Sunday, February 28, 2021

Summer


 Today was the last day of summer and after yesterday's glorious day it was cloudy and muggy.  At the park yesterday mum got herself her 2nd only icecream cone of the whole summer.  Passionfruit and strawberry and it was delicious.   She did ask the girl for a small one, and it was about 2x as large as she would normally eat.

In answer to a couple of questions yesterday about social distancing, covid here in NZ.  We have had months of no community spread.  Our only cases were cases of returning kiwis coming from into the country bringing it with them.  You have to apply to come here, isolate in a set hotel for 14 days and have 2x negative tests before you can head home.

In the past few weeks there has been a cluster in Auckland of a woman who worked at an airport laundry facility and her family.  This weekend a young man tested positive for the same strain in Auckland and as he had been to shops and the gymn while potentially infectious so Auckland has to go into a level 3 lockdown.  No work, schools shut and businesses shut for 7 days.

The rest of NZ is at level 2 which means masks on in public transport and restrictions when shopping, visiting hospitals etc .  This is for 7 days also. Where we live, we have not been in level 3 type lockdown for almost 11 months and hope that next week things return to normal.

This only got announced at 9pm on Saturday night to start Sunday at 6am, just hours aft5the community cases were announced. 

For us, we have been lucky and been going to cafes, bars, movies, sports games, bands and concerts as normal.  We feel for all of our friends overseas whose lives have been affected by Covid.  We appreciate how lucky we have been to be able to socialize and hug our friends and family.  We hope that things will return to normal for everyone soon.

8 comments:

  1. Poppy, I appreciate your mom telling us how things are in New Zealand with the covid. Here in the US, I guess it's not getting worse it just isn't getting better. Beautiful picture of a sweet ice cream cone, and hope you got lots of treats when your mum got home. Our first day of spring is not until March 20th. But we won't feel much warm weather until in until April.

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  2. Oh! Wow! That's a lovely ice~cream Poppy!x
    Did Mum managed to get some home for you,
    mind you, it would have probably melted...! :(

    I saw your lovely PM on TV this morning, she's
    certainly on the ball..unlike our lot over here,
    deaths are coming down, but the the people catching
    it it up..! :(.
    Nothing won't really happen over here for at least
    a couple of months..we've still got to obey the
    rules, though there are idiots down on the beach,
    glorious sunshine for the weekend..100's of them,
    they just won't be told or listen..! :(.

    Still, l'm going to enjoy lunch out on the patio,
    bought half leg of pork this morning, half price,
    so that's ready for the oven, so Fudge will be round,
    sniffing my plate, though he does love my gravy...! :).

    And..You and Mum enjoy your hugs! Bless! :). πŸ–️ πŸ–️ πŸ–️

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    1. Stay safe Willie I enjoy your comments here and on Julies up North πŸ₯°

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  3. Mm, the ice cream cone looks yummy. 🍦

    I heard about the Auckland lockdown. I haven't heard what New Zealand is doing for vaccination roll out, though. It's slow here, and until most of us have one, things just can't return to normal.

    I actually had A LOT of anxiety on Friday, when I had to take two busy buses for an errand. (Concerned about the variants.) I'm used to dealing with depression, but not anxiety, and now I'm wondering if I'll be able to comfortably be around a lot of people in a public setting again. Oy. Lol.

    Take care and have a good week. πŸ™‚

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  4. OMG what I would give for that. How I hate having to be gluten free. But I’ve learned my lesson when I so rarely stray. The weather down here is usually gorgeous until towards the end of May. I prefer the Autumn heat and changing of the trees leaves to hot summer. You are lucky PoppyQ in that your city has a more temperate climate. Strange when we are only 200 miles apart. ❤️

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  5. Well, you do have three more weeks of summer, really, just as we have three more weeks of winter. But here the temperatures will start climbing, and it will feel like spring this week. Then it may become winter again. That's how it is in southern Alberta. I love the ice cream cone, and if that's a 'small', I'd like to have that version of 'small' here. (I'd probably go for a 'medium' in that case...)

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  6. We have had warmer weather, but still have quite a bit of snow here in British Columbia. We can still have frost through to the middle of Mat, so I not even thought about starting the plants yet. With Covid, I don't think there will be much travel in my life, so I am hoping to spend a lit of time in the garden (and not thinking about travelling). Right now New Zealand sound terrific! Have a marvellously happy day!

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  7. New Zealand has great leadership and a smart populace. I'm glad you guys take Covid seriously, and wish certain other nations (cough, cough...U, um, S, cough, cough) would get a grip. At least our leadership got better beginning late January.

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