Twenty-eight days later
Lock down: Day 28
After spending the weekend watching musicals, MilkShake is clearly in a singing mood. They even got out the ukulele today for an impromptu busking session. It was very good (they have a lovely voice), but it was a little disconcerting to hear Do you hear the people sing? from Les Mis sung with a jaunty ukulele accompaniment.
So yesterday’s announcement was that we will spend another week in Level 4 before moving to Level 3 next Tuesday. The reality is that it will not be much different for us. MrMilk and I are both working from home and the kids will continue to do the online schooling from home. We’ll still be huddling at home, although it sounds like we might be able to drive to the beach for a walk, which would be nice.
Today there were just 5 new cases of Covid-19 in NZ, but sadly another death. It’s a weird situation to be in – looking at so few cases and deaths here at home then looking at what’s happening all round the world, and worrying about friends and family abroad. I’m feeling a certain level of ‘survivor guilt’ for a variety of reasons (MrMilk used to say I had Catholic-level guilt). We are so sheltered here in NZ, but even then we are very privileged and currently fairly unscathed compared to so many other families.
It’s hard to believe that four weeks have gone by already. The panic and anxiety of the early days have certainly receded, replaced by a low-level worry. This hibernation is becoming normal to a certain extent. We’re all introverts and are quite happy to bumble along with just the four of us at home, and little contact with the outside world. Of course, in the olden days, we’d pop out for sushi or takeaways, or to grab another bottle of milk.
We’re not total hermits though. We would periodically be social butterflies, and I do love having the house full of people, with lots of delicious food and people to share cocktails with me. When the restrictions are lifted, there will be a shindig at mine, and there will be cocktails. Save the date.
When the lock down was announced, the four weeks seemed to stretch ahead like an enormous amount of time. Plenty of time to get stuff done. There were loads of comments on social media about learning a new skill, a language, writing a book, whatever. It turns out that if you tell me not to leave the house and provide a decent internet connection, I will fritter away all the time available. MrMilk and I have taken to saying I’ve read all of Twitter or I’ve watched everything on YouTube. I don’t even like YouTube, I prefer stuff with a plot, but I’m still watching an alarming amount of crap on it at the moment.
I have been steadily working on my cross-stitch however, and have decided I’d like to get it finished before we get to Level 3. I’m going to add some text to the bottom to mark the fact that it was completed during a pandemic lockdown. My current ideas are:
- Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuckity-fuck. (My tag line, a pinned tweet I wrote in 2016 after seeing the results of the US election. It seems to get more and more apt every year.)
- Be kind. Stay home. Save lives.
- Kia kaha.
- Something about Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and the dates
Suggestions welcome for this.
I decided the fourth birdie was too damn cute, so added all of his finishing details, and damn, he’s adorable!
Dinner-time conversation
At dinner tonight we were discussing movies, and one particular actor.
Me: I don’t really like him. He has one of those faces that makes me want to slap him with a fish.
MiniMilk (snort-laughing): What?
Me: You know. Hold the fish by the tail and slap him round the face with the head end.
MiniMilk (crying with laughter): What?
Apparently this is not an urge that ever strikes MiniMilk. She’s weird. Several people trigger this urge for me. We were both crying with laughter by the end though, which was fun.
Gratitude
Today I’m thankful that the training session I sat through today was just for one day, and not four. Damn, it was painful.
Today on social media
I saw this somewhere, and saved it to share with my mother-in-law:
The kids are getting better at cooking. Last night MilkShake made Chili con carne which was delicious, and tonight MiniMilk made Mexican chicken with rice and salad (with some help from MrMilk as this was the first time she’d tried that one). Also yummy, and even had VEGETABLES, which my salad-dodging kids normally avoid wherever possible. I have reminded them both, again, that there is an entire internet full of recipes available to them, and they don’t have to use recipes from my collection, so maybe we’ll get something new and exciting soon.
I hope you’re all safe and snug in your bubbles.
Kia kaha. xx
Pink milk is yummy 