I’m trying to imagine how those living on land at the moment could be feeling. People who’d usually be travelling by car or public transport each weekday to work. Whose children no longer go to school, but are at home with them 24/7. Without even an occasional grandparents reprieve. Those who were accustomed to socialising, visiting the pubs and restaurants regularly – but no longer can.

You see for us, there’s not a lot of change to our daily life from ‘the time before the world changed’ to now. I totally recognise how fortunate we are. I’ve worked from the boat for two years, so that’s no different, albeit it’s a little quieter. We’re not able to see our grandsons, which is challenging, and we’ve got my younger daughter living with us – something we’d never imagined a few months ago.

The main difference, of course, is we’re moving only for essential services. As ‘continuous cruisers‘, we’d HAVE to move at least every fourteen days from April to November in ‘normal’ circumstances. So staying in this one mooring for six weeks is rather unique. For me, it’s not a chore at all. However, I’m aware I don’t speak for many boaters who by the very nature of their choice of narrowboating, relish the regular cruising. Like Barry!

Articles About Living in Lockdown

Our gorgeous friends AnnaMarie and Kath, have recently been interviewed by ‘The Insider’ for an article about self-isolation on a canal boat. Whenever I watch their Youtube Vlogs or read articles like this, I understand why we all gel so well.

“So they’ve learned to enjoy the little things. Over the course of five weeks, they’ve watched ducklings grow up, herons dive for food, and seasons change. “We’re deciding to just go, ‘Wow, what a gift,'” Uren said. “This is actually just a real gift to be kind of locked down on nature and observing everything and trying to stay positive about it as well.”“

https://www.insider.com/couple-self-isolating-boat-canals-uk-essential-rides-2020-4

We’ve got a similar article being published in The Gisborne Herald this weekend, so if you’re reading in Gisborne lookout for it. I’m guessing it’ll be in The Weekender?

A Sitting Reflectivley Monday

I’ve had a useful ‘catching up’ day going through my personal emails and taking action. Nothing exciting. But it’s felt positive to be ‘doing’. I seriously can’t imagine how anyone with the internet who isn’t working full time or looking after children, could be bored at the moment. There’s such a variety of online courses and entertainment available, books to be read, walks to be had, online connecting with friends and family to relish. For me, it’s more of a case of reining myself in and not attempting to do it all! Finding some space to just ‘be’ rather than filling in all the pauses.

I’ve learnt to play ‘When the Saints Go Marching By’ on the ukulele – I even sang as well as played! Crikey, that’s got to count as progress 😉

Observing our free cherry tomato plant growing is remarkably riveting! It’s loving sitting in the kitchen catching the sun; being watered frequently. I even feed it some ground coffee every so often which it seems to be thriving on. Simple pleasures …

Wow! It’s going crazy; I’m not sure how long it takes to grow tomatoes? I’m going to try planting a few pepper seeds too. Not bought ones. Ones from an actual pepper! Is this possible? Kiera and I had a discussion this morning on her blog and we reckon it is. She’s done it successfully. I’ll let you know once I’ve tried it …

Still Symptom-Free

All remains well aboard Areandare, and we’ve reported no symptoms once again to the COVID-19 Symptom Tracker.

New Zealand reported NO new coronavirus cases today. Fantastic. Well done Aotearoa.

“It is the first time in close to six weeks that testing has not uncovered a single case across a 24 hour period. There are no additional deaths to report and the death toll remains at 20. The total number of cases is 1487. One probable case had since been upgraded to confirmed but that does not change the total number of cases. There are four people in hospital.”

New Zealand Herald

If only we had such a brilliant team co-ordinating the response here in the UK. Admittedly a population of just over 4.8 million is easier to manage in lockdown than the UK’s population of almost 68 million. But still. Regardless of that ‘excuse’. There’s no comparison in the way it’s been handled or the way the future of the two countries is heading from where I’m sitting.

Keep well everyone if you can. Seize each day to enjoy being alive on this amazing planet whether you’re living on the water or land, working from home or not, children or not, travelling or staying still.