Covid19 – Week 3

The Harts and Badhams @ home

08.04.2020

So, here we are in Week 3 of the nation-wide lockdown. In our little house on Percy we have 6 people living together.  Our first couple of weeks have gone reasonably well, learning to keep out of each other’s space, learning to respect the quiet times, learning to not eat so much!  Our typical day looks like this:

David up first to have breakfast, followed quickly by the arrival of Nikau (8) and Cleo (2).

Alex arrives soon after but best not talk to her until at least one sip of coffee has slipped through her lips. Rob and I meander in and start our breakfast.  Rob’s breakfast is 1+ as Cleo soon arrives with her spoon in hand with the words “Up, Up”. Comfortably sitting on knee she and Rob eat their muesli and yoghurt in perfect harmony. Newspaper reading has become a popular activity at breakfast time with everyone having their particular part of the paper to read.  Nikau smashes the number crunch and Alex and I do the crossword. David and Rob read every word on the front page and move slowly through the paper.

David off to work, in the truck where he can leave the chaos of family life behind for the stresses of work.  Rob to the paint ladder – he is slowly making his way around the house and it has been a godsend that he had something to do during lockdown. I think the amount of alcohol consumed and domestic disruption would have been far greater if we didn’t have this job to do…  I am no longer engaging in all the lockdown Facebook games that have appeared on my news feed, but have made a decision to phone and actually talk to people. It is far more enjoyable.

Nikau to the daily hour of ‘school’ with me. This has been really fun to do and Nikau is a willing student, until we come to handwriting….. he’s not a fan of it.

 

(It’s annoying I can’t get the photos to align).

Nikau is doing Maths in the photo above with Cleo’s headphones attached!  The letter box is yesterday’s project – not sure why the focus is not right but there you go… in desperate times we put up with the little things.

Everyone is doing daily exercise: biking, walking, backyard cricket, yoga. Lunch is not a casual affair and I fear my waistline is not going in the right direction. Afternoons are spent doing much the same thing but technology is being used a lot. I think we have had a fair dose of Netflix and Neon and Disney. I listen to Jacinda and Ashley Bloomfield’s update at 1pm daily and am always impressed by the calm but assertive nature of our PM. I am proud to be a kiwi at this point in time.  Covid19 has had a large impact upon us and yet still less than many others.  We have work and income, things to do at home, a happy family.

Both Alex and I have not felt that great over the last couple of days.  There are those inner thoughts – “Should I report this? Should I have a test? What if it is Covid19? How do I keep myself away from the family and yet carry on as if nothing is wrong?”  I hope this doesn’t turn out to be prophetic.

Gathered is closed for the forseeable future.  Alex and I are disappointed that some of our competitors have opened up as ‘essential services’.  Selling high-end children’s wear is not essential but again I am reminded to be generous and give people the benefit of doubt.  We have been working on the website and cleaning up our stock on shopify.  It feels a long way away at the moment but I know we are in a good position to re-open when we can.

Today’s project:  digging up the vege garden and getting it ready for when I can actually buy plants..