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April 9: Day 15 of living in lock-down…
The news is great!
Sunday: 89 new cases
Monday: 67
Tuesday: 54
Wednesday: 50
Today: (Thursday)29
If these numbers are correct and there’s no unknown “hot spot(s)” around the country, we have demonstrated with great clarity what can be achieved when a society acts collectively (with minor exceptions of a few idiots and misguided examples of naked commercial/political self-interest) for the greater good.
We can contrast our collective action with that of rugged individualism (mixed with a tonne of incompetence from the narcissist in the White House) in the United States;
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Here in Aotearoa New Zealand, we have our own impending problem: the long Easter Weekend. Traditionally a time when thousands of Kiwi families pile into their cars; get stuck in massive traffic jams for a few hours; drive to destination ‘X’ to “get away from it all”‘ three days later pile back into their vehicles; get stuck in massive traffic jams for several hours for the return home; arrive home knackered. Wasn’t that fun?!
Not this year. The constant plea is:
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To reinforce the new imperative for this Easter, the Police ramped up their warnings in the media. There would be no tolerance of a minority who chose to wilfully ignore the lock down;
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Road policing team-supervisor, Andrew Heath, explained the simplicity of how Police would track recalcitrant selfish motorist wannabe-holidaymakers;
“So what’s going to happen for that couple is there’s going to be a notification put in against their names and that vehicle that they’ve breached the lockdown rules, and if they’re stopped again, further action may be taken.”
Meanwhile, as the majority of New Zealanders stayed home and a small minority of self-entitled idiots tried to flout the rules, those of us working in essential services carried on. Thursday would be another work day for us, albeit contrasted against this new weird reality.
At the near Park N Ride, the usual two cars were parked, alone in their vast expanse of bitumen.
On the road, commercial traffic continued to operate; 2 “Mainfreight” trucks; a “Evotek” van; “Linfox” fuel tanker; “Waste Management” rubbish truck; “Armourguard” van and “Armourguard” car; “Aquaheat” ute; “Wright Pools & Spas” ute; an “Aquaheat” van; a “McGuiness” truck; 2 “Supreme Towing” trucks; “MRL/MRI Power” ute; 3 “Salvation Army Family Store” trucks; “Mainstream” covered truck; a police van; a “AA” Service ute; 3 “Trans Power” utes; a “Higgins” concrete truck; a SPCA ute; a “Fliway” branded small truck; a “L.G. Anderson container truck; a “Linfox” covered truck; “Spotless Catering” van; 2 “Fulton Hogan” roadworks trucks; a “Downer” ute and a “Downer” truck; “Countdown” food delivery truck; a “Laser Plumbing” van; “Capital Plumbing” van; “Wellington Security” van;
The white motorhome still parked on the side of the road. Would it still be there over the long weekend? I’d be curious…
Traffic on SH2 north of Lower Hutt was still light. There seemed no apparent change in the few number of cars were around me. At Melling numbers slight inceased to around seven in front of me and five to the rear. Still increadibly sparse as this is a major interchange in the Hutt Valley. The harbour highway into Wellington seemed marginally busier, with about seven behind and five cars in front of me. These numbers would increases or drop, but the road was never less than half a dozen. On the motorway this increased to ten cars in front and another ten behind. Definitely more traffic than yesterday. In the Terrace Tunnel, there were five cars to the rear of me and five to the front. Exiting the tunnel, Vivian Street had more traffic than yesterday with about a dozen cars in front of me.
It’s a beautiful autumn, sunny early afternoon. The sun is bright overhead in a sky studded with a few clouds. Despite the brightness of the sun, warmth is lack and there’s a definite chill in the still air.
There was a long queue outside Chaffer Street “New World”, extending out onto the footpath and around half the block;
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As I snapped the pic above, I noticed one your woman walk past the line, well within half a metre – almost elbow touching – from other people… and then stood two metres behind the last person in line. I’m guessing she would have walked closely past eight people to then “social distance” herself. Clearly did not think that one through.
At the beginning of Oriental Bay,the message on the electronic light-board had changed;
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Perhaps pedestrians had had a word in the ears of the powers-that-be that cyclists were not adhering to the 2 metre rule? Which is ironic as that is precisely the complaint cyclists have of car drivers on the road. Pot, kettle, it seems.
Coming home tonight; one Highway Patrol police car parked near the Aotea Quay turnoff. Traffic in and out of the city, between 7.30 and 8 – was almost nil. This was not the usual pre-Easter holiday traffic crush. People are heeding the call to stay home?
One hopes.
Postscript
This Diary entry is truncated. The author spent an hour searching for, and finding, a leak from his washing machine. Actually two leaks. Were they easily reachable to fix, or right at the back, almost out of reach? Apply Murphy’s Law. That’s your answer.
One leak fixed. Just needed a tightening of a fitting.
The other fitting – munted. I’ll have to risk a quick visit to Mitre10 on Saturday. Damn.
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Current covid19 cases: 1,239
Cases in ICU: 4 (? critical)
Number of deaths: 1
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References
RNZ: Covid-19: What happened on 5 April
RNZ: Covid-19 – The key developments in New Zealand from April 8
Vox: The deep ideological roots of Trump’s botched coronavirus response
Newsweek: Ex-GOP Strategist Calls Trump ‘Incompetent,’ ‘Ignorant’ Over Handling of Coronavirus Pandemic
RNZ: Police checkpoints set up to stop holidaymakers
Fairfax/Stuff: Coronavirus – Police turning back holidaymakers trying to breach lockdown rules
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus: Police stop cars escaping for Easter, warning drivers at Auckland – motorway
RNZ: Number of new cases of Covid-19 in NZ plummets to 29
Must Read
Elemental: Hold the Line
Democracy Now: Madrid’s Ice Rink Turned to Morgue as Spain Exceeds China in Coronavirus Deaths
Previous related blogposts
The Warehouse – where everyone gets a virus
Life in Lock Down: Day 7 (sanitised version)
Life in Lock Down: Day 8 (sanitised version)
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This blogpost will be re-published on “Frankly Speaking“. Reader’s comments may be left here (The Daily Blog) or there (Frankly Speaking).
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