Like a Longfin Eel

Exeter continues to be beautiful. There has been a tedious amount of online learning/orientation, detached introductions via pre-recorded run throughs of the note system here - but the welcome has been awesome.  Squash and tea is a big thing (the bag above is 440 bags - I know they probably sell bags like this at home, but I'm not sure I've seen it gone through so quickly). Squash is cordial, and ubiquitous also. More covid testing photos - all staff are supposed to home test twice a week - the evidence of sensitivity is  pretty patchy - it may not be that effective, but its the tool we have. I think as the vaccine roll out has gotten further along, people are getting a bit bored of doing them. I found a church and joined their online session this week - https://www.facebook.com/HeavitreeandPinhoeURC/ Some really sweet reflections on Donkeys and the gentleness of Jesus this week.  I never thought I'd miss awkward tea so much. They open up in June - well after everyth...

I went to a park after work to clear my head. It still feels good to be out of the house. There is a weariness here; people are tired of the boredom that comes about from months of restrictions  To be bound to your region, even a pretty one, is still to be bound. Plus all the other restrictions on top of that. It’s a few months before people formally will be able to have visitors inside their houses. It’s about 8 degrees, the looming trees have tiny fists of leaves waiting to burst open. Dogs bound about; still ignorant of any rules after all these months; they nuzzle for a pat. Occasionally you can come across a band of disaffected yoof, rebelling by standing in groups of 10 or so by the trees, sharing food. But mainly it’s the picnics of two; people sitting at either end of a park bench chatting, or bundled up on a muddy knoll. It’s hard to know what people would volunteer to do in normal times, and I don’t mean to romanticise what has been unrelentingly hard for people; b...

 Day 2 and 8 covid tests were negative, which meant I was able to start orienting at work on the 18th. And explore the cemetery across the road that I have been watching squirrels in. And head into town and see the cathedral that I remember having lunch by 9 years ago. Its an easy town to walk round in - people are kind. Once out, its easier to see how most people have been reigning themselves in.  How hard its been. How far there is to go - even if the risk of Covid transmission went away overnight (which it really isn't... there looms ever onwards a fear of a 3rd wave), I think there's going to have to be a gentle unfolding. A tentative reach to the edge of the steps to see if the ground is still there.  Anyway, onwards.

  On the phone, I had to register for my home Covid test, and clarify my ethnicity. Pakeha is not on any drop down menu here. My old flatmate, a Croatian migrant to NZ used to laugh at the misnomer that "NZ European" is. (NZ Spanish? NZ Balkan? NZ French??). So I am apparently, "White, other background" Which sounds like paint.  Off-white, potentially.  A blank wall. By co-incidence, in my pacing of the backyard, I got listening back to back podcasts that addressed exactly this. "O ne of the privileges of being white is: a) not having to think about it. So when people say ‘well, because, you know, I don't know what you mean, I never thought about being white’. Yeah actually, I understand that ‘cause that's one of the gifts of being white." - Prof Antony Reddy (Author of "Is God Colourblind?") So definitely not a blank wall. He goes on -  " But then secondly - and I think this is the more constructive and progressive element of it - i...

Tl;dr version: uk govt has rushed through law without the system to enact it yet, nhs is awesome, British people themselves even more awesome. I am obliged by law to remain in my accomodation for 10 days, not leaving for anything. I will do this whether I am monitored or not, I get where the idea comes from even if it seems dumb when coming from a low prevalence place to a high prevalence place. Anyway, this so far has been my experience. A very David farrier experience. gov.uk clearly outlined expectations, and also got me to fill in a form with my contact details, accomodations details and travel details included the chair I sat in on the plane.  Awesome.  Arrived in Heathrow- crammed into 1/3 of the space available with people from all sorts of other planes. Sigh. Did not get asked for proof of negative covid test from NZ on my arrival in UK. Fair enough I guess, it was checked when I left NZ. Start isolation. Arrived at accomodation; two home covid testing kits in a parcel...

 Settling in has been quick; mainly because of the kindnesses of the people I board with. My room has a small orange tree! I woke to the sound of the grocery delivery from sainsbury, in an effort to minimise plastic use but yet still keep social distance, the delivery guy had been let in and tumbled out the groceries from his basket onto the kitchen floor. Two small pumpkins had rumbled off to the corner. There had been some swaps- green lentils instead of split peas, a massive Easter egg instead of a pack of tiny ones. Nothing too troublesome. I have discovered that pacing the back yard for exercise isn’t actually all that bad, although the ten minute walk on day two to drop off my covid test was legit exhilarating.  I have no idea how the people in MIQ in a hotel do it.

 

  Probably my biggest question before going (after, how early, but not too late, do I get my pre travel covid test; if it takes 24-48 hrs to process but I have to have it within 72hrs of getting on the plane to the UK but before I get on the plane to Singapore *counts backwards on fingers*).... my biggest other question was what’s it actually going to be like travelling? Who would be travelling and why? I anticipated the zombie apocalypse, with a dash of fear, and I imagine there will have been many times when travelling in 2020 and 2021 would have been like that. If you want the too long didn’t read version (tldr) - it was fine, people were nice, yes I got to stretch out. In more detail... travelling was more calm, and spaced out, like every airport had rural airport vibes. New Plymouth airport vibes. Gates and checkin counters were late to open, quick to process. Each flight I took left before it’s time, because we all loaded so quickly and there weren’t any other planes on the t...