Thursday is a much better day.
The kids do a bit of school work, and some art, and somehow the morning is gone.
I turn on the TV, eagerly waiting for Jacinda Ardern to update us as to what Level Two will look like.
It is great news. When we move into Level Two is yet to be decided. But at Level Two means school will go back, most businesses can operate, and we are free to travel domestically again. Libraries, swimming pools, art galleries and museums can open again, and we can ‘break’ our bubbles to see our friends and family once more – although we all need to keep practising social distancing with strangers.
Roll on Level Two!
Whether we move into Level Two next Wednesday night, or remain at Level Three a bit longer, is for the boffins to decide. I am incredibly grateful we are almost at the point where we can ease off restrictions. I talk with a friend who lives in Oklahoma, USA where the virus has a hold but many people aren’t taking it seriously. She’s been in self-isolation for two months already, and the end is not in sight. She tells me that in her city some workers at McDonald’s were shot because a customer was angry that they couldn’t dine in! Can you imagine???
On Friday I hear that I have got the job I applied for, yay! It’s only part-time, and whether it continues after a few months is up to securing a grant. But for now, I will be working for one of the churches in my suburb doing their communications. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the work. It is a small church, but they do some cool things.
We have a dance party to celebrate, and we finally get out to the beach.
I cannot tell you how much I have missed the beach. When Rev G and I were considering where we might move to when his internship finished, we had considered Hamilton – but the fact that it is landlocked was a big X for me. I don’t have to live right at the beach, but like many Kiwis, I take having access to a beach almost as a fundamental right. We are very lucky – I remember many of my schoolmates in Kansas had never seen the ocean in real life before.
Anyway, we all love the trip out to the beach, even though our local one is a bit crappy. It’s black sand, but mostly stones, and it’s almost always windy there, given its close proximity to the Cook Strait.
Miss E, I swear is part-mermaid, and she runs into the embrace of the waves like she would greet an old friend. The water is freezing, but she pays it no mind. Master D decides to exercise by digging a hole and by filling his pockets with the beach stones. I guess it’s a form of weight-lifting?
Rev G and I realise that the last time we were at the this beach was 9 years prior, just before we got engaged. It feels like a lifetime ago; I mean that in a good way. The beach is not busy but the walking track nearby it is packed. I’d like to take a walk there myself, but I can’t see how any of the walkers can possibly keep the 2m distance we’re supposed to. I will definitely leave it for Level Two.