This and That

What's been happening at our place these days?  Restrictions have lifted a little and we can go out more, and we have each had a couple of local trips recently.  Robin has been down to get rid of the recyclables – this service had been closed during lockdown and only just reopened.  And I went to our just opened fruit and vegetable market the other day – but I was horrified when an unknown customer patted me on the shoulder to tell me she was right behind me.  Don't touch me, I exclaimed, and she certainly shouldn’t have been so close!  But mostly we have been staying at home, keeping safe.

The Autumn weather continues to be calm and sunny, although the temperatures have certainly dropped overnight.  We decided to cook on the BBQ on Sunday, and had a chicken and baked potatoes cooking away on the Weber.  Mmm, it certainly smelt great while it was cooking away and finished up with lovely crispy skin.  It was delicious!

Chicken for dinner

There's been time for a few jobs to get done.  De-icing the chest freezer didn’t take as long as expected, and what a difference it made.    The ice on the back lawn took all day to finally melt away.

Ice on the lawn

Then our rhubarb garden needed attention.  I wanted the rhubarb lifted, split up, and replanted.  When they were dug up, we found that one side of the raised garden was rotting away, and this required some of Robin’s carpentry skills to fix it. We were still in lockdown, so luckily he found a spare piece of timber he could use.  There was lots of banging, sawing, and screwing long bolts on to the corners, and the job was finally done.  Before we replanted the rhubarb, two buckets of pony poo, courtesy of the Menz Shed, was dug into the garden.  Rhubarb plants love pony poo!  We will have to wait a while for the cut back rhubarb to grown again, but all of the pieces have started growing new leaves, so that's good.

Working in the rhubarb patch

What else?  The fold out clothes line bolted to the back wooden fence  seemed to be getting loose, I informed Robin.  No doubt a load of wet washing is fairly heavy, and I had visions of the whole thing falling down one day soon.  Seems that the bolts needed tightening, and now it is as good as new.  Some shrubs needed trimming back, and several lightbulbs needed replacing.  Have you noticed that these were all “blue” jobs, so all for  Robin to attend to?  But I’ve been extra busy too, cooking up some tasty treats for us both. So he is not really too hard done by.

It’s all Non Contact these Days

Who would have thought a couple of months ago that businesses would have to organise themselves to have non contact with customers?  But that is what had to happen once the nasty Covid 19 virus started rampaging around the world.  Under Alert Level 3 the rules for businesses are:

• Customers cannot come onto your premises unless you are a supermarket, dairy, petrol station, pharmacy or permitted health service.
• Your business must be contactless. Your customers can pay online, over the phone or in a contactless way. Delivery or pick-up must also be contactless.

We have had several non contact transactions happen over the last couple of days.  First was getting a service done on our Toyota car, a bit late due to being in Lockdown.  This all went like clockwork, the serviceman drove to our house in a courtesy car, parked it, Robin tossed him the keys for our Toyota, and he drove it down to the workshop.  On returning our car after the service, he parked it in the garage, placed the portable Eftpos machine and our keys on top of our chest freezer and stepped back while Robin dealt with the payment.  All very well thought out, in the old days we would have to have driven two cars down to the workshop, left one behind to be worked on, driven home, then repeated the trip again at the end of the day.

Our second delivery turned out to be rather long winded, and we were not very impressed, although the non contact rules were adhered to.  Showing that TV advertisements work, after being bombarded with ads for pizza we caved in and ordered some for “contactless home delivery”, paying online. It seems that everyone had a hankering for pizza that night and the delivery was running a little late – no problem, we will  just wait till it arrives.  Then we got a phone call to tell us the delivery was at the door.  But it wasn't – who's door had the driver left it at?  A phone call to the pizza place to chase it up, and finally, after a long wait, the pizza boxes were retrieved from the incorrect doorstop and finally delivered to us.  Seems that the delivery man couldn’t work out the address, didn’t realise he had to come into our village, and must have left the delivery in another street.

We were starving hungry but the pizzas were not piping hot by this time, so Robin went on line to give feedback.  And believe it or not, another delivery arrived, we had pizza for Africa!  No, you are not allowed any more just because it’s here, Robin was told firmly, it was packed up and put in the freezer for another day.

Mmm, garlic bread

And lastly, we had a courier delivery today when a parcel arrived.  After ascertaining that we were the correct household, the driver placed the parcel down on the path and walked away - nothing to sign, no personal contact made.  And best of all, the parcel is from my daughter so it must be a little something for Mother’s Day, which is tomorrow.  Aren’t I lucky!

Mother’s Day gift

Engineer in the house

Finally, our heat pump was getting some attention, after six weeks or so with it not working.  Now that New Zealand has dropped down to Alert Level 3, some businesses can now operate as long as they adhere to the strict rules now in place.  In these Covid 19 days, having a tradesman in the house takes some planning.   While Jonathan of Levin Heat Pumps was working, for social distancing reasons, we were asked not to be in the same room as him.  I decided to distance myself in the caravan, taking Gemma with me, together with my library book and knitting.  With the kettle on the gas hob, a cup of coffee or two, I was quite happy.  It was a lovely day, the sunshine was streaming in the windows, and Gemma soon settled down for a snooze.

 

At home in the caravan parking area

We had decided to get a new replacement heat pump, rather than repair our existing unit.  Jonathan was busy outside at the back of the house replacing the outside unit, while Robin stayed inside.  These units have gas inside (I didn’t know that) which had to be sucked out and safely contained.

Removing the gas

The new unit was installed, and as the unit is complete with new refrigerant gas, when the system is sealed the  gas is released, and that part of the job was completed.

New Outside Unit being installed

After a socially distant lunch break (Jonathan solitary outside on the patio and us inside) the second phase was done, installing the interior unit.  Robin took himself off to the caravan, and I kept myself busy in the sewing room, giving Jonathan plenty of space to work.    Finally the job was complete after a satisfactory test run, and we were good to go again – ready and waiting for the next cold spell. 

New heat pump installed

Proving that advertising pays, with the marked van parked outside, two neighbours came knocking on the door wanting some work done on their heat pumps.  With two extra jobs to be logged, the company will be pleased with that.

Anzac Day 2020

Saturday 25th April is Anzac Day here in New Zealand, and also celebrated by our friends in Australia.  The word Anzac is part of the culture of New Zealanders and Australians.  ANZAC is an acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, a grouping of several divisions created early in the Great War of 1914–18.  The Anzacs first saw action at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. The small cove where the Australian and New Zealand troops landed was quickly dubbed Anzac Cove. Soon the word was being used to describe all the Australian and New Zealand soldiers fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Later it came to mean any Australian or New Zealand soldier.

This year, because of Covid 19 Lockdown, the first time in more than a century, there'll be no dawn services to commemorate ANZAC Day.  People are encouraged to mark it in their own way, perhaps placing poppies in their letter boxes, or in windows. We have our hand crafted ceramic poppy outside our kitchen window.  This was purchased three years ago when we visited the Great War Exhibition at the historic Dominion Museum in Wellington -   read about our visit here

Our ceramic Anzac poppy

And of course Robin had the New Zealand flag flying.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place, and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing fly
Scarcely heard amid the guns below.

Giving thanks to all our Anzac heroes, past and present. 

It’s been a Big Day

During our time of Lockdown all the days have started to merge into one another – no social outings, clubs, meetings, coffee dates, none of that for any of us.  We know today is  Sunday, and that’s the day we have our weekly bacon and egg breakfast treat.  But then we had some more excitement, the arrival of our very first grocery delivery.  This took a bit of doing, lots of time on the lap top getting organised, and we finally found a spare delivery spot, albeit a week later than when we placed the order. 

 

It was all very well done, we thought.  The delivery man dropped a carton at the door, then went back for the perishables, milk, cheese, fresh meat and frozen items.  These were transported in chilly bags and packed with ice bags, we were assured.  That’s good, I did wonder how these items would be dealt with.  Everything was soon unpacked and put away, and Gemma decided to check to make sure that we hadn't forgotten anything.

Any cat food in here?

It’s been a special day for Gemma as well, as she has just celebrated her second birthday.  She’s a big girl now.

Happy Birthday Gemma

Staycation Easter 2020

Sunday morning is generally a bacon and egg breakfast cooked by Robin, and Easter Sunday was no exception.  Once again, he did a great job.  It’s our very own family tradition.

The other day a rather heavy parcel was delivered by courier  from my daughter Nicky.  Was it an early delivery for Mother’s Day next month, I wondered?  No, I was told to open in now, so I did.  And what's this I found inside?  A bag of flour, about 3kg or so, I reckon!

The note read:  (abbreviated)

“Dear Nana, here’s some flour for you, we ended up getting a 20kg bag yesterday at the supermarket.  We hope you are doing well in Lockdown, and will enjoy doing baking with the flour.  Love from Emma and Nicky.”

Special delivery – flour!

So on Sunday afternoon I spent some time baking, and made a date loaf, and some shortbread.  The shortbread aren’t cut all nice and fancy, but they certainly taste good.  Half of them have been spirited away into the freezer for another time, maybe we will welcome visitors here for afternoon tea sometime in the future.    It’s certainly a strange new world when a gift of flour (or finding the supermarket shelves stocked with toilet paper) can bring such joy!

All in all we have managed our Easter Staycation quite well.  A few Easter buns, but there was a mild panic when I couldn’t find where I had put the peppermint marshmallow Easter Eggs.  After looking through the pantry a couple of times, they were finally tracked down.  What bliss, an Easter Egg to nibble on after dinner.  It doesn’t take much to make us happy these days, does it?

The weather has taken a cold and rather windy turn over the last day or two, but then, Easter weather here can always be rather changeable.  There’s a crockpot full of pumpkin and bacon soup with a hint of curry for lunch, so all’s well in our world.  Hope everyone is keeping warm and safe inside their home bubbles, and keeping in touch with friends and family by phone and internet.  Happy Easter to all.

A Different Easter in 2020

The the recent developments of the world wide Covid 19 pandemic, all our lives are so different these days.  Here in New Zealand we are in Level Four State of Emergency and halfway through a 4 week lockdown, with the message being “stay safe, stay home and save lives”.  Non essential travel is not permitted, and we must stay local.  So instead of packing the caravan and heading away for the Easter weekend, we are all listening to the rules, staying home and having a “Staycation”.  That doesn’t happen often – how long before we get “cabin fever” I wonder?  We have heard that some caravanners have been spending the night in their caravan without actually going away, safely on their property.  We might have to resort to that, if it all gets too much for us!

 

We are using different words and phrases too, and now know all about “staying in our bubble” with only with those in our household, and “social distancing”, staying at least 6 feet, 2 metres away from everyone else.  Add to that the fact that washing hands in soapy water should be taking 20 seconds – that’s two renditions of Happy Birthday to me as I’ve worked out, as I hum away to myself. On Good Friday a small group in our village practised social distancing as we met in the village green.  Taking our folding chairs along, and coffees or whatever else was fancied, we sat in the sunshine and chatted happily away, keeping our distance from each other.  Only those in couples sat closer together.

Employing social distancing

Easter Saturday was a different day, as we had to drive up to Palmerston North Hospital (50km each way so out of our local area)  for an MRI appointment.  I made sure I had my hospital documents tucked safely away, as we were sure we would be stopped at a police checkpoint, which didn’t happen, as it turned out.  The mist was hovering over the farm land as we drove along the empty road.

It was a beautiful calm morning

Getting into the hospital was a mission, but really, in this pandemic we don’t really mind all the extra precautions.  Robin had to remain in the car, and I answered health questions, sanitized my hands, and was sent on my way for my appointment.  Walking down the empty hospital corridors was a bit eerie, usually it is such a busy, bustling place.  Those who have had an MRI know what it’s all about – lie absolutely still  for half an hour, earmuffs on, face down and arms straight out over my head, in my case,  while the machine makes an absolute din, sounding rather like a jack hammer.

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine

On our way out of town we stopped at Davis Trading to get a few supplies.  Entry was very well organised, I thought.  Queued up outside on the marked lines, hand sanitizer, disposable gloves and fill  in the register as we get to the front of line, enter when another shopper exits to ensure only a few in the shop at any time.  I managed to get what I wanted, including a box of said gloves, they will be handy for any future trips out, I feel.  Sadly, there was an altercation outside when I was going though the checkout.  A rather large man tried to walk straight in, and refused to go to the end of the line and follow the safely procedures.  On being challenged he got rather aggressive and knocked over the table with sanitizer and gloves, abused the staff member seated outside manning the entry, and stormed off.  Why do some people think the rules don’t apply to them?

No sign of police road stops on the drive back home either, guess they are all busy at the popular holiday spots further north.  We had heard tales of people towing caravans (surely no one we know) and others  trying to get away to holiday homes – why oh why don’t these foolish people listen and do what they should. 

Time to turn the clocks back

It’s Day 11 on our Lockdown to beat the Corona Virus, the weather is warm and autumnal, and things are still ticking along.  Last night Day Light Saving ended for the season and we had to turn our clocks back an hour.  Only three needed changing, as due to the wonder of the internet, the laptops, tablets and cell phones magically change themselves.

So what have we been doing?  Not as many jobs are getting started as probably should be, but goodness me, the days are still busy.  For people who never usually watch daytime TV, things have certainly changed in that regard.  We now watch the Covid 19 Health Report each day at 1.00pm, then the Prime Minister’s follow up report at 3.00pm.  The media are given an opportunity to ask questions at both of these meetings.

After reading about Teddy Bears popping up in windows all around the country and overseas, Big Ted came out of hibernation to look out our front window.  The original idea was to keep children entertained as they go for a walk with their parents around their local streets.   There are no children here,  but many of our neighbours take a little walk around the village.  Our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern admitted she also has a teddy in her window, so Big Ted is in good company and is really pleased to be now doing his bit for the good of the  country.  We spotted a few other soft toys as we walked around so he is not the only one waiting to be discovered.

Hello from Big Ted

The weather has been nice enough to sit outside on the patio most days for coffee, reading, or in my case, a bit of hand stitching.  Gemma  enjoys  the fresh are too, particularly when she finds insects to pounce on.  We watched her closely follow a cricket, who then prudently jumped down into the drain to escape. 

It’s down here somewhere

Sadly the number of confirmed cases continues to rise, with over 1000 now, but only 1 death so far.  We have been told that the numbers will probably get worse until the peak, and staying inside will stop the spread.  Most of the population are happy to do their bit, obey the rules and stay inside, but regrettably, there are always idiots who flout the rules.

Lock Down Shopping

In line with the medical view that over 70s should not be going out to get their groceries during the lockdown, we investigated on-line shopping and delivery.  It would be well worth the charge to get it safely delivered to our door.  First, we had to register, then spent quite some time checking the website for the products we needed. Then came the frustration, with our order ready, we had to pick a “slot” (day and time) for either pick-up or delivery.  But there were no slots available, and seemingly no way of leaving the order ready on-line for the next available slot.  All this took a couple of hours, grrrr!

Robin rang through to the office and told the person on the other end of the phone about our predicament.  How could we stay home as advised and get our groceries delivered.  The answer was, “Come down now, the queue is not too long”.  So that’s what we did, donning a couple of face masks which Robin found kicking around somewhere.

The line outside the shop was orderly, all standing well apart, and the one at the front of the queue was handed a trolley and allowed in the door each time someone exited with their trolley of groceries.  After 15 minutes of waiting, it was finally our turn – although shoppers are meant to go on their own, he allowed both of us in together.  Perhaps we looked rather old and doddery?  With a list in hand, we quickly got what we wanted.  But then we had to wait in an even longer queue snaking around the store till we finally reached the checkout.  Goodness knows how the really elderly cope with all this standing and waiting.

We knew that the checkouts had changed somewhat, although this was our first experience of the changes.  We unloaded the items at the end of the counter, then stood well back behind the Perspex screen.  The items were scanned and placed into another trolley behind the operator, who then wheeled it around, for us to collect.  Payment was made by credit card, no cash allowed, and although I didn't witness it, I presume that the terminal would be wiped down between customers.  We had to pack our own groceries into bags, which we did at the car.

There was a bit of excitement while we were patiently queuing and waiting our turn at the check-out.  A younger woman had walked down between the aisles and sneaked in front, instead of walking back around the store and going to the end of the queue.  She had been told to move but just stayed at the front, finally walking up to the next available checkout and unloading her trolley.  The manager came rushing up, telling her to put her things back into her trolley and get to the end of the line, as she had already been told!  F*%# You, she said, and flounced out of the store, leaving someone else, of course, to put all her items back on the shelves.

Walking around the shop it was good to note that we never noticed a single case of anyone coughing, sneezing or spluttering, so that was good.  Still couldn't buy any flour though, although there seemed to be plenty of TP in stock.  And as a treat, a packet or two of Easter Eggs jumped into our trolley, we needed them after all that stress!

We will give on-line shopping another try in the near future, hopefully it will be more successful next time we try.

Lockdown - Day Three

Is it only day three, seems much longer, but then we have been staying inside self isolating most of the week.  And today is a good day to hunker down.  The temperature has dropped, and it’s been raining quite hard. 

View out of our window

One of the downsides of being in lockdown is that our heat pump has not yet been fixed.  We will have to wait out the four week period, which may well be extended another couple of weeks, will just have to wait and see.  Then I hope we will get to see the repairman soon after when all non essential businesses are up and running again - hope the weather doesn’t get too wintry.

The Prime Minister and Government officials (Health, Police, Civil Defence, whoever is appropriate on the day) front a daily TV conference, telling us numbers of new cases, answering reporters questions.  We are encouraged to keep abreast of changes through the official website, Covid 19.  So we are kept well informed, and there is plenty of transparency on all the Government actions in this current State of Emergency.

And although we are in lockdown, we can leave the house to purchase groceries or medical reasons, go outside for exercise as long as we keep well distanced from others, but are to stay in our local communities.  I incorrectly  said we can go out for drives in the car in the last blog, this is not correct, as car trips must be for essential reasons only.  We are both pottering around and keeping busy inside.  There’s been several new recipes tried for dinner, one or two not worth repeating but at least we are trying new things.  Been keeping in touch with friends and family by phone and snap chats, so that’s good, even had a phone call from our Probus Club to make sure we were OK.  Stay safely at home everyone, and be kind to yourselves, and your housemates, we are all in this together.