That’s what a week of level 4 lockdown seems like — a week of Sundays. We are now into the second week, with level 4 having been extended till midnight Tuesday. All going well, all the country except Auckland and Northland will then move to Level 3. This won’t, in fact, make a great deal of difference to us, unless we succumb to the call of a contactless takeaway coffee. But by now I’m used to our own plunger brew at home. We’ll continue to go out for daily walks, but other than that, the rhythm of the days will remain largely the same: read a lot, blob a lot, surf the net a lot, gardening when it’s fine — all punctuated with phone or zoom calls to family and friends. We are lucky. Two in the bubble and none of the stress felt by small business owners or parents working from home. Still, I for one am grateful for the ‘go hard, go early’ lockdown strategy New Zealand has adopted. The official daily (mostly) update is always eagerly awaited, although that time can also be a good time to go supermarket shopping.
If you’re wondering why the poppy flowers in the photo above, it’s because about a week ago I planted some of these poppy seeds, and a couple of days ago the first shoots appeared in the wooden seed tray L made for me from old packing cases. Also germinated are some cosmos seeds. It’s a long time since I’ve grown annuals from seeds but I have a deep suspicion they have all sprouted a bit too early and they run the risk of growing leggy and weak. On non-rainy days I do put them outside in the hope it will harden them up, and so far the strategy is working, but they do seem vulnerable. I worry also about the dreaded damping off disease. A matter of wait and see. I also sowed some cosmos seedlings direct into the ground. No sign at all of those germinating yet. I did plant them more deeply than the seed tray ones.
Off Highway One 