It’s now Monday July 11^th, 2022. Kia ora!

It’s rubbish day here, and JD has put the rubbish out. It’s time for the crate of used glass bottles this week – after a break of two weeks, glass for recycling is to be collected again.

I do another RAT test, and it’s negative, thankfully. I don’t feel great, but then I hardly ever do; feeling well is not part of my brief anymore. I arrange for a doctor to ring JD at 11:30; his regular doctor isn’t in today. I send the other of my sons who lives locally a shopping list, with some helpful photos of things I’d like him to buy for me.

The doctor duly rings JD. He doesn’t qualify for funded Paxlovid, although I suspect a script would be written if he really wanted it. I’m pleased that he’s spoken to a doctor.  He advised leaving the kitchen and the bathroom for ½ an hour after he uses them, which is sensible advice, really.  Our kitchen is quite large, but has only a noisy range hood for ventilation. I am trying to persuade JD to shower downstairs: there’s a very good shower down there, although it doesn’t have a hand-held hose like the shower in the ensuite bathroom does. It’s still a great shower – I’ve used it several times myself.

I am looking forward to next Sunday, when we can officially come out of purdah, as long as I continue to test negative.  It is just so hard, trying to keep utensils separate! But then I really hope I don’t get Covid 19! I’m an asthmatic. So perhaps I’d qualify for Paxlovid. I listened to Kim Hill interviewing Dr Anthony Fauci on her Saturday morning show.  He said he had to have two courses of Paxlovid, and initially his Covid 19 symptoms were worse. So that’s given us pause. He was doubly boostered, and has completely recovered now, fortunately.  Kim Hill is such an intelligent interviewer!  What a joy she is.

With regard to Hōhepa, I can now see the huge value in keeping the house/the home covid-free. We have picked up our daughter from the gate to her house, the last few times we’ve been to Napier, instead of going inside the house. This continues to make such good sense.  While JD and I are “safe” in our bubble, there is considerable anxiety nevertheless about trying to keep as separate as possible. Yet again, I’m thankful to have a large house, where it’s much easier to keep separate. But really, I can’t go anywhere! I can’t take a risk by going shopping, or catching a bus; I’m stuck here, with my books and my podcasts, being thankful for what I have, and realising, again, that I have lived my life, and it doesn’t really matter if I get Covid 19. Who will look after me?  ah, that’s another question. If you have an infectious disease, nobody wants you. This is a situation that I hadn’t anticipated. Fortunately I’m a reasonably calm person, but it could drive someone mad, being isolated, yet not sick with Covid 19.

We get out of purdah officially next Sunday, July 17^th, as long as I don’t test positive in the meantime. If I do, it’s “go directly to jail”, and don’t collect $200. Our purdah will be extended.  I have not experienced this kind of isolation before.  Lockdowns were very different from this – JD and I weren’t trying to keep apart from each other. At least I don’t have to clean up after him – thinking of diseases like cholera or bubonic plague.

Today’s Covid 19 report is as follows: there are 8,395 new community cases, and a further 17 deaths. There were also 28- cases at the border. There are 689 people in hospital. Including 13 in Intensive Care – a significant increase. These figures were nearing the record levels seen back in March, when there were 1000 people fighting Covid-19 in hospital. Those numbers were dropping steadily to about 300 last month but have since shot back up.

Today’s reported deaths include one from Northland, seven were from Auckland region, one was from Waikato, two were from Bay of Plenty, one was from Taranaki, one was from South Canterbury, three were from Capital & Coast/Hutt and one was from Canterbury/West Coast. Five were aged in their 70s, five were in their 80s and seven were aged over 90. Of these people, 10 were women and seven were men. We’re not told where the hospitalisations or the new cases are located.

It’s now Tuesday July 12^th.

I am so sick of this. I don’t feel great today, but I don’t feel like taking a RAT test either, although I realise the later I test positive, the later I’ll have to isolate.  It feels very cold today: it’s stormy, it’s raining, and actually I don’t want to go out. I just want to feel better, and not to have to be so careful about keeping distant from JD and anything he may have touched. And, of course, he can’t bring me toast, or even a cup of coffee!  My computer says it’s 10 degrees C today. It feels more like 3C.   The wild weather is wreaking havoc with travel arrangements, and its being school holidays makes it worse. Many roads are affected by flooding.

I am listening to the Persona podcast, about Gilbert Chikli; at the same time, information is being revealed about Uber and its unethical practices – the Guardian is doing a three part podcast on the Uber revelations. Truth to say, there are similarities, and at times I have difficulty keeping details separate.

The Covid 19 report is terrible today. It’s reported that There are 11,548 new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today. There are a further 19 Covid-related deaths.

Of today’s deaths one was from the Auckland region, three were from Bay of Plenty, one was from Taranaki, two were from Whanganui, one was from Hawkes Bay, four were from MidCentral, one was from Lakes, three were from the Wellington region, two were from Canterbury, and one was from Southern.

One was aged in their 40s, two were in their 60s, three were in their 70s, five were in their 80s and eight were aged over 90. Of these people, 10 were women and nine were men. The total number of virus-related deaths is now 1707.

There are 710 people in hospital with the virus, including 17 in intensive care. Those in hospital are being treated at Northland: 16; Waitematā: 141; Counties Manukau: 59; Auckland: 85; Waikato: 58; Bay of Plenty: 36; Lakes: 9; Hawke’s Bay: 25; MidCentral: 26; Whanganui: 13; Taranaki: 13; Tairawhiti: 4; Wairarapa: 11; Capital & Coast: 37; Hutt Valley: 27; Nelson Marlborough: 16; Canterbury: 78; West Coast: 2; South Canterbury: 17; Southern: 37.

I make a sandwich for lunch. I can’t be bothered to mash a hard-boiled egg, or cut up a tomato or an avocado.  After me, JD goes to make his lunch. I get an alarming text: he can’t smell the coffee; or the Dettol on the chux cloth, or the mustard. I joke that I can feed him garlic now if I can be bothered cutting it up.

He was feeling better this morning, but now feels a bit worse again. I am trying to fight off an imminent sore throat, sore chest, and a cough. I have these symptoms all the time, so I usually assure myself I don’t have Covid 19. Now I’m not so sure.

I read some outstanding LRB magazines, and then listen to the second part of the Uber files podcast on the Guardian’s Today in Focus. A senior executive of Uber has turned whistle blower, and is spilling the secrets of the sometimes aggressive Uber drivers.  We are learning some of the exploitative secrets behind the (formerly) cheap hire-car rides. I do have an Uber account, and I have used it occasionally, with mixed success.  Twice I had to cross our busy road to get in the Uber; however I do like the way it’s so easy to order, and I can see the progress of the car coming to pick me up.  In these Covid 19 times, there’s some risk with catching an Uber, or a taxi, or getting on a full bus or train for that matter.

It’s now Wednesday July 13^th.

Last night we had cheese on toast for tea. I didn’t feel like cooking anything else. During the day yesterday I felt as though I was fighting off a sore throat, a sore chest, and a bit more coughing than usual.  Last night I feel I hardly slept at all. I had a bad headache, although not the type of headache when I had brain bleeds.  I do get headaches, so it wasn’t necessarily ominous.

This morning I took another RAT test. It was negative, to my surprise, but ID saw a faint red line after the requisite 15 minute wait. There is a faint red line, barely visible; it doesn’t show up in the photo I took, and I duly recorded a negative test on the website as required. I don’t feel like breakfast – I just have a piece of toast and a cup of decaf tea. JD makes me a cup of coffee, I guess I’m not being so careful about avoiding infection now. There are all kinds of implications of this result:  I don’t want to go to hospital, but I don’t feel at all well either. I don’t feel like doing anything at all.

I listened to a podcast about Commander Hugh Dowding’s use of radar and Chain Home stations to manage the RAF during the Battle of Britain. It was called The Dowding System.  I was amazed at the intricacy and cleverness of this system, which I must admit I’d totally taken for granted. Well done, Britain! I also listened to American Scandal, which had the last episode about the Waco, Texas disaster; I must have gone to sleep during this because the podcast ran on into episodes about Watergate. In the early morning, news came through of the January 6 Committee in the US holding a live hearing.  There is more explosive testimony, needless to say. It’s all shocking. Once again I am impressed by Chairman Bennie Thompson’s old-fashioned grace, respect and good manners. I cannot imagine him shouting, swearing, or hurling insults.  This evidence focusses first on a strange meeting in the White House in December 2020, between Trump, Sidney Powell, Michael Flynn and Gabriel Byrne; Giuliani was in a separate room; this caused alarm, evidently there was lots of swearing and angry voices. Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, rushed to be there. There was other evidence on Trump’s speech at the Ellipse, and use of social media to fire up his followers, especially the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys – these groups were heavily armed and had plenty of food, apparently.  It seems they were in it for the long haul. It was not a spontaneous riot, although it was supposed to appear spontaneous.

This evidence is alarming and explosive, and thank goodness some brave folk stood up to Trump, why ho why didn’t they testify earlier? It seems that Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony encouraged some others to come forward, like Pat Cipollone, but it seems to have been like pulling teeth to get this explosive evidence made public.

I listen to more podcasts about Covid 19/omicron. Cases are increasing around the world, not just in New Zealand and Australia.  The BA.5 subvariant seems to be very contagious.  If one does quality for Paxlovid, it’s quite hard on people, I gather. In the US, Chuck Schumer has tested positive for Covid 19.

Today’s Covid 19 report is out, with 11,464 new community cases, 29 deaths, and 729 people in hospital, including 18 in Intensive Care.

Of today’s deaths seven were from the Auckland region, one was from Waikato, two were from Bay of Plenty, one was from Tairawhiti, two were from Taranaki, one was from Hawkes Bay, one was from MidCentral, two were from the Wellington region, two were from Canterbury, two were from South Canterbury, and eight were from Southern. One was aged in their 50s, one was in their 60s, seven were in their 70s, ten were in their 80s and ten were aged over 90. Of these people, 15 were women and 14 were men.

The patients are being treated in Northland: 14; Waitematā: 145; Counties Manukau: 49; Auckland: 93; Waikato: 56; Bay of Plenty: 49; Lakes: 13; Hawke’s Bay: 25; MidCentral: 25; Whanganui: 13; Taranaki: 16; Tairawhiti: 4; Wairarapa: 10; Capital & Coast: 30; Hutt Valley: 29; Nelson Marlborough: 10; Canterbury: 90; West Coast: 1; South Canterbury: 14; Southern: 43.

So that ain’t great at all.

What is good news though is that my son who had Covid 19 is now returning a negative test result (one week later); his children are still showing faint red lines.

Having watched some of the testimony on Youtube, I am now watching digests of it, mainly on MSNBC. Several scary pieces of news emerge:

• How did Powell, Flynn and Byrne get into the White House for an unscheduled meeting? This was a huge security risk. How did they get in here for an unhinged meeting that lasted several hours, where the shouting and expletives were audible outside?
• The riot was supposed to appear spontaneous, but was in fact carefully planned.
• The 2 right wing militia groups, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, had not previously worked together, but they came together for this. Trump spoke directly to them!
• Trump was in touch with a witness after Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony;
• People came to Washington DC because Trump asked them to
• Steve Bannon’s prediction – “All hell will break loose” was true;
• Mark Meadows knew that Trump had lost the election, and there wasn’t sufficient fraud to overturn the result of the election. He then searched for a constitutional loophole to keep Trump in power.
• People Trump had pardoned, like Flynn, Bannon and Roger Stone, far from being abashed, were actively involved in the insurrection.
• Brad Parscale was upset about people getting hurt and even killed, and felt guilty about having managed Trump’s election campaign (until he was sacked). I did not have great esteem for Steve Parscale, but his concern for human life, and feelings of guilt, are heartening.

I have a distressing cough – fortunately, not very often. That’s it for now. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi.

Today is Saturday July 9^th 2022. Kia ora!

Today we (and many others) are digesting Boris Johnson’s so-called resignation, which is not exactly what many people were looking for. He has resigned as leader of the Tory Party, but he has not resigned as Prime Minister, until another leader is appointed. So there you have it. Shock, horror, and he’s not gone (yet). In his speech announcement, after almost a half-century of ministerial resignations, he was heard to say, without an ounce of apology, Them’s the breaks.  I have been listening to many podcasts – The Rest is History, The Rest is Politics, The Bugle, the Guardian’s Today in Focus with Jonathan Freedland, and they all condemn Boris except for The Rest is History podcast, where Dom and Tom don’t take sides, but you can read between the lines of their super-intelligent discussion. Then I listened to a NZ Herald podcast, I don’t remember what it was called, but it was narrated by a woman in a very pluty British accent with very right-wing views. That came as a shock to me, seeing as most people I’d heard were more than happy to see Boris go.

Trump and Boris are alike in many ways, as pundits have pointed out; as it turns out, getting rid of them is no easy task. When the self-styled leader has no shame, it’s everyone else that’s wrong, not him.  There are differences, of course, but both populists had an amazing ability to command a crowd (and many staff and would-be loyal followers) with their lying oratory; both somehow appealed to working class voters, although neither had the faintest experience of being unprivileged.  Family woes – ex-wives and odd relationships with just how many children – did not deter their loyal following, whether it be rich or poor, religious or atheistic.  They’ve each left an enormous mess – which they’re still influencing, as Boris remains Prime Minister (for now), and Trump is about to declare his candidature for the presidency in 2024, despite his legal troubles.  They leave an indelible mess, and I fear it’s impossible to put this genie back in the bottle. Trump has aroused huge division in the US; Johnson’s Brexit is proving to be disastrous economically for the United Kingdom; somehow to go forwards or backwards amongst such deep division is fraught with danger, either way. Totalitarian leaders like Putin and Xi have different problems on their hands, but they don’t have to deal with much internal division. It’s their way, whatever the cost.

Still and all, at least Johnson can’t be accused of cosying up to Putin, unlike Trump, although he can be accused of cosying up to his friend Russian oligarch Evgeny Lebedev, now a Lord in the House of Lords. He also met an ex-KGB agent, Alexander Lebedev, in Italy in 2019 after a NATO meeting. Despite London grad conflicts, whatever government is in power in the United Kingdom will reliably continue to support Ukraine, one hopes.

Former Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has died after being shot while campaigning. The world is mourning his sad ending – shootings like these are extremely rare in Japan. Prime Minister Arden paid him a lovely tribute in an entry in Instagram.

And so to Covid 19 news here. JD tested positive for Covid 19 this morning; I tested negative, but I’m a household contact of his and so we’re pariahs until next Sunday (July 17^th), according to Healthline (I reported JD’s result).  He’d had a heavy cold; in fact it turned out to be Covid 19.  My hands are pretty raw, since any time I touch anything he’s touched I feel bound to wash my hands.  So again everything is put off. At least it’s school holidays for the next two weeks, so term-time activities won’t be running.  I received a newsletter from Hōhepa, saying that seven of the residents they support have Covid 19. I know their staff (and their families) are badly affected with flu as well. Still, it was nice to hear from them.

Today there are 9,307 new cases reported, with 22 deaths (including a child under 10). 251 of these had recently travelled overseas. There are 570 people in hospital, including 9 in Intensive Care.

Of the people whose deaths have been confirmed today, six were from the Auckland region, four from Waikato, one from Bay of Plenty, one from Lakes, one from Hawke’s Bay, one from MidCentral, two from the Wellington region, four from Canterbury/West Coast, and two were from Southern. One was under the age of 10, three were in their 50s, three were in their 60s, five were in their 70s, seven were in their 80s, and three were aged over 90.

Of the cases in hospital, 11 were in Northland, 124 in Waitematā, 39 in Counties Manukau, 56 in Auckland, 57 in Waikato, 29 in Bay of Plenty, 14 in Lakes, 20 in Hawke’s Bay, 20 in MidCentral, six in Whanganui, 12 in Taranaki, three in Tairawhiti, six in Wairarapa, 59 in Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley, 13 in Nelson Marlborough, 62 in Canterbury and West Coast, 18 in South Canterbury, and 21 in Southern.

A new subvariant of Covid 19/omicron has officially been named BA.2.75, and nicknamed “centaurus”. The subvariant has been reported in 10 countries so far, including Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Germany, the US and UK. The bulk of cases, however, have been found in India. As of yet, the WHO has not named it as a variant of concern.

It’s now Sunday July 10^th.

This morning I zoomed into the church service. I found that I could throw a jersey over my pj’s, and have the computer on my lap in bed.  The sound was problematic, but eventually I could hear most of the service.

JD’s not feeling great. He’s had no calls or texts today, either from Healthline or the medical centre. I am wondering if he should be on Paxlovid, to treat Covid 19, but no one medical has been in touch. I presume a script could be faxed to a chemist, for my covid-free son to pick up the medicine, and drop it at our front door, but this has not happened. I am increasing fearful about touching anything he has touched, such as the fridge, the china cupboard, or the cutlery drawer. I asked him to put dirty dishes in the sink and run water on them; instead he put a mug full of water on the bench, which I then tipped over.  We have run out of chux cloths – I feel that I should use a second one, and so am re-using a washed one. I feel I need to wash my hands all the time, and they’re getting quite rough and sore. I’ve run out of decaffeinated tea bags. There are quite a few items now to go on my shopping list for my covid-free son. JD cannot make lunch now, as he normally does. I fear that if I get Covid 19 too, it will be hard for us to cope at home. Although if I get it too I won’t have to be so fussy about trying not to get it.

Today’s Covid 19 report is as follows: there are 7,461 new cases, 8 deaths, and 622 people in hospital – a significant increase. Of these, 13 are in Intensive Care.

Of the deaths reported today, four were from Auckland region, one was from Bay of Plenty, one was from Hawke’s Bay, one was from Canterbury/West Coast, and one was from Southern. One was aged in their fifties, five were in their 80s, and two were aged over 90. Of these people, three were female and five were male. This brings the total number of deaths to 1,671.

It’s reported that those currently in hospital are being treated at Northland: 14; Waitematā: 137; Counties Manukau: 56; Auckland: 68; Waikato: 55; Bay of Plenty: 32; Lakes: 13; Hawke’s Bay: 31; MidCentral: 27; Whanganui: 10; Taranaki: 12; Tairawhiti: 3; Wairarapa: 7; Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley: 68; Nelson Marlborough: 13; Canterbury and West Coast: 74; South Canterbury: 20; Southern: 22. Hawkes Bay: 31!  That’s alarming. I think of all my friends who have surgery scheduled – I fear it will be cancelled, or postponed. We’re not told the locations of the new cases.

Church today was “Café Church” – in the Hall rather than the church itself, with coffee and croissants available. I have to say I don’t really agree with mixing worship with so-called carnal pleasures of eating and drinking;  it’s physically complicated for me to eat or drink, in any case. Looking on zoom, there didn’t seem to be a lot of people there, and many were wearing masks.  On trips to Europe, though, I loved the way church was part of everyday life in Europe: in Rome, in Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, and in a beautiful church in Barcelona services were going on as we visited. We sat down and enjoyed them – and enjoyed so much hearing Italian, French or Spanish, and having some understanding of what was being said. The church in Rome had the famous statue of Saint Teresa (and her vision); in Notre-Dame a black priest was saying Mass; and in Barcelona there was a baptism, where I recognised that “El Senor es mi pastor” was Psalm 23. It seemed very fitting as we began our journey back to New Zealand – and there’d just been a coup in Turkey. Having said that, I never saw anyone bringing a takeaway coffee or eating food in a church.

The unravelling over Boris Johnson’s demise continues, as the rest of the world looks on, as it did after Trump’s losing the presidential election, with a mixture of fascination and distress. How did it come to this? That Britain’s Brexit was carried out (and what a shambles that continues to be), and Trump was elected president in the US.  Both events were only just won, and were won on a series of lies. How sad, and what dreadful consequences they’ve both brought. Not only have they wrought huge changes in British and American society, they both handled the coronavirus pandemic really badly.  Now we’re all living with the consequences of both, and the deep divisions between right and left wing politics in every country. There seems to be no more of wanting what will be best for most of the people.

I find the newspapers so annoying here too. While I realise they want to shock, really some stories are just so silly.  People want to be happy – what has gone wrong with New Zealand? Well, you can be grateful to be here, for a start; it’s lamented that house prices have fallen – after saying they were much too high;  then people are complaining about there being more housing in their neighbourhoods.  New Zealand needs more housing, and, guess what, more housing is being built. So your neighbourhood is changing? And that’s a bad thing? I continue to maintain that we are so fortunate to be here. The health system is under pressure? When was it ever not under pressure? Some things don’t change.

That’s it for now. The world is indeed a strange and oftentimes a scary place. I’m thankful to be here in Aotearoa. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi.

Today is Thursday July 7^th, 2022. Kia ora!

Today JD and I are both staying at home, but neither of us thinks we have Covid 19.

Of the people whose deaths are reported today: four were from Auckland region, five were from the Wellington region, two were from Nelson / Marlborough and four were from Canterbury / West Coast. Three were in their seventies, nine were in their 80s, and three were aged over 90. Of these people, five were women and 10 were men. There have now been 1619 deaths from Covid 19 in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

The breakdown of cases in hospital is as follows: Northland: 15; Waitematā: 123; Counties Manukau: 38; Auckland: 48; Waikato: 52; Bay of Plenty: 31; Lakes: 15; Hawke’s Bay: 13; MidCentral: 16; Whanganui: 5; Taranaki: 12; Tairawhiti: 2; Wairarapa: 4; Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley: 56; Nelson Marlborough: 15; Canterbury and West Coast: 63; South Canterbury: 13; Southern: 33.

Across the country it’s reported that there are large numbers of new cases in Waitematā, 1445, Auckland 1051, Canterbury/West Coast, 1603 and Capital & Coast/Hutt, 1279. The location of new community cases over past 24 hours are as follows Northland (271), Auckland (3,458), Waikato (683), Bay of Plenty (445), Lakes (187), Hawke’s Bay (448), MidCentral (360), Whanganui (163), Taranaki (273), Tairāwhiti (103), Wairarapa (125), Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley (1,279), Nelson Marlborough (324), Canterbury and West Coast (1,603), South Canterbury (131), Southern (849), Unknown (8).

Those numbers are quite staggering, really; especially in the Wellington area (1,279) and Hawkes Bay is up to 448.

Meanwhile, all medical systems are under extreme pressure, with a surge in omicron cases, flu and RSV – a childhood respiratory disease, that was prevalent here last winter. Omicron sub-variant BA.2.75  has been detected, although if you’re using RAT tests, you wouldn’t know which sub-variant you had. Evidently the Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahua has tested positive for Covid 19, and is working from home.

On a personal note, one of my sons rang yesterday to say he’d tested positive for Covid 19 (with a weak second red line).  That has thrown arrangements into confusion. At first I thought, I’ll be all right (having had a negative RAT test on Tuesday – after the Saturday workshop), but then I realised that he and my husband were working together closely on the previous day (the Tuesday), and so JD may well be infectious, and thus, me.  It’s so frustrating!  I hope he and his lovely family will be all right. We’ll do RAT tests again tomorrow.

I’ve cancelled today’s singing (and lunch to follow), a friend’s visit tomorrow, and I’ll cancel Access sending someone tomorrow too. We were going to visit another old friend on Saturday – that’s off too, as is going physically to church on Sunday. By next Wednesday we should be clear to associate with other people again, providing we continue to test negative for Covid 19.

This morning I booked our second booster shots of the vaccine. They’re not until July 23. Of course, if we do turn out to have Covid 19, I’ll have to reschedule. They’re doing these shots at the Johnsonville Medical Centre, unfortunately; it’s not a great venue, given its small, cramped rooms. It seems the vaccination centre in the Johnsonville Shopping Centre is going to stay closed.

In the US, they are obsessed with US politics, and seemingly oblivious (apart from Mehdi Hasan) to the UK political crisis (more on that to come).  They celebrated Independence Day (July 4) with fireworks and parades (Parades were cancelled because of Covid 19 for the past two years), but there was yet another mass shooting in a city called Highland Park in Illinois, where the people were celebrating an Independence Day parade. 7 people were shot dead, and I think 41 injured, to say nothing of those traumatised by this incident. One little boy lost both his parents. The shooter, was, (you’ve guessed it), a disaffected young white man, armed with an AR15 gun, which was obtained legally, despite plenty of “red flags” being raised about the young man. Needless to say, this is extremely upsetting, coming as it does after the Buffalo shooting, the Uvalde school shooting, and the Ohio hospital shooting. How does being angry about something give you the right to shoot people? How come people that go to utmost lengths to protect the unborn, have so little respect for other people’s lives once they’re living (and supposedly enjoying) them?

Actually this young man was evidently into rap music and conspiracy theories, and had plenty of affirmation; he dressed up as a woman, since women don’t do mass killings. Evidently he intended to shoot on another parade. Americans are terrified – where can one be safe? Where, indeed, since churches, hospitals, schools, and even patriotic parades aren’t safe.

I listened to The Rest is History podcast which devoted four episodes to the US Civil War, and then their latest one to Gone with the Wind. What a conflicted, strange and violent society the US is!  What a sorry, sad, place – where a black man became president, only to have hate unleased in the form of Trump leading the charge. On reflection, it did not suggest an improvement that he became president (and survived), but it was an interruption of otherwise continuously bad behaviour on the part of Republicans, with many displaying overt racism, sexism, love of guns (why?), God and babies, all in the same breath. Lauren Boebert even had the temerity to suggest Jesus should have had an AR15, so that he could fight back at his accusers. It reminds me of Jeff Daniels’ line in The Newsroom television series, where he compared some republicans to the Taliban, and the Taliban were offended. This was before Obama and Trump, but the Trump-ism was ever there.

I found Gone with the Wind extremely frustrating, both the book and the movie. The book was a page-turner, but oddly unsatisfying – Scarlett O’Hara was such a stupid minx.  But then that’s America, I guess – wilfully misunderstanding situations, and displaying a gross lack of insight and intelligence. Listening to the podcast, that’s just so American – the search for the perfect actress to play Scarlett, the exclusion of black actors from the opening viewing in Atlanta, and the fact that so many Americans love it! The kind of indulgence accorded Scarlett is simply not realistic. It makes me realise though how someone like Phyllis Schlafly (now embodied to some extent by Amy Coney Barrett) was so successful. You could get your own way by being coquettish and feminine – in other words, by playing games, not by being sincere.

In other news, yesterday we heard that Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, and Senator Lindsay Graham have been subpoenaed by the District Attorney of Fulton County in Georgia, Fani Willis; that Pat Cipollone, White House Counsel, is to testify to the January 6 Committee; and that the January 6 Committee is to hold a special hearing next Tuesday.  And it still seems that more and more people are shocked and disgusted by Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony. They’re arguing over which bits shocked them the most. It seems, though, that for a while there the fate of the free world hung in her hands, Cipollone having instructed her to see that Trump didn’t go to the Capitol (as he wanted to do).

In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in a whole heap of trouble, still (as I write this on Thursday afternoon) hanging desperately on to power. We heard that Rishi Sunak (Chancellor of the Exchequer) and Sajid Javid (Minister of Health) had resigned, then late last night I heard three more ministers had resigned. Then today Michael Gove was demoted (because of disloyalty) and the Welsh Secretary had resigned; Patel and Shapps tried to intervene (whatever that means); then mid-afternoon that over 30 ministers had resigned. This follows the scandal about multiple parties being held at Downing Street during Covid 19 lockdowns; the scandal of trying to find his wife Carrie a job for at least £120,000 a year (doesn’t she have two children with Boris?), and his odd statements about a party whip called Chris Pincher. This person was credibly accused of sexual harassment, and unwanted touching; he lived up to his name, it seems. I’ve probably omitted some scandals. There was the vote of no-confidence.  The attempt to prorogue Parliament. The issue of sending refuges to Rwanda. The recent resignation of his ethics advisor, Lord Geidt, and Boris musing about whether to replace him. Oh, of course, there was Brexit, and the English treatment of Northern Ireland. And the interactions with the Russian oligarch Lebedev. And the handling of the pandemic – and then Boris being in Intensive Care after he contracted it. I watched a BBC news clip about someone trying to get the tranquilliser gun into Boris, and still finding it impossible. (I was somewhat surprised to hear this on a BBC news clip!) This man, like Trump, has no shame, and is very careless about everything – except staying on as Prime Minister. President Zelensky of Ukraine is grateful. I doubt that anyone else is, seeing Johnson attempt his Churchillian moment. I’m sure another trip to Kyiv is in order, right now, although Boris needs to stay home, right now. Now, at 6 pm, more than 40 ministers have quit. I have not heard of many of them. Sajid Javid made a good speech in Parliament, accusing the PM of lying, among other things. This has made quite an impact. So what is the last straw for the conservatives?  The Pincher issue (Pincher by name, and Pincher by nature, Boris was heard to opine), or the Northern Ireland protocol? JD thinks the latter is the prime issue. I doubt if these people have this much intelligence. I think the Good Friday Agreement, over Northern Island, negotiated by then Prime Minister Tony Blair, was a huge achievement; I doubt that many others remember it.

Bojo’s foppishness, lies and carelessness will certainly be remembered long after his passing. Sir Keir Starmer, on the other hand, will be remembered (among other things, I hope), for two rather good jokes: The charge of the lightweight brigade, and The sinking ships fleeing the rat. Even at this most serious of moments, Johnson just can’t take this seriously. Whatever is he smoking, I wonder? I apologise for saying Americans aren’t interested – I’ve just(been allowed to) read a long story in WAPO (The Washington Post) about Johnson’s political woes.  Chris Hayes has mentioned the crisis surrounding Prime Minister Johnson in his All In show. Sky News is maintaining a helicopter above 10 Downing St. Now (at 6:30 pm) 41 ministers have resigned. “Does the Prime Minister think there are any circumstances under which he should resign?” asked one wit in Parliament. There’s lots of Hear, hear!  When the Poms turn on you, they really turn. It seems, though, that Johnson enjoys the attention, even if it’s bad attention. Tonight there was a delegation to 10 Downing Street, but it seems he hasn’t resigned yet.

And what of the war in Ukraine? It seems to have reached a stalemate. How does it end? It’s predicted that Russia will run out of armaments before Ukraine does, so that’s kind of hopeful for Ukraine, who are bravely sticking in there, despite terrible casualties and random shelling.  What a sad situation.

It’s now Friday July 8^th.

Last night I saw that Boris Johnson will resign.  Yes, but…Gone but not gone, Boris Johnson quite but still clings to power. He is to resign as head of the conservative party, but will stay on as Prime Minister until a replacement is appointed. All right, so what does that mean?  Still and all, as David Frum said on the Bulwark podcast, he’s unlikely to march on Parliament.

There are “obituaries” for Boris and inevitable comparisons with Trump.  Both are really dangerous men, although there are differences. It’s ironic that many Britons who supported Boris loathed Trump and were ready to mock him. He hasn’t died, and many commentators have said what an awful Prime Minister he was, and what an awful person he is.

Today’s Covid 19 report is worse, with 13,344 new community cases, and a further 23 deaths. There are 587 people in hospital, and 9 of them are in Intensive Care.

Of today’s 23 deaths seven people were from the Auckland region, one each from Waikato, Lakes, Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Tairawhiti, Whanganui and MidCentral, two were from the Wellington region, four were from Canterbury / West Coast, and two from Southern. One was aged in their 60s; three were in their 70s, 13 were in their 80s, and six were aged over 90. Of these people, nine were women and 14 were men.

The breakdown of today’s 587 Covid hospitalisations is: Northland: 13; Waitematā: 128; Counties Manukau: 38; Auckland: 35; Waikato: 57; Bay of Plenty: 32; Lakes: 14; Hawke’s Bay: 20; MidCentral: 18; Whanganui: 6; Taranaki: 11; Tairawhiti: 2; Wairarapa: 4; Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley: 60; Nelson Marlborough: 13; Canterbury and West Coast: 90; South Canterbury: 15; Southern: 31.

It was revealed today that about 14,000 New Zealanders are known to have been infected with Covid twice and Ministry of Health figures show 183 people have had the virus three times.

Actually it was later admitted that today’s total is 9,318 (some new cases were reported yesterday). There were a further 245 imported cases.

Of the new cases reported today, 334 are reinfections. Reinfections are cases in an individual who reported a case 29 or more days previously.

A breakdown of today’s (Friday’s)cases by region are: Auckland: 955; Bay of Plenty: 370; Canterbury/West Coast: 1512; Capital and Coast/Hutt: 1063; Counties Manukau: 888; Hawke’s Bay: 378; Lakes: 177; Mid Central: 334; Nelson Marlborough: 258; Northland: 233; South Canterbury: 98; Southern: 658; Tairāwhiti: 64; Taranaki: 204; Waikato: 568; Wairarapa: 104; Waitematā: 1322; and Whanganui: 131. That’s still pretty bad.

This afternoon I went shopping. Since it was raining, JD took me in the car (I sat in the back).  Although his RAT test  was negative, he has a cold with a runny nose and a cough. So it could be Covid 19. Either way, I hope I don’t catch it.

I bought plenty of food, given that Covid 19 numbers are high, and we may both become infected with Covid 19. Since we had the car, I could buy plenty of stuff – that I couldn’t carry if I were walking. I also bought more KN95 masks and some cough mixture for JD.

That’s it for now. After lots of activity (for me), things are very quiet again. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi.

It’s now Sunday July 3^rd. Kia ora!

I haven’t written anything for a few days.  They haven’t been uneventful, however.

Last Friday someone from Access came to do some housework.  I didn’t feel too bad, and, and I changed the towels and bedlinen and tidied up some.

On Saturday I attended a singing workshop at the Home of Compassion in Island Bay. This was run by Lala Simpson and Jonathan Berkahn.  It ran from 10 am to 4:30 pm. Lala had tried to run it earlier, but had to cancel because of Covid 19; an other time I would have liked to go, but had something else on.  I knew I was taking a whole lot of risks:  being exposed to people I didn’t know; getting to Island Bay so early (a kind friend drove me there and back); the café there was to be closed, so one had to take any food and drink one might need; and this was going to be exhausting for me.  In the event, it was marvellous to sing with strong voices and to learn beautiful new songs. 

It was really cold on Saturday morning. I woke up before 5 am, and couldn’t get back to sleep; eventually I got up and prepared a sandwich, some crackers with cheese, biscuits, fruit, a flask of strong black coffee and a water bottle. I hadn’t done this for years – not since my university days before I became ill. In the event, I used almost all my provisions except the fruit. Singing is hungry work!

We got to the Home of Compassion, and it wasn’t at all obvious where we should go. We walked and walked, and eventually got to a big room where doors and windows were open. It was pretty cold!  It was a fine, sunny day, and unfortunately I had thought I’d be silly if I wore too many warm clothes.  After the first session, we had morning tea, and then the room warmed up. We ate our lunch outside in the sunshine. Masks came off as we relaxed and made new friends and acquaintances. We sang songs in different languages: Maori, Latin, Ukrainian, Korean, and an Afghani language. There were a few songs in English. I thought I knew Dona Nobis Pacem, and Purea Nei, but wished I’d known them better.

Afterwards, I was very tired, and glad to get home again, but marvelled at how much I’d enjoyed the day, and how I’d love to do it again.  During our time there, I got a message on Storypark (Messenger for Hōhepa) and photos of my daughter wearing a mask to go shopping!  That’s wonderful, that she will wear a mask (for some people!) I need to work harder on my singing.

I looked at the 1 pm Covid 19 report, and it was pretty dire.

This morning I got up early to go to church. It’s fine and sunny again, and not as cold as yesterday. It was lovely, and afterwards I caught the bus back to Johnsonville, and then another one home. The sermon was about Jesus sending his disciples off without scrip, or purse, or sandals, (Luke 10),and greeting homes where they received hospitality with a message of peace, asking did they need healing, and telling them that the Kingdom of Heaven was nigh.  How trusting did those guys have to be! To go off without any money is quite an ask, but without sandals? We also had the text from 2 Kings 5 about Naaman’s leprosy, and his healing.  We were seated in the church, and had beautiful organ music playing. I think we’ll be in the Hall for the rest of July (on the theory that it’s warmer there). Actually last winter I did not find it warmer in the hall I seldom find it cold in the church.

It’s really hard to fine today’s Covid 19 report. Eventually I am successful. Today there are 4,924 new community cases, and there’ve been 11 deaths. There were 165 cases at the border. There are 424 people in hospital including 7 in Intensive Care.

Of those who died, three were from Auckland, one was from Taranaki, two were from MidCentral, two were from Canterbury and three were from Southern. Five were women and six were men. Two were in their 60s, two in their 70s, four in their 80s and three aged over 90.

It’s reported that people hospitalised with Covid are in Northland (7), Waitematā (106), Counties Manukau (33), Auckland (41), Waikato (46), Bay of Plenty (4), Lakes (23), Hawke’s Bay (11), MidCentral (11), Whanganui (3), Tairawhiti (2), Wairarapa (5), Capital and Coast (38), Hutt Valley (8), Nelson Marlborough (7), Canterbury (54), South Canterbury (4), West Coast (2) and Southern (19). Nobody is in hospital with Covid in Taranaki. We’re not told where the new community cases are located.

So that’s that. Again, the numbers aren’t going down as fast as we’d like. JD and I are due for our second booster shots next Friday, but there don’t seem t be many vaccination centres; I suspect we’ll have to go to the Pharmacy in the Johnsonville Shopping Centre – which I don’t particularly like.  It seems there are no restrictions any more – apart from mask wearing. Wellingtonians are still good at that, thankfully. You do feel more protected, wearing a mask, and I do hope I didn’t catch Covid 19 at yesterday’s workshop. While some people I know have had it quite mildly, others have been very sick indeed.

It’s now Monday July 4^th.

This afternoon a friend was supposed to visit, but she has a runny nose and so has deferred her visit. It’s fine and sunny today. I walked up to the local store to get freshly baked croissants for lunch.

Today’s Covid 19 report is as follows: there are 6,498 new community cases, and there have been 8 further deaths. There’s a warning that visitors to hospitals (with Covid 19) are infecting patients. There are 487 people in hospital, including 11 in Intensive Care.

Of today’s deaths three were from Auckland region, two were in Waikato, one was from Taranaki, one was from MidCentral, and one was from Whanganui. All were from the past two days. One person was aged in their 60s, four were in their 80s, and three were aged over 90. Of these people, four were women and four were men.  This brings the total number of deaths in New Zealand to 1567. (Australia has lost over 10,000 people to this virus).

The Covid patients in hospital are in Northland (seven), Waitematā (114), Counties Manukau (44), Auckland (34), Waikato (38), Bay of Plenty (22), Lakes (23), Hawke’s Bay (13), MidCentral: (14), Whanganui (five), Taranaki (12), Tairawhiti (two), Wairarapa (nine), Capital and Coast (40), Hutt Valley (seven), Nelson Marlborough (10), Canterbury (57), South Canterbury (seven), West Coast (two) and the Southern region (27). The average age of patients in hospital is 63. That would be 40 in the Wellington area!

Experts are now warning New Zealand is facing a second wave of coronavirus infections as cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.5 spread around the country. Minister of Health Andrew Little has tested positive for Covid 19 and says he is working from home.  We aren’t told the numbers of new cases in each centre.

In the US, there’s distressing news. The Supreme Court, having struck down Roe, has said that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) cannot dictate for power reduction as it has done and would do under Biden’s climate plan.  The US Supreme Court seems to think it can act with gay abandon, now: these unelected folk are cutting swathes across democratically instituted laws. The cruelty of the ruling to strike down Roe has not escaped others besides me: others, too, have noted the extreme cruelty demonstrated here. Americans are reacting with a mixture of shock, grief and frustration. The Federalist Society has got its way, with the conservative majority on the Supreme Court poised to abolish more hard-earned rights: these folk have not been elected, although many of us are hugely frustrated by the idea(l) of “American democracy”. The traditional separation between church and state is being abolished too.  Access to guns is easier. The current situation, where the republicans are in control of many state legislatures, makes a mockery of their much-vaunted constitution, which many take an oath to defend.  This constitution, in the hands of extreme right-wing fanatics, is not helpful to the majority of the people, some of whom cannot get good health care, are at mercy of polluted air and water, and cannot even get good sewerage in parts of the country. What a sad place this is. One wit said that life begins at conception and ends at birth.  The majority of Americans do not support these draconian right-wing decisions.

One republican from Arizona, Rusty Bowers, who testified against Trump, claimed that he so respected the American Constitution, it’s having been “divinely inspired”. Well, I beg to disagree. To me, the Holy Bible is divinely inspired. I deeply respect many other writings, but they’re not divinely inspired. To my way of thinking, rulings of the US Supreme Court have made a mockery of the US Constitution.

The other matter of enormous concern is Trump’s conduct on July 6.  This is built up from what we knew soon after the day, podcasts like Will be Wild, and then – to trump all this – the overwhelming evidence provided by the public screenings of the January 6 Committee, culminating in Cassidy Hutchinson’s evidence.  It seems that her original testimony was limited, partly because Trump’s legal defence fund was paying for her lawyer.  She exposed the threats, too, and then got her own lawyer, and testified much more fully.

The most damning testimony includes several new things, some of which we may have suspected, others that we didn’t know:  Trump’s temper tantrums; his desire to go to the Capitol, despite the Secret Service asking him not to; his complete disregard for Mike Pence’s safety; his disregard for others’ safety, allowing arms (not allowed in Washington) to be brought into the Ellipse, assuming they wouldn’t be used to hurt him; his concern for crowd size;  Mark  Meadows’ disregard for doing anything useful to address or prevent the violence, because the president didn’t want to do anything; his scrolling through his phone and slamming the door on Miss Hutchinson; attempts to intimidate witnesses; and so on and so on.  Although Tony Ornato has said he would deny the Trump’s physical violence under oath, he is known to be a liar and not a good witness. It’s worth noting that apart from the odd detail. such as Trump’s assault on Tony Ornato, none of her evidence has been denied. It now seems that an acquaintance of Mark Meadows is known to have threatened Cassidy Hutchinson.

So that’s all very scary. What is more terrifying, though, is the reason Trump wanted to go to the Capitol: if you’re doing a coup, and marching on the seat of government with your rag-tag armed army of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, then you need to be actually physically there to stage a coup. That is terrifying, and only a handful of loyal citizens prevented this scheme from being seen through. This coup attempt failed – but at what cost?  And will there be another try?

Although many Americans have tuned in to watch the January 6 Committee hearings, the republican-controlled Texas legislature recently declared they didn’t believe that Joe Biden was the rightfully elected president; many of those running for elected office believe Trump should be president now, i.e. believe what’s known as “the big lie”.

In Ukraine, the war grinds on, with no evidence that it’s likely to stop any time soon. It seems that western-supplied weapons haven’t arrived soon enough, allowing the Russians, seemingly, to take more territory. 

It’s now Tuesday July 5^th.

A new drier was delivered this morning!  Our drier had broken down, we confirmed yesterday, after goodness knows how many years. JD rang an appliance store and they agreed to deliver a new drier today. Fortunately I had had a shower, and I’d just made a cup of coffee when the knock on the door came. The new drier is quite wonderful. It just fits in the existing gap, although the power cord doesn’t quite reach and I have to find a power board to enable it to work. But work it does.

This afternoon we had to go to Lower Hutt. We ended up having lunch at Caffiend – one of my favourite cafés, although I didn’t appreciate the music. But their kitchen was still open. I had Eggs Benedict. My new Listener turned up in the mail. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take me long to do the puzzles now.

Last night we watched Wild Mountain Thyme on television (Netflix, I think). It’s frustrating to have an Irish setting, a Scottish song, and Emily Blunt with a strange accent, but great acting – but it was suitably sentimental with nice music (Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake was thrown in, together with the lovely song Wild Mountain Thyme). I have also just finished reading Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. It started off rather slowly, but soon I couldn’t put it down. I’m not sure that I’m quite ready for the movie version. I can see why Kya’s family members had to get away. What a sad story, though!

It’s now Wednesday July 6^th.

This morning I got up early to go to hymn singing. JD picked me up afterwards; then I had lunch with a friend, and then we went shopping at New World in Thorndon. They had potato-topped pies, and good salads, although no raspberries. It was nice to go there. I got some rhubarb-flavoured tonic water, but it turned out to be really sweet – probably sweeter than I prefer. I had to try it, though – someone had recommended it in a Sunday paper.

The Covid 19 numbers are getting worse. Yesterday there were 9,629 new community cases, and 24 deaths. There were 495 people in hospital, including 11 in Intensive Care. I took a RAT test yesterday, which was negative, thankfully. I think at least we chose good times to visit our daughter in Hawkes Bay, at the beginning of February, and the end of June this year, before things got much worse, Covid 19 wise.

Today’s numbers are even worse. Today there are 10,290 new community cases of Covid 19. There’ve been 12 further deaths (two in Wellington and one in Hawkes Bay). There are 522 people in hospital, including 10 in Intensive Care.  There are 48 people in hospital in the Hutt Valley/Wellington area. There are 19 in hospital in Hawkes Bay. There are 233 (!) cases of people who’ve recently travelled overseas.

That’s it for now. Interesting things are happening, in the UK and the US. I’ll write about them next time. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi.

It’s now Monday June 27^th, 2022. Kia ora!

This morning I have been listening to a very interesting podcast about a man whose grandfather was in the Nazi SS.  One of his daughters came to Scotland after world War II, and married a Scotsman; they had a son and a daughter, and the son has written a book about his grandfather’s history, and his relationship with his grandfather (and his mother).

It’s a Monday morning, so the news sources are quiet today, as they continue to digest the latest news: the January 6 Committee hearings in the US; the US Supreme Court’s ruling making abortion illegal in the US; the loss of two by-elections by the Tories in the UK; and the continuing war in Ukraine. Ukrainians are now taking heavy deaths as well as casualties, and there has been a bomb strike in Kyiv, killing one person.

In Russia, Vladimir Putin has appointed a retired over-weight General Pavel, aged 67, weighing perhaps 20 stone over the military operation in Ukraine. The former general Alexander Dworkin (?) is now – where?  There is much mockery of General Pavel, known as General Lunchtime; he certainly doesn’t look fit. We are still to see how effective he’ll be.

It’s now Tuesday June 28^th.

This morning I went out with one of my sons and his daughter. It’s raining steadily, but we went to Commonsense Organics in upper Tory Street. It was a treat to go there, although the prices are steep. I did get some Hōhepa Danbo cheese there. It’s rather nice, and very hard to come by. 

This afternoon, I’m due to go to an afternoon tea for a friend who died recently. Sadly, there was no formal funeral for her.  She was always very proper and beautifully attired; hence I have made some effort over my appearance, wearing a scarf, jewellery, and make up. There were lots of elderly folk there – perhaps 60 people.

In the US, now that the Supreme Court has struck down Roe, stopping a federal right for a woman to have an abortion, protests and discussions continue. Many states have so-called “trigger” laws that now come into effect, making abortion under almost any circumstances illegal in that particular state.  This Supreme Court ruling displays gross ignorance about the often perilous journey to have a child – which, once you’ve given birth successfully, could be black, gay, transgender, abnormal, the wrong sex…as well as being “normal” and being a delight. All kinds of things can go wrong, which would endanger the mother’s life, if not treated. Any pregnancy (and its after-effects) can be an emotional roller-coaster. The cruelty is just beyond belief.  Is anyone talking about (male) vasectomies? No, I thought not. Have they been outlawed? No, I thought not.

You’d think the anti-abortion right wing in America (i.e. the Republican Party, the Catholic Church, evangelicals and others would be pleased. After all, they’ve won a great victory in getting Roe struck down. Bit no, they’re far from satisfied. They want to see abortion completely outlawed in all states. And they’re coming after gays, gay marriage, and contraception too. Woe betide that a gay person has republican parents. As JD says, there aren’t many votes in success; there are far more in outrage. In my view, Americans are so absolute about such matters, where in my experience there are so many grey areas – as many women have noted. There’s the issue of ectopic pregnancies and other failed pregnancies, where mothers need medical care and sympathetic counselling and advice to get through such tragedies somehow. Much of this will be illegal, and those providing such care are terrified of getting prosecuted for “murdering babies.” It seems such a shame to add needlessly to existing sadnesses in this was.

Today’s Covid 19 report isn’t great.  The person who leads us for singing on Thursdays has advised that one of her daughters has Covid 19, and consequently she’ll stay away on Thursday this week. Most committee members advise getting someone else to stand in for her.

Today there are 8,082 new community cases, and there have been 16 deaths, including one of a person aged between 10 and 19. There are 383 people in hospital, including 7 in Intensive Care.

It’s reported that of the people whose deaths were reported today, four were from Auckland, two were from Waikato, two were from Hawke’s Bay, one was from MidCentral, two were from Taranaki, one was from Wairarapa, one from Wellington, two were from Canterbury and one person was from the Southern region. One of the people who died was aged between 10 and 19 years old. Three people were in their 70s, six were in their 80s and six people were aged over 90. We’re not told how many were women and how many were men.

The locations of today’s community cases are: Northland (169), Auckland (2584), Waikato (465), Bay of Plenty (274), Lakes (111), Hawke’s Bay (257), MidCentral (217), Whanganui (76), Taranaki (251), Tairāwhiti (87), Wairarapa (88), Capital and Coast (744), Hutt Valley (301), Nelson Marlborough (281), Canterbury (1,225), South Canterbury (107), Southern (733), West Coast (55). The location of three cases is unknown. There are reportedly 94 new cases at the border.  Those numbers still remain stubbornly high. I bought a new set of RAT tests this afternoon, seeing we have only 3 left; the price has gone up. I looked up the website for obtaining free ones, and you have to either have symptoms yourself, or be a close contact of a positive case. So that rules us out for the free ones. We live in hope, that we don’t see the second red line. It seems you can get false negatives with RAT tests, but if you test positive – you most likely do have Covid 19.  And there don’t seem to be many if any asymptomatic cases here.

The 383 hospitalised Covid patients are in Northland (four), Waitematā (71), Counties Manukau (43), Auckland (56), Waikato (33), Bay of Plenty (five), Lakes (19), Tairāwhiti (one), Hawke’s Bay (nine), Taranaki (10), Whanganui (three), MidCentral (15), Wairarapa (nine), Hutt Valley (13), Capital and Coast (20), Nelson Marlborough (13), Canterbury (32), South Canterbury (four) and the Southern region (23). The average age of hospitalised cases is 63. There are 20 (yes, you read that right) cases in the Wellington area!  And 13 in the Hutt Valley. The two DHB hospitals in Wellington are Wellington Hospital and Kenepuru Hospital, so that’s pretty dire.  The good news is that we should be able to have second boosters – next week – from 8 July (that date being six months since we had our first boosters). The All Blacks team, and their coaches, have been badly affected by Covid 19. I believe they’re due to play Ireland (who beat them last time, I think!)

The January 6 Committee has a surprise session tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon US time. We don’t know what it will be about, but we’re all agog, after previous dramatic hearings. Apparently one of Trump’s lawyers, John Eastman’s phone was seized by the Feds.

In Ukraine, a busy shopping centre in Kremenchuk was hit by a missile; it’s reported that at least 18 have been killed. This was hardly a “military target”.  The Russians seem to be winning some territory, but JD says, as I suspect, that they’re Pyrrhic victories.  They aren’t really winning.

It’s now Wednesday June 29^th.

During the night I didn’t get a lot of sleep. As the night wore on, I saw snippets of Cassidy Hutchinson’s evidence to the January 6 Committee: dramatic and alarming.  Shocking, really. I read about Trump’s letting armed people into his rally; Trump losing his temper and throwing his lunch (not for the first time, evidently); a lot of text messages; and Trump physically attacking (“lunging at the man’s neck”) a secret service officer who tried to prevent him driving The Beast. Mark Meadows does not come out of this well. I look forward to seeing and hearing lots of reflection about this.

Meanwhile, 44 people died in Texas in a truck that should have been refrigerated (and evidently wasn’t), and Texas Governor Greg Abbott has politicised this dreadful incident. Honestly, the pro-life party has little regard for life.

This morning I got up early to go to hymn singing. Thankfully traffic is not a problem at present, as it used to be. We sang Holy, holy, holy, and a beautiful hymn by John Milton (Let us with a gladsome mind). There were familiar and beautiful tunes.

After this I went to catch a 10 am bus into town. There were several of us at the bus stop, but the bus was several minutes late. It wasn’t cancelled, though; my phone told me it was running late, and eventually it turned up. At the Railway Station I caught a bus to Brooklyn, having just missed the one I wanted to catch. I got to the Penthouse just in time to see a French Film Festival film. Maigret at 11 am.

It was a very good film, although I don’t know that I’d recommend it. It stars Gerard Dépardieu as Chief Inspector Maigret, and several beautiful women, including his hard-done-by wife. He is over-weight and not very attractive, although he’s quite sensitive as he goes about solving the murder. Evidently he and his wife lost a daughter themselves – one senses a deep grief there.

Afterwards I had a cup of coffee and a cheese roll, then caught a bus to Wellington Railway Station, and then to Churton Park.

Shortly after 1 pm today’s Covid 19 report came out. There are 7,829 new community cases and there’ve been 15 more deaths. There are 385 people in hospital, including 8 in Intensive Care.

Of the people whose deaths are reported today three were from the Auckland region, one was from Waikato, one was from Lakes, two were from Bay of Plenty, two were from Taranaki, one was from the Wellington region, one was from Nelson Marlborough, one was from Canterbury, one was from West Coast, and two were from the Southern region. One person was in their twenties, one was in their fifties, five were in their 70s, three were in their 80s and five were over 90. Of these people, six were male and nine were female.

The people in hospital are as follows: Northland: 4; Waitematā: 70; Counties Manukau: 42; Auckland: 57; Waikato: 30; Bay of Plenty: 7; Lakes: 21; Tairāwhiti: 1; Hawke’s Bay: 12; Taranaki: 10; Whanganui: 1; MidCentral: 15; Wairarapa: 7; Hutt Valley: 13; Capital and Coast: 24; Nelson Marlborough: 12; Canterbury: 39; South Canterbury: 3; West Coast: 0; Southern: 27. The average age of hospitalisations is 63.

There are 100 new cases at the border.  I can’t now get the data about the distribution of these new cases, but they’re alarmingly high; higher than they have been in Wellington and Hawkes Bay.  Apparently the B.A.5 sub-variant of omicron is now prevalent in New Zealand.  Along with flu, and Covid 19, and it’s being winter, the health services are under extreme pressure at the moment.

Since I got home, I’ve been listening to Cassidy Hutchinson’s amazing testimony, and US journalists’ reactions to it. I have grown to really enjoy hearing Bennie Thompson, Chairman of the January 6 Committee, introduce each hearing. He is unfailingly polite, and a tad old-fashioned, introducing Deputy Chair Liz Cheney as the “gentlewoman”. At first I doubted this quiet Southern gentleman’s ability to chair this group, but I think he’s been quite amazing, and a good counter-foil to others on the Committee.

It’s now Thursday June 30^th.

This morning I listened to the Hacks on Tap podcast with Sarah Longwell (of the Bulwark), and then to the Bulwark podcast, where Charlie Sykes was speaking to Lawfare’s David Priess. All very interesting. After that I went to my Thursday singing. There had been considerable drama over what would happen, since our leader’s daughter has Covid 19, but in the event we had a stand-in who was very good.  Afterwards I got a lift to Johnsonville with a friend of mine, and then had lunch at the café at the library. I met my cousin there, and then she dropped me at home.

This afternoon I’ve been digesting my new Listener, and listening to – you’ve guessed it -more podcasts. It’s fair to say everyone in the US is still reeling at Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony to the January 6 committee, which was aired yesterday. She was an aide to Mark Meadows, the former president’s Chief of Staff. Today the White House lawyer Pat has been sub-poenad by the committee. I didn’t mention Trump’s obsession with crowd size, and his readiness for his followers to bring arms to the rally – after all, they weren’t going to hurt him.  Many Americans are saying they thought they couldn’t be shocked any more – but now they have been.

Today’s Covid 19 report isn’t great. There are 7,423 new community cases, and there’ve been 19 further deaths. There are 411 people in hospital, and 6 in Intensive Care.

Of the deaths being reported today, the ministry said two were from Northland, three were from the Auckland region, three were from Waikato; one was from Bay of Plenty; one was from Hawke’s Bay; two were from the Wellington region; one was from Nelson-Marlborough; four were from Canterbury; and two were from Southern. Two people were in their 50s, three were in their 60s, one was in their 70s, six were in their 80s and seven were aged over 90.

There were also 206 new cases at the border. Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson has been diagnosed with Covid 19.

I can’t now see there the individual cases are located, but I know they’re increasing again. Although Aotearoa remains at Orange status, there seem to be very few protections now. Here in Wellington, at least people still wear masks.

At present President Biden is in Europe, and Sweden and Finland are to join NATO, the differences with Turkey having been resolved. The war grinds on, but Putin has achieved greater strength and resolution in NATO.

That’s it for now. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi.

It’s now Saturday June 25^th. Kia ora!

I haven’t written for several days. We went to Napier and saw my daughter there, but it’s been wild and cold weather this past week; not so cold now, though.  It was very good to see her: she’s very well, and wearing (and keeping on) warm clothes! It was strange in Napier:  Café de Laos and The Boardwalk Restaurant seemed to be permanently closed, despite having been busy and seemingly thriving concerns. The motels all had No Vacancy signs out, but when we went shopping on Wednesday there were very few people in the shops.  At Farmers I bought two pairs of gloves, and two very soft jerseys, one for me (pale green), and one for her – blue! She tried it on, and opted to wear it. We had lunch at a busy café, and dined at the restaurant where we were staying. There were other diners there, but we were well spaced out.

The IDP meeting was held via zoom. I fired up my computer early, and it worked just fine – probably the best zoom session I’ve had. All attendees zoomed in. Then we took our RAT tests – negative, thankfully, and went to pick up our daughter – not going into her house.  It’s good to see that Hōhepa are still taking measures to minimise contact, and keep everyone safe.

In Napier there seemed to be very few people wearing masks, except in shops and cafés. But then, their Covid 19 infections are much fewer than here in Wellington.

It was a rushed trip, but our motel had a quiet heat pump, and a spa bath as well as a separate shower. It also had rather nice toiletries. We ate delicious omelettes on the way north, having driven past my favourite café – sadly, closed. On our return, we went to a café we’d been to and enjoyed previously – now under new management, but the food was all right.

The new Transmission Gully highway is superb!  I think it’s wonderful, and the expressway is ever inching closer from Pekapeka to Te Horo; there are changes around Otaki, too, both before and afterwards. Perhaps next time we drive north this road will be completed. There are lots of road improvements along the way, too – and lots of trucks.

The January 6 Committee hearings have been mesmerising, as each new showing builds on the previous one’s revelations. Ones that spring to mind immediately include the testimony of Rusty Bowers of Arizona, the testimony of Shaye Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman; and yesterday, the testimony of Rich Donohue and others at the Department of Justice. It is all just horrifying, and most of the testimony comes from Republicans, who were loyal Trumpists. The Committee is still gathering testimony. What happens next?  The FBI has executed search warrants on the home of Jeffrey Clark, the man Trump was going to make Acting Attorney General. While we are digesting the startling and terrifying implications of this, I learnt this morning that the US Supreme Court has rescinded Roe, making abortion illegal in the US; furthermore, Justice Clarence Thomas has warned that other rights are in his sights: gay marriage, contraception, and some sex acts. At this unbelievable news, we are all reeling. In the US, there are, predictably, huge protests. While I would prefer not to have an abortion, it happens, and it should be safe and legal – the state has nothing to do with personal morality.

Yesterday was Matariki,  celebrated for the first time as a public holiday. In Napier, there were bonfires set up along Marine Parade. I am not one for early morning starts, but there were celebrations all around New Zealand.

Today we went shopping at New World in Thorndon. It wasn’t too busy. There were no raspberries, alas, and no potato-topped pies, but there were good salads. We got bread and ice cream, and bought pies for lunch. 

Yesterday there was no Covid 19 report, so today’s report covered yesterday as well. There are 8,638 new community cases, and there have been 24 deaths. There are 316 people in hospital, including 4 in Intensive Care. The total number of deaths is now 1,455.

Eleven of those who died were in their 80s, and seven were aged over 90. One person was in their 50s, one in their 60s, and four were in their 70s. Thirteen were men and 11 were women. Most of those who died were from the North Island: six from Auckland, three each from Waikato, Hawke’s Bay and Taranaki, and one each from Bay of Plenty, Wairarapa and Wellington.

The new community cases detected over the past two days are in Northland (217), Auckland (2693), Waikato (522), Bay of Plenty (295), Lakes (131), Hawke’s Bay (256), MidCentral (256), Whanganui (94), Taranaki (195), Tairāwhiti (76), Wairarapa (99), Capital and Coast (811), Hutt Valley (338), Nelson Marlborough (343), Canterbury (1401), South Canterbury (93), Southern (723) and the West Coast (90). Five cases are people from unknown areas. There were also 211 new cases at the border over the past two days.

So the totals are still pretty crazy.  A friend of mine went to a family gathering last weekend, and many of them have Covid 19. 

It’s now Sunday June 26^th.

This morning I went to church. There were few people there, but it was quite wonderful. We had lots of organ playing, including a Trumpet Voluntary by John Stanley played at the end of the service. A friend of mine who passed away recently had told the organist she would like this played at her funeral; in the event, there wasn’t a funeral service at the church for her, but it was lovely to hear this played. I looked up the composer on my phone, to find that he went blind from an accident when he was two.  Nevertheless, he was a fine composer and organist.

The sermon today was interesting; the gospel text was the last verses of Luke chapter 9, where Jesus seems unfeeling in telling would-be disciples to follow him, and not bury one’s father or say goodbye to one’s family. The point the minister made was that Jesus would take care of things, provided one put Him first.  The minister also spoke very carefully about the Supreme Court ruling in the US, where the Roe v Wade ruling has been overturned. He spoke about the difficulty of loving those with very different political views. The other reading was from Galatians 5, about loving one’s neighbour as oneself. I have to think that the Supreme Court’s ruling demonstrates supreme cruelty to women, and a lack of trust in their ability to make decisions. JD and I spoke about our decision-making when I was expecting our daughter, and the risk (admittedly small), that she would be handicapped (as it turned out, she was).  This was not a difficult decision for us; we would not terminate the pregnancy, but we were given medical information in a non-judgmental way; our decision, our chosen way forward would be respected whatever it was.  We might have to wrestle with our consciences, but the state, far from condemning us, would provide suitable medical care and support.

The actress Sharon Stone has spoken movingly about her experience of miscarriage, that it is both a physical and emotional kind of grief and distress. Surely there should be sympathy for women in these situations, where the whole experience of child-bearing (and child-rearing) is fraught with mixed emotions – mainly joy, but also pain and discomfort; although reliable contraception is more readily available, the whole process is random. All one can do, really, is not use contraception, and leave the rest to God/nature/chance or whatever you believe in. It’s so ironic that the time of ovulation (the peak time for getting pregnant) is the time when the woman tends to feel most like having sex.

Later, in Prayers for Others, the person doing this named and spoke about the stars of Matariki.  She also spoke about floods in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and in China too. I thought she spoke very well.

After church, seeing that I’d missed my bus, I had morning tea – a long black coffee and a cheese scone. Then I went to catch the next bus. It was fine and sunny by now. When the bus came, it rushed past me and past the bus stop! I had to walk very fast to catch the bus, hoping that one of the passengers on board would ask the driver to wait for me.

The Covid 19 report for today is as follows: there are 4,429 new community cases, and there’ve been 6 deaths. There are 332 people in hospital, and 7 of them are in Intensive Care.

Of the deaths, it’s reported that one person was in their 50s, one in their 60s, two in their 70s, and two aged over 90. Five were male and one was female. Three were from the Auckland region, two were from Canterbury, and one was from Waikato.

There were more new community cases reported in the Canterbury (741) and Capital and Coast (413) DHBs, than in the Auckland region, where 409 cases were reported. Today’s other new community cases were reported in the Northland (91), Waikato (274), Bay of Plenty (129), Lakes (65), Hawke’s Bay (121), MidCentral (122), Whanganui (39), Taranaki (105), Tairāwhiti (20), Wairarapa (48), Hutt Valley (169), Nelson Marlborough (185), South Canterbury (76), Southern (356) and West Coast (29) DHBs. There were also 86 cases recorded at the border. Those numbers remain stubbornly high.

In Ukraine, the war drags on. There seems to be a great deal of misinformation. Lithuania is not allowing passage to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad (formerly Konïgsberg),  and consequently Putin has threatened them. However Lithuania is a member of NATO, and so they shouldn’t be too afraid. President Zelensky continues to travel around his country, and bravely address the nation every night, as the war drags on. More effective weapons have arrived, reportedly, but distribution and training are an issue, before they can be used effectively. Putin is rumoured to have changed his military command yet again. Threats and brutality continue. Russian forces are said to be in control of the city of Sievierodonetsk. This situation is just so sad, while Vladimir Putin looks increasingly unwell. What a strange place the world is.

That’s it for now.  We hope the Covid 19 figures will improve here, as many activities try to run themselves again after two and a half years of cancellations and postponements.  What a handbrake Covid 19 has been. Till next time. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi.

It’s now Wednesday June 15^th, 2022. Kia ora!

This morning I didn’t have hymn singing. I was supposed to meet a friend for coffee, but we decided to cancel. I spent what seemed like a lot of last night being concerned about my Thursday singing group, where someone has diagnosed positive for Covid 19. This morning, reading the Dompost, I learn that Joe Bennett has it too.

This afternoon, thrusting caution to the wind, I went to a French Film Festival movie:  Adieu, Monsieur Haffmann.  It was a very good, if very sad, film. It starred Daniel Auteuil as a Jewish jeweler, in Paris in the 1940’s.  It was quite intense, but had a kind of happy ending (which I won’t give away here). Suffice to say that I wondered during the film just how it would end.

Although there were quite a few people there, I felt quite safe, sitting by myself with no one uncomfortably close to me.  Coming home on the bus was a different story. I caught a double-decker bus to Johnsonville, and while I got a seat, the bus filled up with many standing until we got to Johnsonville Library. That wasn’t a very comfortable trip for me.

Yesterday a new edition of LRB came in the mail. I think it’s the last one I’m entitled to. It has lots of reading, but I started by reading a review of Tina Brown’s new book, The Palace Papers. Suffice to say this review was not kind to the Royal Family.  Still and all, many of us enjoyed the Queen’s recent Platinum Jubilee.  The British do these ceremonial things rather well.  What would you have instead?  Italy has beautiful art, France has wonderful food (if you can get it), Spain has wonderful buildings: and they’re all different, and well worth seeing. I haven’t mentioned other European countries such as Germany, Switzerland and Austria. I would so love to travel to Europe again. Each country (and area within  each country)  is so different: Scotland, Catalonia, Basque country….

Today’s Covid 19 report isn’t too bad. There are 5,554 new community cases, and there’ve been 11 deaths. There are 368 people in hospital, and 7 of them are in Intensive Care.

Today’s community cases are in Northland (138), Auckland (1659), Waikato (372), Bay of Plenty (194), Lakes (76), Hawke’s Bay (179), MidCentral (223), Whanganui (54), Taranaki (188), Tairāwhiti (46), Wairarapa (71), Capital and Coast (506), Hutt Valley (219), Nelson Marlborough (227), Canterbury (839), South Canterbury (76), Southern (442), West Coast (40), Unknown (5). There are also 70 new imported border cases.

It’s now Friday June 17^th.

Yesterday I had singing (my other singing), and although one member had notified us all that she had Covid 19, there were 18 people there.  It seems that the lovely lady that diagnosed positive was probably not infectious when she came to choir last Thursday. It seems that no one has caught Covid 19 from her. Nevertheless, there was some concern – largely on my part, and two non-singing participants who had texted me about the situation. Afterwards some of us had lunch at the café across the road. Then I had a haircut in Mana at 3 pm.  There was hardly anyone there, but as I waited for JD to pick me up afterwards, some people sat uncomfortably close to me in the waiting area.

Afterwards, I went shopping but, annoyingly, forgot to buy bananas.

Last night I did not sleep well. I listened to lots of podcasts, but I can’t remember how they ended, so I’ll probably have to listen to them again. I felt quite unwell and wondered, again, if I have Covid 19.  I put it down to fatigue; I can still smell and taste. Someone from Access came to do some housework. I changed the towels and the bedlinen and folded JD’s washing and hung up the clothes he’s left in the living room.  We had hard-boiled egg (and avocado) sandwiches for lunch. They were yummy.

Some thoughts:  there is lots of reaction in the media about Prince Louis’ behaviour on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the parade and the fly-past, and then at the concert where he played up. Actually, he’s four, not three, but surely it would have been unkind to deprive him of any of this ceremony? I think his parents were very wise in choosing which activities their children should attend.  I think he’d be furious when he grows up to find that he’d been deprived of attending the one-off platinum jubilee celebrations: after all, there’s unlikely to be another platinum jubilee celebration within his lifetime, or before he’s an old man. I still remember not being allowed to attend my grandfather’s funeral, even though he was a strong Christian, died in his 80’s, and was buried after a Christian funeral. It was thought at the time that children shouldn’t attend funerals.

I am enjoying reading the Troy book by Stephen Fry, although enjoying is not quite the right word. After a stalemate of ten years in the Trojan War, there’s been some duels, and how Hector (Trojan) has killed Patroclus (Greek), great mate of Achilles.  This is the middle of the book, and Achilles, with new armour created by Hephaestus, is having his aristeia. While this is a beautiful word, Achilles’ fighting is extremely brutal. Spoiler alert: it does not end well. It’s nice now to know something about this story, having studied Homer’s Iliad and some of the wonderful art and literature it inspired. It’s hard to believe that such beautifully depicted people were capable of such brutality.

There have been more shocking revelations from the January 6 Committee about the events of January 6, and the events leading up to the insurrection on that day.  Representative Loudermilk has given tours, although previously asserting that he did not; Mike Pence’s bravery in defying Donald Trump in spite of the death threats against him, and the phone call from Trump calling him a wimp, a is looking ever more heroic, although he chose not to testify to the January 6 Committee.  He spoke about Daniel 6 (this is where Daniel and his friends are thrown into the lions’ den, and emerge unharmed);  but nobody cared about Mike Pence except journalists: although his support for Trump was despicable, in my view, other Republicans should surely care about his welfare. It seems to me the Republican Party, far from being conservative, are way out there in their radical and extreme views.

It’s interesting that while Barr and other conservatives are prepared to say they knew the election was soundly run, and that Trump had lost, and claimed they’d told him so, the so-called “big lie” that Trump had really won has been perpetuated, and is now firmly believed by many republicans, some of whom have been elected to public office.  That’s a huge problem for everyone in the US.  It’s fascinating too, that the 2016 election, widely thought to have ben influenced by Russia, is now (and was then) regarded by republicans as sound.

It’s now Saturday June 18^th.

Last night I slept much better than the previous night, although I had trouble getting to sleep. We watched an amazing film about Ray Charles on Bravo, where Charles was played by Jamie Foxx. The music was superb, but it was hard to watch the film at times.  I went to sleep while listening to a The Rest is History podcast episode about Cleopatra and Antony. It began with Tom Holland quoting the marvellous speech from Shakespeare’s play: The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne…” Soon after this I must have gone to sleep. 

When I woke up this morning, it was after 7 am.  I listened to a replay of The Rest is History (two episodes) about Watergate. I had heard them before, but it was good to listen to them again. I well remember the Watergate political crisis and the long time it took to resolve. Many people were disappointed when Nixon was pardoned by his Vice President turned President, Gerald Ford. What a time of upheaval it was: huge protests against the Vietnam War; civil rights and abortion were, as ever, present issues; assassinations were huge; former Vice President Agnew had resigned in disgrace; no wonder no one trusts US politics or US government. Then there was the oil crisis of the 1970’s, and the Yom Kippur War, and lots of terrorist acts. After this came President Jimmy Carter, the Iran hostages, then President Reagan and the Iran-Contra scandal. Barr (then Attorney General) pardoned Oliver North and anyone else that had been convicted; unlike the Nixonian crisis. What? 

I am reminded that JD and I took our first trip overseas at this very unsettled time. We had, of course, a wonderful trip, although we were both unwell for part of it. But we survived, and it was memorable. I remember our first major overseas stop in Hong Kong, and on the television we saw Kissinger looking anxious. As the broadcast was in Chinese, we had no idea what he was saying. At breakfast the next day, six anxious-looking Asian people seemed to be in attendance on us – terrifying!

Yesterday there were 4,869 new community cases, 370 hospitalisations, and 16 deaths (although two of the deaths were much earlier). I spoke to a friend on the phone. She had been to a family gathering last weekend, and several people now have Covid 19. Others are close contacts, and are isolating. Covid 19 is very much still with us in Wellington. Shall I go to church tomorrow, or zoom in instead? I’m planning to go to Hawkes Bay next week, so I want to keep well for that.

Today there are 4,404 new cases and there have been 11 deaths. There are 356 people in hospital and only three in Intensive Care. The 11 deaths occurred in the last 3 days.

One person was in their 40s, one was in their 50s, five were in their 70s, one was in their 80s and three were aged over 90. Of these people, four were women and seven were men. Three came from Auckland and two each came from Wellington and Canterbury regions. There was also one person each from Tairāwhiti, Lakes, West Coast and Southern district health board areas.

Today’s new cases of the virus were detected in Northland (126), Auckland (1318), Waikato (287), Bay of Plenty (177), Lakes (72), Hawke’s Bay (101), MidCentral (155), Whanganui (42), Taranaki (123), Tairāwhiti (46), Wairarapa (42), Capital and Coast (396), Hutt Valley (172), Nelson Marlborough (191), Canterbury (654), South Canterbury (60), Southern (411) and West Coast (30). The origin of one person newly infected with the virus is not known. Fifty new cases of the virus were also discovered at the border. The numbers are coming down, slowly; there’s still a lot of Covid 19 around, alas.

It’s now Sunday June 19^th.

It was predicted to be very cold today, but in fact it’s not too bad. I went to church wearing a thick jersey and a woollen jacket over it, but I was quite warm in the church and didn’t put on my raincoat until I got outside, when it rained again. Afterwards I made my way home (two buses via the library, where I picked up a book I had on reserve), and set about turning the heaters on at home before I had a cup of coffee.

I finished reading the Troy book this afternoon. Picking up on my previous comments, Achilles kills the great Hector, in revenge for the death of Patroclus, and drags his dead body around the walls of Troy with his chariot. King Priam of Troy goes to Achilles to beg the body of his son, so that he can give it proper burial, and the two men end up weeping together. Homer ends his Iliad here. Fry goes on and tells about the legend of the Trojan Horse, and the Greek defeat of Troy. One of the escapees, Aeneas, goes on to found Rome. Vergil’s great epic poem The Aeneid tells his story.

What a tour de force Fry’s Troy is! After JD has read it I should like to send it to my eldest granddaughter. Note: Fry does use some sources, but not in an academic paper type way.  He does have lots of footnotes, but you don’t have to read them for the story to make sense. He tells a rollicking good story – I don’t disagree with anything he says. Once again, I’m so glad I did a wide-ranging university paper on this.

In the US, Dr Anthony Fauci has Covid 19. In Ukraine, the increasingly bloody war drags on. 

The film Adieu, Monsieur Haffmann, and the shocking revelations of the January 6 Select Committee both demonstrate the dangers of collaboration – between the Germans occupying Paris during the Second World War, and all the people in Trump’s circle who went along with his “big lie”, yet now claim to have told him the truth, that he had lost the election, and that Biden had won fairly.  The dreadful lawyer, John Eastman, said he should probably be on the pardon list. And nobody but journalists (and Mike Pence’s lawyer) care about his physical welfare. I did find it disturbing that he told his lawyer he looked forward to meeting the Founding Fathers in Heaven; and then that he compared himself with Daniel in the lions’ den.  No modesty (or much insight) here, then! Some hero.

That’s it for now. No Covid 19 report today. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi.

It’s now Saturday June 11^th, 2022. Kia ora!

Yesterday we went to our Art group. It meets monthly, but we haven’t been for ages, sometimes because we couldn’t make it, then came lockdown; one time we tried to go (late), but couldn’t find a carpark and went shopping instead. This time the presenter was bringing paper and pens for sketching, thus eliminating my need to prepare things to bring.  We did sketches of the Queen’s afternoon tea with Paddington Bear. It was great fun. Afterwards, we had coffee and a late lunch. It was another of those days when it was wild overnight, but then fine and sunny in the afternoon; I was scared I may have overdressed for the occasion.

Last night I watched and re-watched coverage of the January 6 (2021) Committee presentation.  It was very effective – I’m still digesting it. Amazingly, I learnt new facts, that I did not know before:  the stunning evidence of police officer Edwards (an attractive blond)?; the fact that Trump was advised by several people  that he had lost the election; Trump’s endorsing of the calls to Hang Mike Pence; his frustration when Pence took control and tried to get the attack called off;  and his refusal to do anything to manage the situation despite requests from Don Jr, his daughter Ivanka, Fox News hosts, and many Republican politicians. Oh, and we also learnt about pardons being flung around, from a flippant remark by Jared Kushner, and Trump’s offering a pardon to Kelly-Anne Conway. The animal channel refused to screen this footage, which was ably presented by Liz Cheney, after a moving introduction from January 6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson.

Wow! It’s been quite a week. I wept over the Uvalde shootings, and enjoyed footage of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations; then UK Prime Minister Johnson “won” his confidence vote (but this victory may be a Pyrrhic one); there are multiple reactions to the UK Royal Family’s treatment of the Harkles (they dished the RF first, by the way).  There is some reaction to the cost of the Jubilee celebrations, but the Tory government has given huge contracts to their mates for various services that haven’t exactly delivered (such as PPE supply and the Test and Trace ap). Now it’s reported that Palantir has the contract for IT with the NHS. Palantir is the spooky software supplied by the creepy Peter Thiel. There are fears of its use already to spy on people and invade their privacy without their being aware of it.

Today’s Covid 19 report is as follows: there are 5202 new Covid community cases reported today with eight people with Covid dying and 332 people in hospital. Four of those in hospital are in intensive care, says the Ministry of Health.

Today’s deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid in New Zealand to 1311. The seven-day rolling average of reported deaths is 13.

Of those who died, two were from Bay of Plenty, one was from the MidCentral district health board region, one was from the Wellington region, two were from Canterbury, one was from South Canterbury; and one was from the Southern region. One person was aged in their 60s, four were in their 70s, one was in their 80s, and two were aged over 90. Three were women and five were men. The average age of those in hospital in the Northern Region is 62.

The new community cases were located in Northland (132), Auckland (1430), Waikato (351), Bay of Plenty (207), Lakes (70), Hawke’s Bay (153), MidCentral (250), Whanganui (64), Taranaki (164), Tairāwhiti (19), Wairarapa (45), Capital and Coast (506), Hutt Valley (237), Nelson Marlborough (184), Canterbury (766), South Canterbury (84), Southern (410) and West Coast (56). The location of a further two cases is yet to be determined. There were also 72 imported cases reported.

Saturday was a quiet day for us, but there has been really wild weather for the last few days – heavy rain storms, wind, and some thunderstorms, interspersed by fine, calm, sunny spells, when you think that the stormy weather’s gone away. Not so.

It’s now Sunday June 12^th.

There was to be a funeral celebration of friends’ of a friends special needs son in the afternoon, but we didn’t know the parents well, and I was reluctant to go. I went to church physically, instead, and there was a forum afterwards about the future of the church, and some quotes for earthquake strengthening.  I must say I found this discussion pretty frustrating.

Then, finding I had just missed one bus, I went to a nearby café for coffee and a scone. After that, I did some shopping, and went to wait for the next bus. The weather chose that few minutes for a heavy shower: I could not put my bags down, or sit in the bus shelter – it was awash, shelter, seat and all. My shoes were wet. Fortunately the bus wasn’t cancelled, and came on time. JD met me in Johnsonville. There were a few sad souls at the shopping centre, it wasn’t busy.

It’s now Monday June 13^th.

This morning I went to the dentist, for my annual check up. Fortunately, there is nothing wrong – I said that I hope my teeth outlast me!  Afterwards, we shared lunch at an almost empty café on The Terrace.

Yesterday we caught up with one of our sons who is overseas. He, his wife, and their two children have all had Covid 19 (not too badly, thankfully), although his daughter still looks a little peaky (as we would have said in the old days).  This morning I rang a manager at Hōhepa; they’re all right, but hit quite heavily not by Covid 19 now but by the flu. Black Caps captain Kane Williamson has Covid 19, as does Princess Charlene of Monaco. Today there are 4,413 new community cases, and there’ve been 5 deaths. There are 352 people in hospital, and 9 in Intensive Care.

The cases in hospital are in: Northland 10, Waitematā 37, Counties Manukau 34, Auckland 57, Waikato 33, Bay of Plenty 13, Lakes 1, Tairāwhiti 2, Hawke’s Bay 11, Taranaki 9, Whanganui 1, MidCentral 20, Wairarapa 3, Hutt Valley 24, Capital and Coast 21, Nelson Marlborough 8, Canterbury 43, South Canterbury 4, West Coast 0, Southern 21. That’s still quite a lot in Wellington and the Hutt Valley.

The Ministry of Health reported a further five virus-related deaths. Of today’s deaths two were from the Auckland region, one from Waikato, one from Bay of Plenty and one from Canterbury. One person was aged in their 60s; two were in their 70s; one was in their 80s; and one was aged over 90. Of these people, two were women and three were men. 1325 people have now died with the virus.

Today’s 4413 community cases are in: Northland (101), Auckland (1312), Waikato (313), Bay of Plenty (158), Lakes (68), Hawke’s Bay (135), MidCentral (183), Whanganui (68), Taranaki (117), Tairāwhiti (17), Wairarapa (39), Capital and Coast (396), Hutt Valley (189), Nelson Marlborough (180), Canterbury (678), South Canterbury (49), Southern (353), West Coast (54), unknown (3).

It’s now Tuesday June 14^th.

This morning I met one of my sons and his daughter for an outing – some shopping, a cup of coffee, and a walk. Today it isn’t nearly as stormy, although it’s pretty windy and drizzling with rain.

Last night I slept quite well.  Interesting podcasts include The Rest is History on Cleopatra (there are to be 4 sessions, I think); Tim Miller on the Bulwark podcast talking to the author of Gay Washington; and a Skullduggery podcast talking about CIA involvement in Watergate.  Today the Youtube videos are almost all about the January 6 Committee hearings: day two. These contain  even more revelations about the January 6 insurrection, and about the preceding days. The comedians are having great fun with this footage. Apparently the animal channel is going to screen the second instalment after all. These hearings are must-see viewing, compared favorably to the Watergate hearings, which had such an impact on America.  Evidently about 20 million people viewed the first lot of hearings -a significant number.

Things I’ve been watching on television include a very good film on Eden (formerly Choice) called The Public; a film on Māori Television called Submarine, another episode of The First Lady, and the final of The Staircase on Neon. I found this series, although mesmerizing, deeply disturbing, somehow;  nobody comes out well from this. In The First Lady, we saw the Pearl Harbour attack, Betty Ford going to Rehab (how come it wasn’t nicer, by the way?), and the outcome of the 2016 presidential election in America: firstly the Hollywood Access tape (surely this would sink Trump, many thought); and then election night itself. This was a truly depressing sight – one I didn’t wish to be reminded of.

I am still reading my Troy book, by Stephen Fry; I am almost half-way through it. It took what seemed like ages to get up to the protagonists, the Achaean fleet sailing for Troy, and the war itself: then there’s stalemate for almost ten years – in a few pages. Now there’s a few duels going on; we haven’t yet got up to the entry of the Trojan Horse and (one of) the destruction(s) of Troy.  It makes me want to read Homer’s Iliad again (but I probably won’t, I have masses of books to read).  Fry too depicts Helen as being given no say in being seized by the Trojan Paris, although he does represent her as despising him while the battle rages outside Troy. He presents the range of deities as having huge influence over the various outcomes.  And, of course, by some strange miracle they all spoke the same Greek dialect (or could understand each other, whether gods, Greeks or Trojans).  Go figure.

Today’s Covid 19 report shows totals dropping slowly, although someone from my Thursday singing group has diagnosed positive for Covid 19. That is a concern. I had a conversation with her the Thursday before last (presumably she wasn’t infectious at that stage); I didn’t speak to her last Thursday, although she too is a soprano. Last Friday afternoon I was talking to a friend who said her children had had it, both supremely fit and healthy, and had been very sick with it.  I spoke to a manager at Hōhepa yesterday, who said that although we will be in Napier for my daughter’s IDP, they would still prefer us to zoom into this meeting rather than attending it on person (as we would like to do), and they want us both to have RAT tests before spending time with our daughter. That’s understandable, really, and I’m grateful that precautions are still being taken.  I desperately don’t want to get Covid 19:  apart from not knowing how sick I’d be, you can get it again! It’s not as though having it makes you immune.

Today it’s reported that there are 6,133 new community cases, and there’ve been 23 deaths.

Only about two-thirds of the country’s infections were likely being identified, Bloomfield told reporters today in his first media appearance since his own “mild” case of Covid while in Geneva.

They include one person from Northland, five from the Auckland region, three from Waikato, one from the Lakes DHB region, four from Taranaki, two from MidCentral, one from Hawke’s Bay; two from the Wellington region; one from South Canterbury and three from Southern. One person was aged in their 50s; three were in their 70s; 11 were in their 80s; and eight were aged over 90. Of these people, 15 were women and eight were men. Today’s reported deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 1348.

There are 377 people in hospital and 7 in Intensive Care.

Today’s community cases are in Northland (191), Auckland (1,800), Waikato (406), Bay of Plenty (240), Lakes (90), Hawke’s Bay (186), MidCentral (233), Whanganui (72), Taranaki (179), Tairāwhiti (42), Wairarapa (77), Capital and Coast (510), Hutt Valley (261), Nelson Marlborough (243), Canterbury (904), South Canterbury (92), Southern (541 551), West Coast (54), unknown (2). That’s encouraging: that numbers are down in Hawkes Bay (although they’re struggling with flu); they’re also creeping down in Wellington.

The rollout of a fourth Covid vaccine for those most at risk would begin shortly, Dr Bloomfield said. We’re all very interested to learn who is defined as “most at risk”; I’m hoping my daughter will be; I should like to be on that list too.

In Ukraine, the war grinds on, with more Russian brutality, and more bravery on the part of Ukrainian troops. They’ve provided a shopping list of weapons they need: is the West still interested in supplying their needs? The fiercest fighting is going on in the East of Ukraine; I can’t really tell mush of what’s happening. Russian forces seem to be having some success, while there are still videos telling of Ukrainian victories on a much smaller scale. The fighting is concentrated in Russian speaking areas, so you don’t really know who’s on which side. The stories of Russian “filtration” camps, and Russian treatment of Ukrainians they’ve abducted, is terrifying – and just what can anyone do  about it?  The Chinese are still buying Russian oil, it seems.  There seems to be s stalemate, no doubt not helped by Boris Johnson’s political troubles at home in the UK, and American absorption with their January 6 Committee hearings.  Spoiler alert: the evidence is not exculpatory for “the former guy”. It now seems one of the main reasons he wanted to stay in power as president was based on the legal (Office of Legal Counsel) advice that a sitting president can’t be indicted.

That’s it for today.  Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi.

Today is Tuesday June 7^th, 2022. Kia ora!

I didn’t blog yesterday. It was a public holiday here for Queen’s Birthday (not her actual birthday, of course); in the morning I had a lovely chat with my son in the UK about the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, and who was booed, and so on.  I watched more videos about it all – I thought the drone show was quite marvellous.

In the afternoon I visited a friend and had a lovely time. She lent me a book to read; I also have Stephen Fry’s Troy, which JD bought me (as if I needed more books to read!)

Tomorrow and for the rest of the week I have lots on. Today is a quiet day, although there are lots of things I should do.

Yesterday was rubbish collection day: you put out your council-collected bag, or your bin, and your recycling on alternate weeks: the glass crate one week, followed by the recycling bin containing paper and plastic suitable for recycling and clean tins. Contractors do this work, so it continues, even on public holidays. Yesterday, however, the recycling bin collection was really late – well after 4 pm; and Waste Management didn’t turn up at all to empty the bins lining our street. There was no message from the Wellington City Council or from Waste Management to indicate any changes to normal arrangement. Waste Management where are you? Thankfully it’s not very windy, or they’d be blown all over the place.

I walked to the local supermarket at midday, and it was quite busy there, but there are some good specials. You have to be careful, though: I bought croissants for lunch, eventually finding a pack dated 7 June well behind lots dated 5 June and some dated 6 June (which was yesterday).  I was going to buy my favourite pies, which were on special, but I couldn’t find a Best Before date anywhere on any of them, and I couldn’t find anyone to ask, either. I had to wait to be served, it was quite busy there.

It’s quite mild today. I must say it’s frustrating to be too hot, when you’ve rugged up to keep warm in the cold.  Those thick winter jerseys may languish again.  There’s something quite nice about wearing warm clothes, scarves and gloves, as long as it’s not wet and not too windy.

The Covid 19 report is out (there wasn’t one yesterday). There are 10,191 new community cases, and there’ve been 14 deaths. There are 372 people in hospital, including 9 in Intensive care.

Of the people whose deaths were reported today one was from Northland, two were from the Auckland region, one was from Waikato, one was from Taranaki, five were from Canterbury and four were from the Southern region. Two people were in their 50s, one was in their 60s, four were in their 70s, five were in their 80s and two were aged over 90. Of these people, eight were men and six were women.

With winter here, a surge in Omicron cases is expected and already close to 100 Kiwis are dying with the virus each week. Auckland still dominates New Zealand’s Covid cases, with 2997 new infections over the past two days.

Of those in hospital, four are in Northland, 47 are at Waitemata, 39 are at Counties Manukau, 58 are at Auckland, 27 are at Waikato, 17 are at Bay of Plenty, five are at Lakes, one is at Tairāwhiti, ten are at Hawke’s Bay, nine are at Taranaki, one is at Whanganui, 13 are at MidCentral, 15 are at Hutt Valley, 21 are at Capital and Coast, seven are at Nelson Marlborough, 54 are at Canterbury, eight at South Canterbury, three at West Coast and 32 at Southern. The average age of people in hospital is 62 (largely unchanged).

It’s reported that there were new community cases reported over the past two days in: Northland (248), Auckland (2,997), Waikato (747), Bay of Plenty (343), Lakes (152), Hawke’s Bay (266), MidCentral (367), Whanganui (147), Taranaki (257), Tairāwhiti (51), Wairarapa (80), Capital and Coast (990), Hutt Valley (399), Nelson Marlborough (401), Canterbury (1,704), South Canterbury (144), Southern (770), West Coast (126), Unknown (2)  Officials also reported an additional 111 imported (border) cases.  That’s very high for Wellington (990), although it is for two days.  It seems that these numbers aren’t going down nearly fast enough.

On Friday, it was announced cases of the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants have been detected in the community with no clear link to the border, as well as cases of BA.2.12.1.

Everyone, it seems, is down on President Biden – sleepy Joe meets with Prime Minister Ardern; Biden is tentative in Asia; Biden shouldn’t go to Saudi Arabia; and he should/shouldn’t cancel crippling student debt. He made an impassioned speech about guns in the US. He was accused by Mehdi Hasan of not going far enough, while the editor of some right-wing publication called his speech worthy of impeachment.  Charlie Sykes wants a return to what he calls normalcy, but that ain’t going to happen: you can’t turn the clock back. Things cannot be “normal” (whatever that means) after Trump’s presidency, and the January 6 riot; mind you, they were pretty awful before that, with Obama’s presidency being one bright spot in years of tragedy.  The seeming miracle of having a black president only aroused more hatred and resentment, and more buying of guns.  The British just celebrated HM the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, after 70 years on the British throne;  in America, after Buffalo, and after Uvalde, and after Tulsa, there has been yet more gun violence.  People are not safe at a concert, at a picture theatre, at church, in hospital, in a store, being a politician, or having their children in school.  Joe Scarborough remarked how it’s strange how the Pro-Life party doesn’t care about you once you can draw breath.  In San Francisco the Catholic Cardinal has denied Nancy Pelosi mass.  They are so fortunate to have a great president in Joe Biden. I wish they’d appreciate him more.  To my mind, the US is added to Ukraine and Taiwan as the three most dangerous places in the world.  I’m sure there are others, but those three will probably do for now.

I have to say something about British politics. After the Jubilee celebrations going very well, and being a great success, Boris Johnson has survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament – and it seems there’s no ready successor; and the Harkles did not necessarily bring their children to England. (Where’s Archie, by the way?)There’s reportedly been no sighting of them.  But the odious couple did turn up to the Service of Thanksgiving, and kept a low profile (for which much thanks will be given, I’m sure).  There are newspaper articles about how far they’ve fallen, being no longer “working royals” and relegated to less important seats, but they did major trashing of the Royal Family on the Oprah interview and in other moves, and after that they’d hardly be welcomed back into the fold, especially as so many people bent over backwards to welcome Meghan and give the couple a very expensive wedding. If I were Archie or Lilibet, I’d be furious at not meeting the Queen; we’ve only seen one photo of the daughter, and couldn’t see her face properly, so we’ve no idea what she looks like. This morning’s Dompost had a cartoon about Paddington Bear having tea with the Queen, and Harry wishing he’d been treated to the same encounter.

Actually, I’m wrong. I just checked the stuff website, and there is a photo of Lilibet, to celebrate her first birthday. While all babies are lovely, I don’t find this one particularly appealing.  Her hair is untidy, and she’s not nearly as beautiful as Princess Charlotte.  And what about Thomas Markle?  There seems to be no consideration of him, or of his condition.  Evidently Harry has never met him.  I think that Archie and Lilibet will have a lot of questions for their parents, like, how come we didn’t see our grandparents, or our cousins? And face-painting for a 1^st birthday? A tad inappropriate, I think. Quite scary, even. Some children might find it quite frightening.

I am reading Stephen Fry’s book Troy.  Mercifully, it has short chapters. I thought I knew quite a bit about Greek myth; evidently not!  I have been reading for ages, and I’ve just got up to the birth of Helen.  Boy, it’s already such a complicated story. I did an Honours paper on Troy and the Trojan War; I hope that it will become more relevant as I go on.

It’s now Thursday June 9^th.

Yesterday I got up early to go to hymn singing. It was wonderful, as always. Afterwards, finding I’d missed the bus I had hoped to catch, I had morning tea -a long black coffee and a cheese scone. I caught two buses home, and in the afternoon I went with a friend to see Downton Abbey – A New Era. There was hardly anyone there.  I quite enjoyed the film, although I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who everyone was. I then marvelled at how much it must have cost to make this movie. Afterwards, we went to Moore Wilsons (they had no raspberries or feijoas there, sadly); and then walked to Courtenay Place to catch a bus home. I was pretty tired afterwards!

That night it was quite wild: there was heavy rain, and a very dramatic thunderstorm early in the morning. I listened to lots of podcasts:  The Rest is Politics, We Have ways of making you talk, Hacks on Tap, British Scandal, and the Bulwark podcast.  Dear me!  The most interesting was the Skullduggery podcast, with Norm Eisen on.

This morning I went to singing. It was a dreadful way, weather-wise, but there were 17 of us there.  Towards the end of the session there was severe thunder and lightning, and the lights went off at one point! Very exciting. It was quite mild this morning, despite the wild weather, but now (late afternoon), it’s quite cold. The days are very short now. It gets quite dark around 4 pm.

Today’s Covid 19 report isn’t great. There are 7,927 new community cases, and there have been 27 new deaths. There are 373 people in hospital, and 12 in Intensive Care.

On the deaths reported today, nine were from the Auckland region, three were from Waikato, one was from Lakes DHB area, one from Taranaki, one from MidCentral, five from the Wellington region, one from Nelson-Marlborough, four from Canterbury and two from the Southern region. One person was in their 40s, two in their 60s, seven in 70s, nine in their 80s and eight were aged over 90. That’s 5 deaths on the Wellington regions.

Today’s new community cases were in Northland (165), Auckland (2,239), Waikato (558), Bay of Plenty (261), Lakes (96), Hawke’s Bay (273), MidCentral (319), Whanganui (125), Taranaki (223), Tairāwhiti (45), Wairarapa (58), Capital and Coast (877), Hutt Valley (372), Nelson Marlborough (337), Canterbury (1,177), South Canterbury (132), Southern (594), West Coast (73) and the location of three was unknown.

That brings the seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today to 6059 – last Thursday it was 6937. There were also 96 new cases reported at the border today.

Yesterday, the ministry announced 7050 new community cases and 24 deaths of people with Covid-19. There were 361 hospitalisations.

I find those numbers quite shocking. While they’re not as bad as when omicron peaked here, they stubbornly refuse to decline as fast as I would like them to.

I’m going to leave it there. The war in Ukraine grinds on.  The Covid 19 figures here stubbornly refuse to go down by much. We all know people who’ve had Covid 19, as it gets ever closer to us.  Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi.

It’s now Sunday May 29^th, 2022.  Kia ora!

This morning it wasn’t quite as cold as yesterday, but the sun emerged and it’s a fine, sunny day.

This morning I zoomed into a church service, being unwilling to expose myself to too many people. Again, there was a violin performance (by a visitor) that I found excruciating. For any of my children, their teacher would have said it wasn’t ready yet!  I suspect many of my fellow church goers have children, now grown up, that are wonderful musicians.  I almost think it’s disrespectful to play badly. There, I’ve said my piece.

On Monday afternoon two of my cousins came to visit, and brought some quince paste. Yum!

It’s now Tuesday May 31^st.

It’s not so cold today, but it rains off and on.  Prime Minister Ardern’s delegation to the US has a third person sick with Covid 19, and her Air Force plane has broken down. Evidently Gavin Newsom, Democratic Governor of California, has Covid 19.  That’s a shame, but what an honour to have our Jacinda deliver the commencement address at Harvard, be awarded an honorary degree, appear on Stephen Colbert’s late show (in three blocks!), and have a meeting with President Biden (still to come); and wear the korowai.

I haven’t written about Covid 19 here in New Zealand for a few days. Today there are officially 8,436 new community cases, and there have been 18 deaths. I think the numbers were fewer over the past two days. There are 389 people in hospital, and 9 of them are in Intensive Care.

It’s reported that three of those who died were from Northland, two were from the Auckland region, one was from Waikato, one was from Taranaki, two were from Midcentral, two were from Nelson Marlborough, three were from Canterbury, two were from West Coast and two were from the Southern region. One was aged in their 50s, two were in their 60s, one in their 70s, eight were in their 80s, and six were over 90. Ten were men and eight were women.

It’s reported that the new community cases are located as follows: Northland (247), Auckland (2746), Waikato (679), Bay of Plenty (240), Lakes (115), Hawke’s Bay (231), MidCentral (274), Whanganui (84), Taranaki (243), Tairāwhiti (58), Wairarapa (63), Capital and Coast (682), Hutt Valley (242), Nelson Marlborough (367), Canterbury (1285), South Canterbury (176), Southern (597), West Coast (105), and two in an unknown location. Officials also reported an additional 79 imported (border) cases.

To me, those numbers are still far too high. We are still looking forward to a lessening of this disease’s bite, and the fear it causes.  I had a report from Hōhepa Hawkes Bay recently, and this was far more upbeat than previous ones. There are two residents with Covid 19; one of them is being cared for at home.  There are still daily cancellations of Metlink public transport services: they’re using Covid 19 sickness as the reason.

I’m rereading more of my Stalingrad book and understanding it better this time around.  While there is great fear of the fascist (German) troops advancing ever further east, there is an awareness that the tide has turned; that the Germans are ever outstripping their supply lines; that the Russians are fighting back rather well; and of course the individual stories are fascinating. Of course, there is still great bloodshed to come, as we get ever nearer to Stalingrad.

Meanwhile, in the real-life war in Ukraine, it’s reported that Russian forces are pounding cities in Eastern Ukraine, so much so, that some commentators are saying Putin’s doing rather well. Europe has agreed on a Russian oil embargo (excluding Hungary and Slovakia); Russia is to stop supplying the Netherlands, who refuse to pay in roubles.

It’s now Wednesday June 1^st.

It is very stormy here, although we’re a bit more sheltered where I live. I went to hymn singing this morning:  we sang We sing the praise of Him who died and The King of Love my Shepherd is, amongst others. We really value this opportunity.  There was some flooding on the way there; I was due to go to a friend’s house for lunch, but she’s postponed, and I can see why –  it’s pretty wild weather, with sunshine sometimes, heavy rain storms, with horizontal rain, and some thunder.

The world is gradually coming back online after the US Memorial Weekend holiday. The Bulwark podcast was on again, with Charlie Sykes speaking to Ryan Busse, the author of a new book called Gunfight. He worked in the gun industry, and clearly knows what he’s talking about. I have heard him on other podcasts, notably the Skullduggery podcast. I also listened to the American Scandal podcast, talking about the Dupont chemical industry and its “forever” chemicals and consequent lawsuit; this story was also told very effectively in the film Dark Waters (2019).

Today’s Covid 19 report is out: there are 8,182 new community cases, and there have been 13 more deaths. There are 373 people in hospital, and 8 of them are in Intensive Care. It’s reported that Hawkes Bay has 208 new cases, and has had one death. There is concern that Covid 19 re-infection is not being recorded, and that you can get Covid 19 again within 8 weeks, not 3 months, as was formerly thought.  Once again, at 3 pm it’s not easy to find Covid 19 details online. It’s reported that teachers are more susceptible to (re)infection.

Of the people whose deaths reported on Wednesday, four were from the Auckland region, two were from Canterbury, and one each from Bay of Plenty, Tairāwhiti, Hawke’s Bay, Hutt Valley, Capital and Coast, Nelson Marlborough, and Southern. One person was in their 40s, two were in their 70s, five were in their 80s, and five were aged over 90. Of these people, six were female and seven were male. 

The locations of the new community cases (PCR & RAT) are reported as follows: Northland (223), Auckland (2,534), Waikato (623), Bay of Plenty (245), Lakes (99), Hawke’s Bay (208), MidCentral (335), Whanganui (105), Taranaki (234), Tairāwhiti (45), Wairarapa (60), Capital and Coast (716), Hutt Valley (286), Nelson Marlborough (334), Canterbury (1,322), South Canterbury (146), Southern (592), West Coast (69), Unknown (6).  That’s still alarmingly high for Wellington. There are 89 new imported cases.

Cases in hospital are reported as follows: Northland: 11; Waitemata: 36; Counties Manukau: 34; Auckland: 66; Waikato: 22; Bay of Plenty: 7; Lakes: 4; Tairāwhiti: 6; Hawke’s Bay: 14; Taranaki: 11; Whanganui: 2; MidCentral: 14; Wairarapa: 1; Hutt Valley: 4; Capital and Coast: 37; Nelson Marlborough: 9; Canterbury: 52; South Canterbury: 13; West Coast: 1; Southern: 29. 

It’s reported that in Wellington, a wave of Covid 19 has hit Parliament, with 15 people isolating.  Did we let down our guard too soon? Probably.

It’s now Friday June 3^rd.

Yesterday I went to singing. The weather was still pretty wild; there were only 16 of us there.  Afterwards JD gave me a lift home.

Today there are lots of videos of the Trooping of the Colour and the RAF fly past in the shape of 70 to celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.  There was very affecting film of her lighting a beacon.  I watched a film last night, and thought some of the marching was a tad untidy; perhaps they were practicing. There were a handful of protesters, dragged away and dealt with; it didn’t rain; Her Majesty lookedwonderful, and the spectacle is pretty amazing.  There’s been a lot of fun in the dressing up department.  One can’t help feeling a bit sorry for Prince Charles, who, at 73, is still waiting to be king.  I think many people would prefer the throne to go to Prince William and the lovely Kate when the queen dies, as she must, some day.  One thing’s for sure, there won’t be another platinum jubilee for quite some time; as Tina Brown says, there probably won’t be another jubilee in ten years’ time. The frail monarch has already pulled out of attending the service of thanksgiving to be held at ST Paul’s Cathedral (where Charles and Diana were married). The Sussexes are in London, but so far, thankfully, little has been seen of them. The odious Prince Andrew has been diagnosed with Covid 19, and so, thankfully, is absent.

It’s now Saturday June 4^th.

Today we had lunch at the lovely Gipps St Deli, where I had the beautiful quiche again, with salad. It did not disappoint.  They’ll be closed on Monday; there weren’t many people there today, and we enjoyed sitting almost in the sun. There was a cold and overcast start to the day, but then it warmed up quite a bit and was sunny. Nevertheless, I was glad to wear a warm jersey and a woollen jacket. 

After lunch we went to New World in Thorndon, where it wasn’t too busy.  I bought raspberries, coffee beans, tomatoes, bananas, bread, and salads.

During the day I’ve been watching more videos about the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in the UK.  I was a little surprised in Karori to see no sign of British royalty. I have to admit I’m quite entranced by all the ceremony, which the British do so well; mind you, it must be trying!  Shaking hands with all those people must be challenging at times. I watched film of members of the Royal Family going into, and out of, St Paul’s Cathedral, for the service of thanksgiving. I would like to watch the service itself, but so far it has been denied. Then there was more film of members of the RF going in and out of the Guildhall for a special lunch. Woe betide eating or drinking too much; and, of course, I have to wonder about comfort stops, since that has become a preoccupation of mine as I’ve grown older.  All this pageantry must be great practice for HM’s funeral, and for Prince Charles’ coronation; and perhaps Prince William’s, not too long afterwards; after all, Prince Charles is already 73 years old.

The pageantry is a great distraction, and a wonderful reminder of how well the Brits do this stuff. Compare the US motorcades – where’s the romance in that? It’s fun to watch the ceremonies, and, not least of all, to see so many flying saucer hats worn at odd angles; the way they’re worn looks so uncomfortable, as though a breath of Wellington wind would blow them right away.

It’s now Sunday June 5^th.

It’s very cold and frosty this morning, and it doesn’t really warm up during the day. I zoom into the church service, thinking there would be visitors there today – which there aren’t.  The minister has a new/old nickname for us: the Frozen Chosen. It sounds very British, although it may be American (he’s just been there, goodness knows why). In the US, they’re obsessed with guns and their history of slavery, but most people still believe in God. There are multiple contradictions there. There’s trouble with the sound again, but eventually it comes right, although it cuts off during the organist’s final piece. JD and I have to go out; we have a very nice lunch at the café at the top of the Cable Car.  I must say they do good food there. 

There are more videos of British Royal Jubilee celebrations – not so formal, now.  There are wonderful addresses by Prince Charles and by Prince William. I have never heard Charles speak so well –  he sounded quite human, even calling his mother Her Majesty, and then Mummy. I found both speeches very moving.

Today’s Covid 19 report is down to 4,400 new community cases and 8 deaths,, with 371 people in hospital and 6 in Intensive Care. There were 50 new cases identified at the border. 11 deaths and 6,291 new community cases were reported yesterday. We’ve become so blasé about these daily reports that it’s hard to find them, soon after they’ve been delivered;  I still find it creepy if I’m in a social situation where someone’s not wearing a mask. There are very few QR codes being displayed at present. There’ll be no report tomorrow (it being a public holiday); Monday’s figures will be included in Tuesday’s report.

In the Ukraine, received wisdom is that Putin’s Russian forces are doing rather well, as they seek to dominate Eastern Ukraine. However it’s reported that Ukrainian forces have taken back parts of Sievierodonetsk, a key Donbas city that had been captured by the Russians.  It’s feared that the West will grow weary of this war; but the fighting spirit of the Ukrainians is truly remarkable. 

That’s it for now. We will go and see my daughter again later this month, DV. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi.