I have decided to revive this blog because a) locked down for four weeks, we are all living through the most momentous period of all our lives and b), in theory, I should have more time on my hands. Both seem like good reasons to spend a little time writing each day, at least for the next four weeks.
But first, family life here at Cedar Lodge, a 12 acre lifestyle block (small holding) on Taotaoroa Road in the heart of New Zealand's North Island, just over the hill from the usually bustling but now silent Hobbiton Movie Set tourist attraction. Most of our changes have been reflected in 10 years of Facebook entries.
To sum up the last 9 years... daughter number one completed uni with a bachelors degree (rather than as a doctor which was plan A) and headed overseas for nearly three years. Came back and took up residence in the cottage here with plans to become a midwife. Work in Hamilton as a barista was the first stage to 'save'!! The position of barista turned to cafe manager while the owner travelled overseas for a year and she is still there working partly managing, partly barista-ing. Midwifery has changed to law and delays too many to mention means starting uni 'next year' has been the plan for four years now. I'm not worried. I'm totally confident she will get there and be a great lawyer one day🙂.
Daughter number two works (worked? I'll come back to that) at Hobbiton as a tour guide/driver and now works mainly on the operations side. Under normal circumstances she appears at home on a regular basis usually for the traditional Sunday roast. Alice was the first of us to be directly hit by the Covid-19 crisis when Hobbiton closed it's doors on Saturday 21st March giving staff two weeks notice. We are still unclear if employments will be terminated at this stage as the government is stepping in and paying the wages of employees if employers keep them on so watch this space. Personally I think this is great opportunity for her to do something else and move on from Hobbiton.
Husband number one is a partner in a local law firm however, he would consider the biggest changes in his life to be the acquisition of first a tractor then and digger. "What I can do with...". Both items were probably the proud purchase new of some farmer circa 1920 but, fair dues, they do both do the job. Eric's eye is now on replacing the tractor with a four wheel version which, after I had a frightening experience of starting to slide down a hill in said 2-wheel version, I am inclined to agree with.
And me? I worked in various roles for the Immunisation Advisory Centre based at The University of Auckland and over recent years scaled down my hours moving to a casual contract. In May 2018 the work dried up and I was just thinking of myself as retired when the Covid-19 or coronavirus pandemic hit us on 11 March 2020 and last week I was asked to return to work! That's why I said 'in theory' I should have more time on my hands!
The biggest event in my life was that on 4 August 2019 I came off the quad bike and broke my leg. And to quote almost every orthopaedic surgeon who looked at the X-Ray I "did a really good job there". Almost 8 months later my mobility is still crap. On the plus side I am now the proud owner of a beautiful potting shed. We bought it in the UK when we were shipping some other stuff over following my father-in-law's death. For a lots of different reasons it remained flat-packed until January when Eric finished the base, I was prepping in the days before my accident, and he and Richard erected it in late January.
On Monday this week the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that NZ would go into a four week lockdown on Wednesday 25th March in response to the novel coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan province, China in December. Unlike many countries, we have gone early and we had 48 hours notice, time to get our lives in order first. The girls both came home for final hugs in four weeks, although strictly that was not allowed as we were supposed to be keeping 2m distancing. Daughter number 1, who had only recently moved out, went through the kitchen claiming all her utensils! I'll now have to dig out my Kenwood Chef etc that went into semi-retirement when she purchased a new one. In my heart I wanted both daughters at home for this but my head tells me it is probably a good thing that they are not. I doubt it would have made for a peaceful lockdown if they were! We did have a 'laughed til I cried' moment when they were here though. You probably need to have been there for it to be funny but Eric and I got into a shouting match over a box of legal files tipped up on the dining table that I wanted moving and Eric did not. Alice started laughing about how we weren't even in lockdown and already we were shouting at each other and it just went from there. Four of us hysterical with laughter. And so, our new life begins....
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