{"id":1,"date":"2024-12-30T01:59:27","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T01:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/berniesshorts.nz\/?p=1"},"modified":"2024-12-30T03:50:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T03:50:07","slug":"six_months_in_a_leaky_boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/berniesshorts.nz\/index.php\/2024\/12\/30\/six_months_in_a_leaky_boat\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Months in a leaky Boat"},"content":{"rendered":"

(We’ve just spent)\u00a0Six Months in a Leaky Boat<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or how we coped with COVID- (with apologies to Tim Finn)<\/p>\n

January<\/strong><\/p>\n

The summer is gorgeous, care-free and holiday matters<\/p>\n

Politicians are absent, news just slim, only some mad hatters<\/p>\n

We have no idea what looms just ahead and plans are made for the year<\/p>\n

Sports will be big, with Olympics and Rugby and Cricket, no fear<\/p>\n

We’ll be there and life is a breeze. Nothing on the radar to say otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n

February<\/strong><\/p>\n

School is back, the kids are busy and we return to golf. Perhaps some bowling<\/p>\n

Then there’s news from China, some virus in Wuhan. It’s somewhere else, let’s keep on rolling<\/p>\n

More such reports from elsewhere, the virus has a name now. They call it Covid and added a number.<\/p>\n

It seems to accelerate, up there, even transits to Europe. Will it affect us, as the world awakes from slumber?<\/p>\n

And then, at the end of the month there’s a case – right here. It may be time to mobilise.<\/p>\n

March<\/strong><\/p>\n

Concern is mounting, doubters gather. It’s just one case, even two, hardly gigantic<\/p>\n

Jacinda steps up, Dr Bloomfeld in tow. She takes charge, he calls the stats, growing panic<\/p>\n

Announcements come tumbling, will events get cancelled? Do we still have bog rolls?<\/p>\n

The supermarkets are buzzing, long queues at the counter. Some shelves show gaping holes.<\/p>\n

We hear about Alert Levels, no-ones sure. What does it mean? Then – Level 4 – shutdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

April<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eerie quiet, no cars moving outside. We can exercise and boy, do we get rocking.<\/p>\n

We step outside with PPE and sanitisers, circle around one another, perhaps the odd elbow knocking<\/p>\n

No planes overhead, but the internet is buzzing, everyone buys and Liz brings those things<\/p>\n

Food arrives too, courtesy of kind drivers, just dropping it o , no doorbell rings<\/p>\n

With nowhere to go, we get inventive, some zoom, some clean but everyone scales down.<\/p>\n

May<\/strong><\/p>\n

There’s lots of wailing as businesses stay closed. But – what is this? The daily cases keep on falling<\/p>\n

We have been good, the PM tells us. Not long to go she beams. In other places it’s appalling.<\/p>\n

The news gets better as the month wakes up. Then no more cases and just one patient taking up space<\/p>\n

The team of 5 million wait with baited breath, then Bloomfeld says, we’ve won the race.<\/p>\n

We meet again, get hugs, give kisses. It’s time to shop, go out and watch a rugby match up close.<\/p>\n

June<\/strong><\/p>\n

So have we done what others can’t? I’d say we did but at some cost. A new campaign has started<\/p>\n

Support local, we are told. Keep business humming when all the tourists have departed<\/p>\n

Kiwis everywhere are coming home, they get nice rooms, for two weeks quarantined<\/p>\n

Sadly some, we see each night, bring in the dreaded virus, much maligned<\/p>\n

But all the same, the job’s mostly done and dusted, as our daily lives return to normal, I suppose.<\/p>\n

Article originally published in The Greenie in July 2020<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(We’ve just spent)\u00a0Six Months in a Leaky Boat Or how we coped with COVID- (with apologies to Tim Finn) January The summer is gorgeous, care-free and holiday matters Politicians are absent, news just slim, only some mad hatters We have no idea what looms just ahead and plans are made for the year Sports will … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Six Months in a leaky Boat”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/berniesshorts.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/berniesshorts.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/berniesshorts.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berniesshorts.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berniesshorts.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/berniesshorts.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21,"href":"https:\/\/berniesshorts.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/berniesshorts.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berniesshorts.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berniesshorts.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}