not forgetting the 12 months (or more) some stayed while they built a house, or worked up here! Now I’m being told that from the 25th of June my cottage cannot be used! Talk about keyboard warriors…

It is time for the free spirited to let the small stuff go and surround ourselves with positive motivated and beautiful humans, with BIG plans and lots of ambition! The Bonnici-Carter’s leading the charge, Russ and Mum right up front!

Roll on 2021 and a Covid free world where we can once again spread our kiwi wings. And the world will be a better place, because we have all learned to wash our hands (of any unkindness) while backing off on the random act of hugging! I think the art of conversation is making a comeback!

Tuesday 5th May, 2020. While the person next door may be feeling the pressure, and things are not what they seem in lockdown 3, it’s more important now than ever to show a little kindness…

The camera just snapped this one, but it kind of says it all, the jandals are waiting for the next journey and we are all facing uncertainty. Our plans, our dreams, our hopes for the future are all changed in a covid19 controlled world.

Yesterday, hit me with a flat white (packet variety), flat battery, easily fixed with the loan of some jumper leads from a kind neighbour. The keyboard warrior at work for most of the day, answering kiwis trying to make a dollar in the online world. The day was littered with sunshine, rain, warmth and chills from the sky’s above and the humans around us.

Just another work day in a world where only some things are certain…a dog will always want a cuddle and is always excited by food (left over mashed potato a hit). Some things will always be a surprise (not always a good one), but humans are humans and we don’t know their stories or their tipping point (sounds like a game show), so even if their unkindness is a surprise, we need to let it go and just be there if they need help or support.

The words all along have been, stay home, stay safe and be kind. I have done my best to help all those around me, but it certainly appears it is time to move on, and we look forward to the next chapter in the story.

NZ you have done an amazing job of not letting this virus take control(first day with zero new cases)!but the cost of the economy and personal freedom is certainly taking its toll on the mere humans……but this little bubble will not give up because the glass is half full, right?

Sunday, May 3rd….much awaited rain is predicted, and off to pack up more (hopefully all) showroom. Work is kind of a seven day thing right now as business days are any days!

Yesterday afternoon, Jaxon and Steph hit the sand and hooked a nice Trevally…for their dinner, meanwhile I made a smoked fish pie with our fish from the birthday haul.

The day slid by with screen time, face time, food time and bed time.

The drop from level 4 lockdown to level 3, lockdown is not a word you can use for level 3! Roads are full of cars, beaches are full of people, the McDonald’s drive thru is stil over a mile long and there are many unfamiliar faces in our local area! The stay home, stay safe essential travel only advice has washed straight over many kiwis heads – there’ll be a lot of bald kiwis after this….either from putting their heads in the sand or allowing crucial advice to sweep over their heads!

Today is looking like an inside day, perfect for packing and essential work as the carrier comes on Wednesday! Happy Sunday, at least the rain may limit the stupid humans to essential travel only!