Day 14 – Tuesday
Today I decided a bit of retail therapy was in order. My current handbag is held together with a hair clip and has been for about a year. So far my trend of zips being held together by hair clips hadn’t taken off so it was time for a new bag. Marketplace and Trademe are a dangerous rabbit whole to fall down. Once I am on there I see a designer dress for on sale in my size. That would be ridiculous not to get right? Then the finale is getting some new high-heeled dance shoes from France that I really hope will fit when I get them. They cost the same as a new pair might over here and am excited about the prospect of dancing low heels again. Especially as I am thinking it might be fun to go down the latin route and get a bit more salsa into my life (not the dip and chip kind, I already have enough of that). With all the cancelled dance competitions and plans this year it a concentrated effort to eat at home more I felt it was time to break from frugality. 2020 has been a tough year and sometimes a bit of retail therapy is necessary. I then close my computer before I find anything else new and sparkly.
I brave the pouring rain to get some non-alcoholic wine and a few more snacks. With five more days of lockdown to go I am going to need supplies. I get to Countdown and realise something stupid. I don’t have my mask in my car like usual. I scramble around in the contents of my car to see if there was anything mask-worthy to wear at the supermarket. I end up finding a teal shrug (kind of a short version of a cardigan) and I wrap it around my face and tie it in a bow. I look like I am an amateur criminal about to rob the place but safety first and I ventured in. The shopping malls look a little like the twilight zone at the moment. I am still not convinced that we aren’t living in the movie “The Body Snatchers” as I watch people mindlessly amble around in a zombie-like fashion by themselves wearing the masks. There is no talking and it is so silent all you can hear is the over-worked checkout workers scanning items. Maybe I have already been replaced and I don’t know it. If I was a plant-like pod would I know I was a plant- like pod? It’s kind of like if you are an asshole you don’t necessarily know but it is something inflicted on others. “Body Snatchers” seems to classy for 2020 though. I think if there is a 2020 movie it would “Godzilla” some massive creature appearing and just screwing the place up. That sounds like a more fitting option with events that have happened this year.
I get back with my loot and decide it is time for a ‘Below Deck’ marathon. I have such mixed emotions about that industry. It provided me with some of the best and toughest experiences in my life. Working with many different people in a confined space will test the limits and can teach some valuable lessons moving forward. I watch the Captain as he deliberates what to do when one of the girls is said to be drinking when she is working on a charter. I was very surprised that he didn’t fire her but gave her the benefit of the doubt. Putting trust in her and showing some compassion seemed to give her the confidence later on address her issues with alcohol and modify her behaviour to a healthier lifestyle. I read once somewhere that it only takes one person to believe in you for you to give you a proper chance to succeed. We might not think we are making a difference in regards to the world but if we are making a difference to that one person we are the world to them.
Wednesday – Day 15
Today as I was having my breakfast coffee my Mum placed a piece of paper in front of me. It was my Grandma’s retirement village word find and family tree lockdown activity. My work today would consist of drawing a family tree that would be displayed at the retirement village and completing a quiz about cakes for a chance to win a bottle of wine. My knowledge of cakes is severely lacking but could manage things like ‘What cakes would be in a volcano?’ (Lava Cake). My Mum and I were stuck on one that read; “Which cake has the same name as a child’s game?”. My Mum kept on going on about lolly cake and I kept on jokingly reminded her at least five times that it was to with a game kids play, not to do with food. She eventually guessed “Patty cake” which at least sounded like a correct answer. We finished the rest of the answers and hopefully won my Grandma a bottle of wine.
I was sick of my room today. I had woken up with a blocked nose but it was just due to the cold conditions. As many blankets as were piled on the bed it couldn’t make the place warmer. After I had showered and bothered with the infrequent ritual of washing my hair I decided the room was still too cold to work in and set myself up to work in the lounge. I tend to like communal working spaces. I have been used to noise and cafes and small spaces in boats and classrooms so can usually block out the noise when I want to do so. Otherwise I might not see a family member all day we are so absorbed in our own work. My brother comes up to eat sardines and feeds the cat some of it (now I know why she is becoming his friend). The other one comes back from a walk or run (why are my brothers so healthy at the moment, aren’t we meant to have the same genes?). My brother says he is booking his ticket for Canada for the 16th September. That’s just over two weeks away. Already I can feel the time slipping away. I am so happy for him to be going and excited for him. I am beginning to feel trapped a bit and missing my free-spirited gypsy life where I would wake up not knowing which country I could be in by that night. But people change and some adventures aren’t meant to last forever. I gave up a lot at home when I was travelling and it has made me appreciate time with family so much more. The thing about travelling is that after a while it is hard not to miss something or someone wherever you are. There will always be a piece of my heart at the French Market in Antibes or sunning on the beach in Fort Lauderdale or up Whistler mountain and that is ok.
Day 16- Thursday
I had great ambitions of exercising today. But when opened the fridge and the ingredients for a breakfast burger was just sitting there I knew I didn’t have an option but to assemble the burger instead. I do genuinely love exercise, however, I lost my exercise mojo this lockdown with the gyms being closed and my rib broken. I have pretty much resolved to start it all again after lockdown. In the meantime it is eating breakfast burgers in my PJ’s while reading the morning news after 10am.
I jumped on to teach my online class. I had a brief chat with the teacher beforehand and discussed me taking on some additional classes and what the classes would look like next week under new restrictions. The kids smiling faces appeared and sporadically. I had printed out their poems earlier and gave them a reminder about comprehension of homework as some of them had been too carried away to follow the instructions. I was beginning to get used to the technicalities of zoom and class work and know things like when to disable to the chat and when to mute the whole class. It was really nice to be able to say to them I would see them next week and know that I would. I went to sleep dreaming of owning a $40 million dollar property in LA with and walking around in it with Louis Boutins.
Day 17 – Friday
I was very stressed about our dance performance for our team. I had choreographed and taught so many shows and performances before I generally know it isn’t smooth sailing. But this has been the hardest routine to teach. All I wanted to do was create a decent piece of choreography and perform it and in the process I seemed to have run myself ragged tying to do so. I was exhausted and the prospect of having another 3 months before we perform it is both beneficial and daunting. This choreography meant something to me and I really loved all of the people in the team and I needed to see this home till the end. I spent some time talking to a friend that had had choreographed a lot of teams before as a kind of pep talk to work on how to approach the next 3 months.
I jumped on Friday night zoom drinks and had a quick catch up with some of my friends. I wasn’t quite in the right space for it though and after a few half-hearted attempts to be a pirate or a meatball on snap camera I left early. I started watching a new trashy reality show about high-paid real estate agents in LA showing 40 million dollar properties. Just seeing their designer clothes and gorgeous fake nails made me want to get my real estate license. I am not materialistic at all but see people who put that much effort into their appearance does inspire me to work a bit harder. Of course in lockdown trying harder means showering and I haven’t even shaved my legs since we went in.
Day 18 – Saturday
Tension carried over the next day. My flat mate called me and said that they were looking at moving out which essentially meant I was going to move as well. I knew this was going to eventually but I was left with a big question mark. It was a glorious day outside but in the bright sun I was shivering. There has been so much change this year. This year was unequivocally the hardest year of my life and all I could hope was that in the end it was going to make me a stronger and more compassionate person. It was my last night with my parents and I was going to head back to the flat later on that night to organise myself and start my job afresh the next day. I was really excited about having a job again and have a place to go. My mind went to buying a house again. I started googling about mortgages and wistfully looking a place to call my own. Ever since I had returned I was desperate to have my own place piece of New Zealand but the ever creeping Auckland housing market and the fact that I had kept on disappearing overseas instead of saving had presented some massive hurdles. I spent the afternoon talking to my sensible friends who had saved and got a house and thinking about the next steps I could make drinking wine as the sun slowly slunk below the horizon. I know I will get there and moving out may motivate me to take that next step.
My Mum has a board game collecting addiction. We had at least 6 versions on Trivial Pursuit. We chose a game of Trivial Pursuit a 2000’s edition for our last Saturday lockdown night. It is always slightly intimidating playing Trivial Pursuit as the questions can be very relevant or ridiculously obscure and you never know until you start which type of game you are in for. I teamed up with my Dad and my brother teamed up with Mum. Our other brother Kian decided not to join us. I don’t really blame him, We decided that we wouldn’t be fair for my brother and I to play against them as we tended to kick their butt whenever we did. My brother tends to favour rules and even likes to add additional rules (he definitely does not get this from me). He made up some rule that out of 6 possible questions we would answer the first. This deteriorated as we had more wine throughout the game when we decided we could choose a number at random to answer. It ended neck in neck with one answer between us winning. My Mum and brother got the question what is another name for the town Tshwane in South Africa? (The answer was Pretoria). We decided on an early night and I crawled into bed watching my latest season on Netflix about LA real estate before being so tired falling asleep with the lights on.
Day 19 – Sunday
To celebrate the end of lockdown I told my parents I would make pizzas and went shopping for ingredients. My Mum had shopping to do so we went in the same car but went separately through the supermarket to get what we needed with our masks on. As I mulled over chorizo or Italian salami (Italian salami is the best salami guaranteed) a person a distance away from me was having a coughing fit with her mask on. I put the salami back and raced away from her as fast as I could. For I know it could have just been a normal cold but I am not taking any chances. This is the society we live in now. People with the common cold are avoided like the plague (I don’t know why we say avoided like the plague. I feel so many people had the bubonic plague that there couldn’t have been much avoiding).
Our Prime Minister explained dutifully at the 1pm briefing that we had moved into Level 2.5. I didn’t know what 2.5 and was a bit disappointed that I didn’t know when our next update would be. For a lot of people not too much will change at Level 2 but big events and close contact pass times such as dancing are still off for the moment. It is another beautiful sunny day and my brother and Mum and are rummaging through our storage unit to see what needs to be cleared out. They come across a whole set of books and we sort through what we want to keep and what we want to go to a charity shops. I like hard backs and I like to buy my books new. There is nothing better than going shopping and finding your favourite author has written a new book and you get to sit inside and curl up and read it. And it still has the fresh book smell. As much as I have time for audio books and Kindles it will never replace my love of books.
My brother jokingly calls my mother a hoarder. In reality she just has inherited a lot of junk from her adult children. I think it is funny how we place sentimental attachments. I personally don’t understand as I have travelled for so long most of my items have been reduced to functionality. The things that I am proudest of the most are the things I worked the hardest for. I spent the start of my season in Whistler broke and saved all my money to buy a second hand snowboard that was too big for me and then eventually a better snow board until I had collected an awesome set of snow gear that I will definitely use again. I am proud of that as I can see the hours of work I put into it. One the subject of hoarding, I find that the pizza bases that had been put out from the freezer to defrost were from 2018 and decided not to chance them so make pizza bases from scratch. My last ditch effort to make something I usually wouldn’t attempt as my last ditch lockdown offering and had a final family dinner before everything changes again. I am having an early night as I have to get up early for work tomorrow. Keep safe everyone and sweet dreams.
The Corona Diaries 