Day Four:

Day Four:

I’ve decided to carry out an experiment on my bananas.  

But first the experiment on the stool to see if I could 'dry' swim. 

I couldn't.  

 I fell off the stool and it took me 20 minutes to get up from the floor.  Beleive me, you don't want the details. 

That's more exercises than an actual swim so I'm not complaining.  

But to fruitier things.

I was able to get 4 large bananas, slightly under-ripe,  as I went into Lockdown.

 I ate one yesterday at its peak of perfection but the others are showing signs of bruising.  Have  they been fighting in the night?

Anyway, I’ve separated them and wrapped two very tightly in kitchen film and left one unwrapped. 

I shall monitor them closely, not just for further signs of fisticuffs but to see if the wrapped ones deteriorate more slowly than the unwrapped singleton. 

Perhaps it will be the other way round?  Gosh, what exciting times we live in.

Despite my best efforts, I’ve been unable to locate any Paleo bread and the factory which makes them is now closed. 

I have a mild wheat intolerance: symptoms include bloating and gas but as I am now living with no prospect of company dropping by, an odourous wind hardy matters.

So I shall make some bread.

Kneading bread not only provides you with The Staff of Life but exercise as well ! Yipee.

Day Three

Day Three:

The first real personal sadness of Lockdown.

 A dear friend has just passed away; her death unrelated to C-19. 

The Government rules on tangihanga mean I cannot attend to honour a lady for whom I had the greatest respect and love. 

 One of our local funeral homes, Haven Falls Poutama Tangihanga, lobbied, with other funeral directors, for a more merciful approach than just one person allowed with the casket. 

The Ministry, understanding this is a heartbreaking time made worse by death,  revised the guidelines just a little.

Haven Falls posted: “The Whanau (family) within our Loved ones bubble WILL be able to come to the funeral home for karakia (prayers), mihi (speeches) and poroporoaki (farewell) AND the same Whanau members WILL be able to attend the burial or cremation.”

The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from the Ministry of Health.

On a wider scale, it is hard to comprehend that so many have died and been denied their traditions of farewell to loved ones. 

As if sickness and death were not sadness enough, the ritual of life's ending are what comforts the families left behind.  They give peace and the sure and certain knowledsge they have done all necessary actions to make sure their departed are honoured.   

In te ao Maori (Maori culture), tangihanga (traditionas surrounding death)  and kawe mate (memorial) are deeply important rituals and to be denied these will be as sharp a pain as the loss itself.

When I was growing up in Yorkshire, the elders always sat with the body for 3 days. No one was left alone.    

This too is what happens in te ao Maori - but not at the moment.  The pain of knowing that your grandmother, son, auntie, wife or baby is lying alone somewhere, is excruciating. 

No reira e hoa ma, kia kaha.  


Ki nga mate taonga- Hoki ki nga maatua tupuna kua wehe, haere, haere, hoki atu.

To our precious loved ones who have gone - go with our affection and remembrance to the next world.

Day Two

Day Two:

“Think of this:   the writer wrote alone, and the reader reads alone and they were alone with each other.” – A.S. Byatt.

Alas, I was away from home on my regular day for collecting books from my local library. They, along with my computer, are my  lifelines. 
One keeps me in touch with the world, the other with my soul.

I had 16 book waiting for me as we hit Level 4 - and no means of getting them.

This is far worse than having no food.

So here I am in in my suburban home, renamed 'Colditz', or should that be 'Fluditz', without my beloved books which languish in the library with my name on them.

I do own three and they will no doubt be listened to within an inch of their lives over the next few months.

Radio New Zealand once broadcast Philip Mann’s excellent science fiction series, ‘Master of Paxwax’ and its sequel, ‘Fall of the Families’. 

When these were sold on CD, I purchased both, despite not being a sci-fi fan.
The production itself was magnificent. 

 Dick Weir, the amazingly proficient narrator (an audio book stands or falls on the abilities of its reader), along with the sound effects department of RNZ, turned Phillp Mann’s great books into audio masterpieces.

The third treasure is Stephen Fry’s ‘Mythos’ - a re-telling in his inimitable style, of the Greek myths.  I’ve already listened to it twice but so far, have not tired of it.

It's a little gory in places but then the Gods were not kind, as no God ever seems to be but Fry's unconventional wit and delivery appeal to me.

In this time of Lockdown though, perhaps it's as well I have audio books which take me away from my own restricted world and into ones entirely different and alien.   

Day One

Day One:

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. 

I am by nature an optimist. I’m also something of a hermit but the government guidelines to continue with exercising have made me think. 

Thinking IS an exerise isn't it?  I have very poor vision due to AMD. It’s meant I can no longer step out with jaunty confidence, as I have to watch where I’m putting my great clodhoppers lest I trip over a cracked path or uneven kerb.  I’ve fallen several times but was at least spared the public humiliation of crawling to something on which to haul myself aloft.

I was in the garden after a very wet spell and slid, none too gracefully in the mud. I had to crawl on hands and knees 6 metres across the lawn, laughing so hard I could hardly breathe, to a fence. All along this fence are Nahema roses intertwined and whilst beautiful, have sharp, hooky thorns - not the best purchase to get upright.

So nowdays, reduced to a cautious hobble and with this an arthritis, it’s many years since I enjoyed a good, brisk walk. I swim regularly though but as all the swimming pools are closed, I’ll be denied even this.

As I was ruminating on the advice to take exercise for physical and mental wellbeing, it occurred to me, eyeing a little stool in the corner of the room, that

if I lie on my tummy on that and flail my arms and legs, it will it be as good as swimming and with the added bonus that there's no danger of drowning.

I'll give it a go.

Introduction

The (mostly) serious bit

Whether you call it SARS-CoV-2, Covid or Corona, this virus, first identified in 2019, is undoubtedly the 21st Century’s new C-word.

It looks far too pretty to be so deadly. In fact my Mum had a garnet brooch very similar to this little beggar.

With all the grim prognostications and statistics flying around, I wanted to inject (no vaccine is at present available) some interest and occasional humour into what for the whole world, is a heartbreaking and difficult situation.

You may, with some justification, think this is no situation for levity but as the old saying has it, ‘If you don’t laugh, you’ll go mad’. And we wouldn't want that, would we?

Not wanting to be any madder than I already am and to prevent my own emotional decline as I went into solitary confinement, I decide to use The Lockdown Diaries as my own personal therapy, a way of staving off the fear and uncertainty. And maybe, along the way, cheering others.

 I hope you enjoy some or all of it.   

Stay Safe, Stay Well, Stay at Home.