It’s now Saturday March 26^th. Kia ora!

This morning I listen to various podcasts about Russian history and US politics. I learn that in New Zealand Canterbury is under severe pressure from Covid 19. The 1 pm report is the worst for deaths so far – there have been 20 in the past 24 hours, including that of someone in their 40’s. The total of new cases is 14,175, and there are 841 people in hospital, with 27 of them in Intensive Care.

Of those who died, one was in their 40s, one in their 50s, three in their 60s, five in their 70s, six people in their 80s, and three in their 90s. Most of the deaths were from Auckland – with six deaths. Five were from Waikato and two were from Mid Central, while one death each was recorded in Northland, Bay of Plenty, Tairāwhiti, Hawke’s Bay, Wellington and Nelson Marlborough. We’re not given details of the locations of the new cases.

It’s reported that today is the first day of the relaxed rules, including no gathering limits for outdoor activities and events, as well as an increased 200-person limit for indoor gatherings. There is also no longer any requirement to scan in or for a business to display a QR code poster. Some of us felt a degree of protection given by these rules.

Yesterday was Sunday March 27^th, a day of rest.

I woke up early and then went back to sleep, not waking until 9:10 am. That’s late for me! Although I was very glad of the extra sleep, I felt quite discombobulated. At 10 am I zoomed into St Anne’s service. It was lovely, and I feel I’m getting to know some of the lovely people there. 

I made some notes, but other than that, I didn’t blog. China Covid 19 cases in Shanghai. UK 1 m cases today. Kherson taken back. Russian troops from Georgia.

On Sunday there were only 10,239 new case reported, and 4 deaths.

In the early evening I learnt that my daughter’s second RAT test was negative, as were the RAT tests for all the residents, so that’s a big relief.

Monday’s Covid 19 figures weren’t so bad: there were officially 12,882 new community cases of Covid-19, 861 hospitalisations and 11 deaths reported.

It’s now Tuesday March 29^th.

I’ve been distracted (by family!)  Today’s Covid 19 is quite bad, after not so bad reports for the last two days – so much so that some organisations are starting up their activities again. Today there are officially 17,148 new cases, and there have been 34 deaths (over the past 10 days). There is now a total of 303 deaths. There are 842 people in hospital, and 26 of them are in Intensive Care. That figure of 34 deaths seems much higher than we’ve been used to. 24 of these people were over 70. It seems that Christchurch is taking over from Auckland as the Covid 19 capital of New Zealand.  I get a newsletter from Radio New Zealand each day, but sometimes Covid 19 is not even mentioned. Schools are still being badly affected by Covid 19.

In Victoria, it’s reported that Daniel Andrews, the Premier, has tested positive for Covid 19.

This morning I learn from the UK’s Guardian that Roman Abramovich, one of the negotiators, thinks he and a Ukrainian counterpart have been poisoned (not in Russia). This story is very confusing – I read the reporting several times, and I’m still confused. Another new website (the NZ Herald) says that Abramovich jetted between Moscow, Istanbul and Kyiv. Well, I doubt if you can fly to Kyiv, even in a private jet, at present; and why would Istanbul (Turkey) be involved? There are more questions than answers here.

It’s now Wednesday March 30^th.

This  morning I went to hymn singing. It was lovely, as always. We sang, amongst other things, O for a closer walk with God, and Love Unknown.  I went to the supermarket afterwards, but there are still several things not available there, so it was a bit frustrating.  It was very foggy in Northern Wellington this morning.

It’s reported that the Prime Minister of Israel, Naftali Bennet, has Covid 19. I listened to a report from Dr John Campbell, where he is alarmed at the increase of Covid 19 cases in the British Isles: in England, 1/16 people is positive; in Scotland, it’s 1/11.  I watched various recordings of Prince Philip’s Memorial Service at Westminster Abbey, and I saw no masks worn there, although Dr Campbell saw one. The odious Prince Andrew escorted the Queen into the church, although he did not sit beside her. Hey, whatever one may think, Prince Philip was his father too.  The person who wasn’t there was Prince Harry (and Prince Philip walked beside him and his brother Prince William at princess Diana’s funeral). The attendance which did shock me was that of the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. He showed up as shambolic as ever. He hadn’t even bothered to comb his hair. And what was he doing last year, when Prince Philip died, and only 30 people could attend his funeral? Oh, he was having a party at Downing St. I’m sure he doesn’t recall it – oh wasn’t there an apology to Her Majesty?  A very poor show, if you ask me.

In Shanghai, a city of 26 million people, there are partial lockdowns and the authorities plan to test the entire city for Covid 19. It was reported on Tuesday that there were more than 2,600 new infections, after just a handful in early March. On the strength of this lockdown, the price of oil fell.

In New Zealand, today, there are 15,918 new cases of Covid 19, and a further 14 deaths. There are 817 people in hospital, and 24 in Intensive Care.  The numbers of new cases were much reduced at the weekend, prompting some organisations to restart their (paused) activities again; but the number of deaths is still alarming, as is the numbers not at school at present. JD and I both got texts inviting us to make appointments to have our free flu vaccinations; I’m wondering where they will hold them, this year. Perhaps in the Johnsonville Mall? Of the deaths, four were from the Auckland region; four from Waikato; one from Lakes, one from Wellington, one from Nelson Marlborough, one from Canterbury, one from South Canterbury and one from Southern. Five people were in their 70s, six in their 80s and three were in their 90s. One was female and 13 were male.

There were new community cases in: Northland (634), Auckland (2691), Waikato (1508), Bay of Plenty (987), Lakes (438), Hawke’s Bay (892), MidCentral (851), Whanganui (399), Taranaki (649), Tairāwhiti (183), Wairarapa (152), Capital & Coast (1054), Hutt Valley (599), Nelson Marlborough (605), Canterbury (2535), South Canterbury (293), Southern (1386), West Coast (55); and seven in unknown locations.

After all the fuss, the new Transmission Gully route is now officially open. A Māori blessing has been performed, and I assume we’re good to go, until the complaints start coming through.  I must admit I find some of the blessings of inanimate objects a little strange (and perhaps unnecessary, to me, anyway).

I’ve been insisting on watching The Gilded Age on Tuesday nights, but there wasn’t a new episode last night – there are just 9 episodes in Series One; apparently. I should have realised. Instead, we watched the movie 9 Minutes to Midnight, a preposterous story but evidently based on true events. Really, Dame Judi Dench, why, one wonders, do you lower yourself to do this kind of thing?  On Sunday evening we watched The Straight Story on Māori television, directed by David Lynch.  I had not seen it when it was on release.  What a strange film! Again, it was based on true events, just going to prove that reality really can be stranger than fiction.  The colours were odd, in a Stanley Kubrick kind of way; what upset me the most was the dreadful poverty, especially of Alvin’s brother Lyle. 

I have finished reading The Suitcase again. It’s been nice to borrow the book from the library; I read three excerpts in the LRB, but it’s much nicer (and less confusing) to read the actual book.  What a story it is!  It reminds me how chaotic some European lives were during the two World Wars and afterwards.

This brings me back to the dreadfully sad situation in Ukraine, where, although the Russian forces are demonstrably failing against the Ukrainians, Putin has “won”, in that he holds dreadful weapons – nuclear, chemical, thermobaric – and threatens to use them.  I sincerely doubt that he’s going to rebuild the homes and facilities that he’s destroyed.  So – even if he doesn’t get everything he wants, he’ll no doubt get some of it, and will at some stage declare victory and move on.

There seems to be no doubt that his armed forces were seriously unprepared for what has eventuated: were his people  telling him lies, because that’s what he wanted to hear? He’s lost several generals (6?) and senior commanders; you have to wonder what they were doing, being in harm’s way.  Much of the equipment has been damaged by Ukrainians, and it seems much of it wasn’t in good shape to start with. Evidently there’ve been problems with supplies, food and fuel, and the Russians aren’t even repatriating their dead servicemen, unless they’re generals, of course.  Other nations around Ukraine are worried –  who’ll be next?  And there’s a huge refugee problem.  So how do you stop this machine?  President Zelensky still makes daily broadcasts begging the West to do more to help, but it seems, while suffering is dreadful, the Ukrainians are doing all right against the Russian bear.  It seems the Russians are putting out peace feelers –  and the west is duly sceptical, as well they might be. Last night it was reported that Putin was sending 1,000 mercenaries to Ukraine.

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

It’s now Thursday March 24^th, 2022. Kia ora!

This morning I listened to a NY Times podcast (The Daily) which argued that while sanctions against Russian oligarchs have not really hurt them in the past, this time is different. I must listen to it again; sometimes I’m half-listening when I really want to get back to sleep: I tend to miss the really interesting bit, and have to re-hear the whole thing.  I look up ABC news, and there is an alarming headline, along the lines of Russia regarding peace-keeping forces in Ukraine as an attack by NATO?  It sounded ominous, whatever it was. It’s gone now, so I may have mis-interpreted it. A senior Kremlin official, Anatoly Chubais, has resigned over the invasion of Ukraine. Putin is now insisting on what he terms as “unfriendly countries” paying for gas in roubles. What does this mean? I’ll have to ask an economist.  He says they have to “buy” roubles to make payment.  That’ll be better for Russia.

I listened to the Bulwark podcast this morning, in which Charlie Sykes was taking to David Corn, bureau chief of “Mother Jones”, and co-author with Michael Isikoff of the book “Russian Roulette”. This book, which I have read, was published during Robert Mueller’s time as Special Counsel, and explores some of Trump’s links to Russia. He’s just written an article called “How Trump and his Crew Boost Putin’s Disinformation”. Here’s a link:

How Trump and His Crew Boost Putin’s Disinformation

He also broke the story about Russian television requesting replaying of Tucker Carlson’s praise for Putin on Fox News.

I glance at this morning’s newspaper. Others, like me, are concerned about the mandates being lifted. But I feel that I’m living in an alternate universe. Dr Bloomfield claims there is no mental health crisis. 

This morning I went to Tai Chi out at Mana. It was raining, but warm, and there was a great turn out. It was the penultimate class of Term One!  It was lovely, as always. I’m always glad that I’ve made the effort to go. Even the Dr Lam form makes sense to me now.  I see a friend there, who has a daughter at Hōhepa in Otaihanga. Some of the staff there have been affected by Covid 19, and she’s frustrated that family members aren’t allowed to visit at present. Afterwards I wait outside for JD to pick me up. It’s only drizzling now, but the outside seats are too wet to sit on, so instead I lean against a railing while checking my phone for news.

Everyone here is affected by Covid 19.  The 1 pm report is – well- slightly better than yesterday’s; there are officially only 18,423 new cases,  and there have been a further 11 deaths. There are 913 people in hospital, and 28 are in Intensive Care. Of the deaths, two were in their 50s, one person was in their 70s, four people were in their 80s, and four people were in their 90s. Six were men and five were women. Two were from the Auckland region, two from Bay of Plenty, six from Waikato, and one from the Wellington region.

The new community cases were in Northland (674), Auckland (3629), Waikato (1643), Bay of Plenty (987), Lakes (483), Hawke’s Bay (1055), MidCentral (876), Whanganui (313), Taranaki (655), Tairāwhiti (326), Wairarapa (249), Capital & Coast (1200), Hutt Valley (627), Nelson Marlborough (709), Canterbury (3150), South Canterbury (319), Southern (1459), West Coast (57); and 12 in unknown locations. Wellington and Hawkes Bay continue to be very hard hit.

In Hawkes Bay, health services are under extreme pressure, with 1,000 new cases each day, and presently 40 in Hawkes Bay Hospital, with 4 in Intensive Care.  This is “worst case scenario” stuff, with staff being redeployed as needed to cover for others. Taranaki has its first Covid death as cases pass 600 per day. Access were supposed to provide some home help tomorrow morning, but they’ve cancelled, so I’ll go shopping instead.

It’s reported that Tump has rescinded his endorsement of GOP candidate Mo Brooks, saying that he was “too woke”; Evidently Mo Brooks was polling poorly, so Trump dropped him. Brooks got his own back by saying that Trump asked him to rescind the November 2020 election, in September 2021!  I guess that explains the pillow guy’s seemingly absurd claims that Trump would return to the White House.  That has caused some excitement in US politics – Trump had few more ardent supporters than Mo Brooks, who addressed the crowd at the Stop the Steal rally on January 6, turning up in battle gear, and vowing they were going to “kick ass”.  That’s quite a turnaround. His main sin, other than being a loser, was to say it was time to move on from the 2020 Presidential Election.

This morning I listened to some very depressing podcasts, about Putin/Xi alliance, and the US’s belief that Ukraine will lose, they don’t want to start a nuclear war, and a thesis that they could have supplied so much more useful equipment.  It reminds me of so many American tragedies such as mass shootings, where they weep and grieve – they’re such kind people on the whole – but absolutely won’t back any gun control legislation; in fact, they are freeing it up. I know there are loud voices against such moves, but they’re defeated in most places. In the US, they’re free to live with ever-present death, and the so-called “pro life” people are not prepared in any way to improve the quality of the lives they’re determined to “save” by denying abortion rights. This makes me very sad.

Another beef: Israel has an Iron dome, to protect it from Palestinian attacks. Why doesn’t Ukraine have an Iron Dome?  Given that President Zelensky is Jewish, you’d think Israel would be out to help.  But they don’t want to annoy Russia; there are still many Russian Jews, so they’re reluctant to help, fearing worse reprisals.  They’re conflicted, it seems. So are  India and Pakistan, and so is Senator Bernie Sanders.         

It seems that, unlike previously, the current sanctions have more teeth and thus more effect.  Countries are coming up with creative ways to deal with Russian oligarch’s super yachts. But I guess it often becomes an economic issue for those who would service these yachts.  The Russian economy is feeling the pinch (ha! Ha!) since there’s a shortage of sugar.  14,000 Russians are in prison for protesting against the invasion. There’s a story in the New Yorker magazine about many Russians (intellectuals) who left Russia in disgust, only to be greeted with disdain because they’re Russian! 

Russian ship was destroyed by the Ukrainians at Berdyansk! It made quite a spectacle.

This morning we went shopping at New World in Thorndon. It was quite busy there. We bought salad, raspberries, coffee beans, potato gratin, washing powder, tonic water, and bread.  On the way home I picked up a book I’d had on reserve at the library for ages: The Suitcase, by Frances Sarah Stoners. It looks new!  I am looking forward to reading it, after 3 excerpts were published in the LRB. It’s taken a long time for Wellington City Library to buy a copy.

The 1 pm report is better and worse: there are 15,871 new cases reported, but there have been 13 further deaths, bringing the official death total to 234. One of today’s deaths was a person in their 30’s. It’s reported that the new cases are in Auckland (2982), Northland (558), Waikato (1,432), Bay of Plenty (1,024), Lakes (420), Hawke’s Bay (873), MidCentral (814), Whanganui (330), Taranaki (591), Tairāwhiti (224), Wairarapa (251), Capital and Coast (1,063), Hutt Valley (567), Nelson Marlborough (519), Canterbury (2,659), South Canterbury (251), Southern (1245), West Coast (59), and 9 cases where the location is unknown. There are 899 people in hospital, and 27 are in Intensive Care. So the numbers of new cases reported and hospitalisations are slowly reducing, but there is still an alarming number of deaths.

This afternoon new.com.au reports that Russia says that if NATO peace-keeping forces enter Ukraine, that would mean nuclear war.  This echoes a headline in ABC news yesterday.

It has become apparent that Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas, had a text message exchange (29 messages) with Trump’s then chief of staff, Mark Meadows, in which she urged him to overthrow the presidential election, to use one of Trump’s lawyers, Sidney Powell (whose now been disciplined herself), sent a Q-Anon video, said the Biden crime family should be sent to Gitmo, and invoked the name of the Lord (King of Kings) in seeing that this fine work should continue.  She not only had this text message exchange, but also attended the January 6 Stop the Steal Rally. This news has many Americans spluttering. Clarence Thomas did not recuse himself from the appeal to the Supreme Court about the White House records being withheld from the January 6 Select Committee – in fact he was the only dissenter, all his colleagues ruling that such documents should be released.  You would think that of all people, a Supreme Court Justice would understand the legal ramifications of his situation, and when it would be appropriate to recuse himself. People were already shocked at how US GOP Senators had treated KBW’s Senate hearing, by asking her all kinds of ridiculous questions; and, by the way, DJT is suing Hillary Clinton et al for claims that they rigged the 2016 Presidential Election (Hillary should be very afraid), but news of Ginni’s text messages has really knocked all that out of the water. US politics is indeed very messy; let’s get back to more normal partisan bickering (when was that, by the way?)

 In Ukraine, the Russians have bombed a theatre in Mariupol where people were sheltering, and there have been 300 casualties. Apparently Mariupol was originally settled by Greek people! Putin claims that Russia is a victim of “cancel culture”. It’s reported that many Russians are leaving Russia, taking the train from St Petersburg to Helsinki. It’s reported that a Russian soldier was overheard boasting to a mate that his tank had driven over his commander (presumably on a stolen call phone).  It seems, despite all the bombing, that Ukrainian morale is still high (except in Mariupol) and that of Russian troops is severely lacking. I listen again to a podcast about the Barbarossa invasion of Russia by the Germans in June 1941, and all the problems with that, including a lack of morale on the part of the German invaders as they grew colder, realised they were under-supplied, and did not replicate the initial successes of Blitzkreig. It seems that Putin’s forces are now replicating te difficulties faced by German troops when they invaded Russia in 1941. For all the terrible suffering of the Russian people, the Germans did not prevail.

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

It’s now Tuesday March 22^nd, 2022. Kia ora.

It’s now early afternoon on Tuesday. The 1 pm Covid 19 report is out, and it’s pretty dire. There are almost 21,000 (20,907) new community cases reported, (that would be an increase over the last few days), and there have been 15 further deaths, 8 men and 7 women. There are 1,016 people in hospital, and 25 of these are in Intensive Care. It’s reported that of the 15 people who died with Covid, nine were from Auckland, three from Waikato, and three were from Wellington. One of these people was in their 50s, three in their 60s, six in their 70s, and five were in their 80s. That makes 199 deaths from Covid 19. It’s reported that today’s community cases are in Northland (802), Auckland (4291), Waikato (1882), Bay of Plenty (1218), Lakes (594), Hawke’s Bay (1243), MidCentral (954), Whanganui (399), Taranaki (636), Tairāwhiti (382), Wairarapa (323), Capital and Coast (1377), Hutt Valley (808), Nelson Marlborough (683), Canterbury (3,488), South Canterbury (318), Southern (1439) and the West Coast (50). The locations of 20 of today’s reported cases were unknown. There were 34 Covid-19 cases detected at the border.

The 1016 people hospitalised with Covid-19 are at Northland (28), North Shore (170), Middlemore (227), Auckland (210), Waikato (79), Bay of Plenty (39), Lakes (10), Tairāwhiti (4), Hawke’s Bay (43), Taranaki (11), Whanganui (7), MidCentral (19), Hutt Valley (23), Capital and Coast (45), Wairarapa (8), Nelson Marlborough (12), Canterbury (56), South Canterbury (2) and Southern (23) hospitals.

I watch a video of Mehdi Hasan talking about Putin’s philosopher, a man called Ilyin.  He advocated fascism, and was an admirer of the Nazis. I also watched another one in Democracy Now! about a professor seeing great danger in the Russia/ China alliance, finalised during the Beijing Winter Olympics. I am wary of this too, but JD laughs off my fears saying the Chinese economy is in a very bad way.

Last night I watched another episode of The Gilded Age on Neon. Those dresses and bustles must be so uncomfortable, and the hats are ridiculous, the wealth is obscene, but the atmospheres are dark, and it’s fascinating in a morbid kind of way. I did see one overweight woman in last night’s episode. How “fashion” must have been extremely uncomfortable, at times. All this time people in the South were owning slaves, and treating them very poorly, in most instances.

There was an alarming thunderstorm – first in the early evening, then there was a break, and then another storm. It was quite warm during the night.

It’s now Wednesday March 23^rd.

I got up early this morning and went to Hymn singing. It was great, as always: we sang “How Sweet the Name of Jesus sounds” (a hymn I remember asking for when we first sang again after coming out of the first lockdown in 2020), and “Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken”, another of my favourites. I found out that while we were told that someone had diagnosed positive with Covid 19 after the Sunday service on Sunday March 13, apparently another couple caught Covid 19 from that person. The organist and I agreed that we wouldn’t mind people knowing if we were positive, so that they could take precautions if they thought they may have been exposed. Privacy be damned!  I thought I was “safe” at church.

Afterwards I got a message from the house where my daughter lives saying that her RAT test was negative, as were those of all her house mates. What a relief that it, and a relief that she took the test!  Some refuse, as is their right. You can’t make them. They’re to be tested again on Sunday.

I didn’t sleep very well last night, and listened to lots of podcasts. The Americans are currently obsessed with Biden’s nomination of a black woman to be on the Supreme Court (excuse me, isn’t Clarence Thomas a black man? I suppose that’s different). And how come the Supreme Court makes such major decisions?  They’re also obsessed with the coming mid-term elections, how awful the candidates are, and who’s been endorsed by DJT. Well, their politics is just awful, in my view; meanwhile there’s a terrible war going on, quite needlessly, and they’re arguing about the use of nuclear weapons and how you can’t possible have a no fly zone to guarantee safe passage out of Ukraine.  Meanwhile, Russian troops are in Mariupol, and the Russians have kidnapped 2,389 children from Mariupol.   This is just so terrible! Think of the anguish, of the children, and of their parents!  This is just so cruel!  Those who have it in their power to stop this should do so.  There are voices saying the US is right not to have troops there – when have the US ever helped?  Perhaps in the Korean War in the 1950’s? Perhaps at the end of World War 1 and World War 2 when they finally got involved?  I think we need President Franklin Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease here.  The Americans are not, by and large, heartless people, but they can be very preoccupied with their own affairs. I fear that the US will become less and less relevant to being a force for good in the world. 

Here, things are strange, politically.  There’s Covid 19 (mostly omicron) at large, which makes us all slightly strange – wary, distrustful, and feeling a desperate need to throw caution to the winds and enjoy stuff we’d normally enjoy again.  I fear that I won’t travel again, seeing it’s always an ordeal, and potentially will be even more risky in future. Back in the pre-Covid times, I was scared of catching something, of falling over, vomiting, or otherwise disgracing myself; now we are all older, and more afraid, if that were possible.  Every time we’ve been overseas, something fairly major has happened: in the 1970’s it was the oil crisis and terrorism at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, where a jumbo jet was blown up; in 2008, we came back to a bird-flu scare, which we didn’t really know about till we were back in New Zealand; in 2016, there had been another spate of terrorist events before we went, and then there was the Brexit referendum; as we were due to leave, there was another incident with a car being used as a weapon in Nice, and a coup in Turkey, forcing airlines to change their flight paths. In 2017 we went to the US and there were three big things: Harvey Weinstein’s arrest, the Las Vegas shootings, and wildfires in California. In New Zealand, the outcome of the general election hung in the balance, and we heard just before we left the US that Winston Peters had decided to go with the Labour Party, and its leader, Jacinda Ardern, would be Prime Minister. It’s always a wild time when we travel, but at least now I don’t have dependent children, and it doesn’t really matter what happens to me.

Politics is so weird here, now.  There are virtually no rules, everyone knows people who are sick; many services and cafés can’t operate because so many of their staff are sick or isolating.  So the protections are mostly gone, and yet Prime Minister Ardern and the Labour Party are struggling in the polls against the likes of Christopher Luxon and David Seymour. Really?  I cannot see either of those guys as Prime Minister, and I seriously hope neither becomes PM. They’ve called for all restrictions to be relaxed, and they almost are; yet I feel a duty to support Labour, but it’s increasingly difficult, since I (and I suspect many others) really miss feeling protected. Now, it’s everybody for themselves.

Apparently vaccine passes and mandates will go from midnight Monday 4^th April.  I struggled to get vaccinated!  Oh, the irony!  What will we do without the kerfuffle of scanning and entering a secret code for my vaccine pass? On, and there’ll be no need to scan. Masks, anyone?

In Ukraine, it’s reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces are increasingly concentrating their air power and artillery on Ukraine’s cities and the civilians living there. Moscow’s invasion has driven nearly 3.5 million people from Ukraine, according to the United Nations, with another 6.5 million displaced inside the country. The UN has confirmed over 900 civilian deaths while saying the real toll is probably much higher. Estimates of Russian deaths vary, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands.

Ukrainian forces are fighting hard in Mariupol.  Hillary Clinton has tested positive for Covid 19. BIden’s wonderful press secretary, Jen Psaki, has tested positive (again!)

I am waiting for today’s Covid 19 report.  Today there are 20,087 new cases, and 11 further deaths. There are 960 people in hospital, and 33 of them are in Intensive Care. There’ve now been 210 deaths. It’s reported that of the 11 deaths reported on Wednesday, two people were from Northland, five from Auckland, one from Bay of Plenty and three from Wellington. Of the 11 deaths reported on Wednesday, two people were from Northland, five from Auckland, one from Bay of Plenty and three from Wellington. It’s reported that the new community cases were in Northland (727), Auckland (4122), Waikato (1726), Bay of Plenty (1290), Lakes (505), Hawke’s Bay (1064), MidCentral (919), Whanganui (388), Taranaki (679), Tairāwhiti (339), Wairarapa (276), Capital & Coast (1259), Hutt Valley (720), Nelson Marlborough (584), Canterbury (3468), South Canterbury (319), Southern (1631), West Coast (56); and 15 in unknown locations.

In Ukraine, the military conflict rages on.  There is news that a Ukrainian town has been retaken. There is fierce fighting, and continuous bombing, in Mariupol. People describe it as “hell on earth”, with no power and no water. The battle for Mariupol continues.  The 2,389 children who were deported to Russia were evidently from an orphanage. That’s still awful, but I guess fewer parents will be agonising over their future now.  There have been desperate scenes of wounded people, children as well as soldiers, and, of course, there’ve been many very sad casualties.  One thinks, in this situation, of the elderly, the inform, the sick, the so-called “feeble minded”, the people who cannot get away, for whom getting to some kind of shelter would be an ordeal in itself.

I listened to Tim Snyder, an historian from Yale University, talking to a BBC interviewer. What he said was depressing. It seemed to me that he argued that Putin’s world view is to distrust the west, always; and tell lies about Ukraine. Then he invades Ukraine. He doesn’t really need to “win” the war there – what is winning, anyway? He’s just going to wreck the place, and hopes to install a puppet regime obedient to Moscow and whatever it dictates. Snyder points out that Ukraine is bearing the brunt of Putin’s cruelty, on our behalf. He also pointed out that totalitarian governments are generally stable, without the inherent messiness of democracy, with its unpredictable (and sometimes hard fought over) elections, and the need for someone to concede defeat. In Putin’s view, that’s why they’re inherently better; no opposition is tolerated. To Putin, the West remains decadent and out to get him, for some reason. Does anyone really want Siberia? (My comment).

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

It’s now Monday March 21^st, 2022. Kia ora.

Well, there’re all kinds of things going on at present.  As usual, these days, my two main concerns are the conflict in Ukraine and the covid 19 war here, against the invisible enemy.

At present I’m reading a thrilling novel by Robert Harris called Archangel. It’s set in Russia after the break up of the USSR, when things are pretty crazy and chaotic, Boris Yeltsin is President (an embarrassment),, with extreme wealth, danger, violence, and distrust, and all kinds of societal dysfunction. It’s very exciting. This time is compared to that of the Weimar republic in Germany, before Hitler came to power. It’s very scary, though; although it was published in 1998, it feels very relevant, reading it alongside the current military operation being conducted by the Russians in Ukraine, and Putin acting more and more like Stalin, continuing to terrorise millions, and speak in a very Orwellian fashion.  During the Holodomor, Stalin deported two million Ukrainian kulaks to Archangel, to a nuclear site; there wasn’t much to live on in that northern area. Apparently they were locked in churches, and then they were gone. They were thought by the locals to be disease-ridden. I fear I’m seeing a pattern here. Stalin, too, had lists of people who he thought might threaten him.  Back then, Nazi-style terrorism was in vogue; someone said the mysterious “Z” painted on Russian tanks is a kind of modern swastika.  Putin claims to be ridding the Ukrainian military of Nazi elements; I suspect he learned from his most ardent US fan, Donald Trump, even more tricks of terminology and hypocrisy: accuse your opponents of doing what you plan to do yourself. Evidently Ukrainians were blamed for some assassination, I don’t remember which, and then Ukrainians were blamed for interfering in the 2020 US Presidential election.  Ukraine is a very corrupt country, claims Congressman Madison Cawthorn, while failing to acknowledge that Russia is far more corrupt than Ukraine (as exposed by Alexei Navalny). Zelensky accuses Russia of wanting a “final solution” for Ukraine, in much the same way that Hitler wanted a “final solution” for his Jewish problem. That turned out to be the Holocaust.

The US President, Joe Biden, has spent two hours on the phone with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi, trying to persuade him not to help Vladimir Putin. This was after a six hour talk between two lesser beings a day or two ago. China has termed the West’s sanctions against Russia “outrageous”, and Xi has said, enigmatically, that China will be on the right side of history (whatever he means by that).

In Covid news here, there’s also lots to say. But apparently Wellington’s water supply hasn’t been fluoridated since May last year! Lack of fluoride was initially blamed on employee sickness, but it goes further back than that. Wellington’s sewage woes continue. The mayor, Andy Foster, has a lot to answer for. 

This morning I heard that a staff member at the house where my daughter lives in Napier has diagnosed positive for Covid 19. I got an email last night saying that Hōhepa were holding it together, but under serious staffing pressure,  with some folk recovered, one resident still with Covid 19, but several staff either having covid 19 themselves or needing to isolate as close contacts. I spoke to the cluster manager, and am somewhat reassured;  they are carrying out RAT tests, and, amazingly, most residents will let them put a taper up their nose.  So far, so good; but we remain very wary. My daughter has a serious heart condition; I don’t know how she’d cope with having Covid 19. There is always the fear that it would further damage her heart.

Today’s report says there are 14,463 new cases, with a new total of 1,000 people in hospital and 9 further deaths, including a person in their 20’s. 33 of those in hospital are in Intensive Care. It’s reported that of the deaths, five were from the Auckland region, two from Waikato, one from Wairarapa and one from Bay of Plenty. One of these people was in their 20s, one in their 60s, one in their 70s, two in their 80s and four in their 90s. Five were men and four were women.

On Monday, there were new Covid-19 cases in Northland (422), Auckland (3279), Waikato (1401), Bay of Plenty (893), Lakes (457), Hawke’s Bay (796), MidCentral (657), Whanganui (209), Taranaki (473), Tairāwhiti (259), Wairarapa (222), Capital & Coast (951), Hutt Valley (583), Nelson Marlborough (404), Canterbury (2267), South Canterbury (191), Southern (950), West Coast (39); and 10 in an unknown location. The Northern region (Auckland and Northland) continued to see the majority of Covid-19 hospitalisations, comprising 627 of the 1000 hospitalisations on Monday.

Epidemiologist Rod Jackson says: “We know if you are unvaccinated you are three times more likely to transmit the virus to other people, you are more than twice as likely to have it right now, you’re more than five times likely to be in hospital right now, so there are lots and lots of good reasons to maintain our vaccine passes.” He cautions the government against dropping its Covid 19 mandates too soon.

Back to Ukraine, now.  There are, as usual, conflicting reports. I saw a video of crowds cheering as Russian tanks left Kherson. It looked authentic, but who knows?  I saw another video about Russian equipment being destroyed – gear replacing gear that had already been destroyed by Ukraine, being sent to the same place. Zelensky was said to have joked that Russia itself is demilitarising itself. The Guardian reports that Russians seek the surrender of Mariupol, having bombed it relentlessly, and deported thousands of citizens. The deportations, while shocking, have been confirmed by other reputable news agencies such as Reuters and CNBC.  This is really next level stuff – surely this can’t be allowed to continue? There’s a lot of flagellation about the West’s continued efforts to appease Putin, which, in retrospect, look terrible. I’m sure they seemed like a good, if cynical, idea at the time. But the deportations are really something else, I think; a very dangerous move.

A fifth Russian general has been killed (confirmed? David Petraeus thinks so). Street fighting is reported in Mariupol.  Zelensky confirms that the Ukrainians won’t surrender at the deadline. I listened to a podcast this morning by a New Zealand journalist who spoke about the difficulty of being somewhere to report what’s happening, and diving for cover at the sound of an air-raid siren; in any event, there’s very little sleep, or food. She also spoke about desperate refugees getting on crowded trains, and trying to keep their families together. This would be so sad if it were a natural disaster, like flooding, a tsunami, or an earthquake, but it is totally unnecessary! Totally needless!

In Europe, Germany has agreed a gas deal with Qatar to end dependency on Russian gas.  Evidently Jared Kushner has told the Saudis (MBS) not to make a deal with President Biden, (although Saudi Arabia is an ally of the US), because that might hurt his father-in-law’s chances of becoming president again. Really, honestly, this is unbelievable. President Zelensky is Jewish, and is pleading for American help! 

It’s now Tuesday March 22^nd.

Last night I tried to finish Archangel, which has held me spellbound, but sadly it turned into a Hollywood blockbuster kind of story, with real excitement leading up to a crucial point; more hard-to-believe events, and we’re not quite finished yet. I have still to finish it. Starting anything else seems lame in comparison, I always need an interval between reading a book that holds my attention, and starting the next one (it’s not that I’m short of reading matter).

The news this morning is not good.  Putin is seeking to break off diplomatic relations with the US, because Biden called him a war criminal. Even during the Cold War diplomatic relations were maintained. The Russians have bombed a mall in Kyiv, killing eight people. The reports of mass deportations have not been confirmed. Ukrainians continue to destroy Russian equipment. The Russians continue bombing, making it really difficult for civilians to get away to safety – so where’s safe? It seems that the so-called rules of war are gone, they’re not being observed any more. A US commentator is calling Russian troops terrorists. There’s no medevac, no rescuing of Russian dead. I gather there’s not much in the way of information for their families, either. If you’re sent to Ukraine, you’ll be in a bad way.  People are scared on both sides. The war has reached a stalemate, where no one will surrender. It reminds me again of the Orwell novel 1984, where there is always a war on, there is always military conflict.  Russia seems to waver between being like the Weimar republic in Germany of the 1930’s, being like Hitler’s Nazis, and being Orwellian. Who is Vladimir most modelling himself on: Peter the Great, Josef Stalin, or Adolf Hitler?  Probably all of them. There are no rules, there is no guiding principle, but cruelty. Terrorism versus sabotage. But no matter how much matériel Ukraine’s brave forces destroy, there is always more bombing. Apparently Russia has slowed down internet response times in Australia, because they acted against it. How, one wonders? What is the West/the US/NATO/the EU to do to stop this aggressor?  What indeed.  As with the Freedom Protest here in Parliament’s grounds, which was eventually broken up by police, one wonders how much provocation is required before Something Is Done about it. Of course, it’s easy for me to pontificate. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi.

Today is Saturday March 19^th, 2022. Kia ora.

This morning I awoke to the news that Putin’s address to a rally at a stadium crowded with flag-waving fans (remember Trump’s rallies?) had been interrupted on live television by something else – some singing.  Putin was praising Russian unity! Meanwhile, the Russians were bombing the beautiful city of Lviv. There’s a wonderful book about Lviv (Lemberg, Lvov) by Philippe Sands, called East West Street. Most of his family came from there; his parents escaped, but others perished in the Holocaust.  He’s a lawyer, and went there initially for a conference. Lviv was in Poland during World War II; it had Hans Frank as Hitler’s Governor – general. He was found guilty at the Nuremberg trials, and consequently executed.  Lviv is now in Ukraine, and has been a gathering point for shelter for refugees, on their way to safety.  

After the rally, Putin seemed to walk stiffly, and had trouble with the stairs, it’s reported; he quoted the Bible (one of the ten commandments is Thou shalt not kill, by the way), and talked about Crimea, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova as being part of Russia. He has no intention of stopping at Ukraine, assuming he’s successful. So what does that mean?  Success on one side assumes that the other side admits defeat.  Sadly, in this needless war, that’s not happening yet.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainians have attacked Kherson Airport (not long ago a destination for Ryan Air).  Kherson was the only major city in Ukraine to be taken by the Russians, but the scenes of devastation look horrifying.  Evidently the Russians had set up a military base there, from which to operate, but it appears that the Ukrainians may have destroyed 10 (others say 6) helicopters. 

As it goes on, Russian troops continue bombing, and make it very difficult for sheltering Ukrainians to escape.  Meanwhile, Ukrainians continue to sabotage Russian equipment, and the photos are portrayed on line. (The website I referred to yesterday is oryx.com).  So what is winning?  There’s a terrible line from the Vietnam War being quoted, about needing to destroy the village to save it.  Meanwhile, Ukrainian lives have been totally disrupted, people have been hurt, killed, or rendered homeless, they don’t have power or water (or food?), there’s a refugee crisis, and there’ll be widespread hunger because Ukraine is a fertile area for growing grain.  The Russians bombed a food store  yesterday!  Why? Programs and podcasts go on about Putin’s imperial ambitions (Peter the not so Great is his hero, evidently), and how to topple Putin (or not), and the bravery of the Ukrainians and the Russians who resist Putin. Still the dreadful destruction continues, although the US has supplied much more weaponry. Somehow this is different from putting “boots on the ground”.  Putin is reportedly calling in his favour to Syria, asking for their help in his military operation in Ukraine. What a surprise, that no one wants to go there. Uzbekistan has turned him down, apparently.

Here in New Zealand there is cautious optimism that new cases of covid 19/omicron may have peaked.  I guess if we have both BA1 and BA2 at the same time, that’s a win of sorts, seeing that another wave of omicron (BA2) is sweeping some parts of the world: the UK has more cases than it’s ever had! Luxon recommends relaxing Covid 19 rules: what rules are still in place?  There are limits on numbers at gatherings – you can have more people if they’re fully vaccinated, but really and truly, you’d be a brave person to go to any gathering at present.  The church I normally go to is going to continue with Sunday services, despite having someone test positive for Covid 19; I think that with disappointment, I’ll be zooming. At Kenepuru Hospital, they’ve diagnosed more Covid 19 cases; a bit of an outbreak there, then. Wellington Hospital has cancelled most non-urgent surgery (I thought they had already).  The Milk Crate Café in Wellington’s Ghuznee St is to join the growing list of those closing.

Today’s Covid 19 report shows 18,514 new cases, and 10 deaths, there are 939 people in hospital, and 24 of them are in Intensive Care; there are 45 new cases at the border.

This afternoon the NZ Herald reports this afternoon that one of Putin’s top military commanders has been killed in Ukraine. Kyiv and state tv in Moscow have confirmed the death of Colonel Sergei Sukharev and his deputy. Evidently the colonel masterminded a massacre in the 2014 conflict, when 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers were not allowed to leave safely the city of Ilovaisk in Donbas.

During this time, prosecutions continue for the January 6 insurrection in the US, but there isn’t a great deal of reporting on them or the work of that committee, given that the conflict in Ukraine is taking up all the oxygen, the Prime Minister of Ireland has diagnosed positive for Covid 19; he was with President Biden and Nancy Pelosi, and it’s hoped that they haven’t been infected.

It’s now Sunday March 20^th.

This morning I zoomed into a friend’s service for the Catholic parishioners of South Wellington.  It was lovely, and nice to do something, since I don’t feel comfortable about going to my usual church at present.  Yesterday afternoon we went for a walk at Oriental Bay. It was lovely, and there were lots of people out.  Chloe Swarbrick has diagnosed positive with Covid 19, with what she describes as “gnarly symptoms”.  Everyone who writes about having this disease claims it hit them quite hard; certainly it seems to be not a light flu. Heard of man flu, anyone?  I read somewhere that half the people still to get Covid 19 don’t know they will get it.

Last night I watched the movie Quartet again on Māori television. I have seen it before, at least twice, but it is worth watching again for the great acting (Dame Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay and others), and the magnificent quartet from Verdi’s Rigoletto at the end. I have a very good recording on Youtube, with Maria Callas and Giuseppe di Stefano. My only beef with the movie is that old people are sometimes presented as being quite agile!  This doesn’t ring true.  I’ve been watching Inventing Anna, The Tinder Swindler, and Bad Vegan on Netflix, much to JD’s annoyance.  There’s a morbid fascination with these stories, but one wonders how can women be so gullible, and have so much money?  The sums they give away are absolutely mind-boggling to someone like me. And surely if you’re forming a relationship with someone you’d do more to find out what they do for a living (probably work hard at ripping you off!), what their family and friends are like, what faiths and values they hold, and what kind of future you might have together.  It seems like a huge risk to throw your lot in with someone just because you like their online photo. The mind games played are quite disturbing, too. How gullible are people?  Cults prey on people’s emotions, too. There are several horrible series about cult involvement, and there’s a ghastly kind of consistency to the believe that you always have to do more to show your commitment.  This is really quite the opposite of a basic belief in grace and forgiveness. Why do things have to be so complicated?

The dreadful tragedy in Ukraine grinds on.  It’s said that four Russian generals have died in Ukraine, but that doesn’t stop the cruelty of continuous bombing raids.  Apparently Putin said the breakup of the Soviet Union (the USSR) in the early 1990’s was the greatest tragedy of the 20^th century.  Really! Well, there are several contenders for truly horrible acts, where millions of people died: WW1, the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Holodomor, Mao’s Cultural Revolution, the Balkan Wars, and, of course, the Second World War and the Holocaust, which would probably come top of my list. This of course does not include the Syrian Civil War, the war in Vietnam, and various other conflicts, including human rights abuses in many places, and great suffering and oppression in places like Myanmar and present day China.

China has reported its first deaths (two) from Covid 19 in a year.

Today’s Covid 19 report again shows a trend: there are fewer new Covid 19 cases at 12,020, but there have been 9 more deaths and there are 957 people in hospital. 26 of them are in Intensive Care. It’s reported that new cases detected by PCR and RAT tests overnight are in Northland (416), Auckland (2,768), Waikato (1,093), Bay of Plenty (804), Lakes (330), Hawke’s Bay (676), MidCentral (540), Whanganui (169), Taranaki (373), Tairāwhiti (210), Wairarapa (146), Capital and Coast (795), Hutt Valley (443), Nelson Marlborough (308), Canterbury (1,897), South Canterbury (171), Southern (840), West Coast (22) and nine are unknown. Of the nine who died, four were in Auckland, three in the Bay of Plenty and one each in Capital and Coast and Waikato. The eight men and one woman were aged between their 50s and 90s. I would have to say that’s a welcome reduction in the Wellington and Hawkes Bay areas. Perhaps we have peaked, in terms of new cases, but the number of deaths is still disturbing. More than 110 aged care homes are battling coronavirus, and 27 residents have died after catching the virus. They are also short-staffed. Meanwhile, epidemiologist Michael Baker says it will take a long time for cases to drop in schools especially.

In the afternoon I learn of two ominous developments. The UK Defence Ministry claims that the Russians have used a thermobaric weapon; and thousands of Ukrainian citizens have been deported from Mariupol to northern Russia. This is next level stuff.  After all, refugees in Poland or Hungary or other parts of Europe can expect to return to Ukraine after the conflict; it will be very much harder if they’re in Russian territory.  Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi.

In some places, one in five of us has Covid 19.

It’s now Thursday March 17^th, 2022. Kia ora.

I watched Zelensky’s powerful address to Congress, and the accompanying video. Both had me in tears, too. Zelensky invoked Mt Rushmore, Pearl Harbour, the 9/11 attach (in which Americans were powerless), and Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” statement.  President Biden called Putin a war criminal. The Kremlin was quick to respond, saying this is “unforgiveable rhetoric”. Evidently Russian soldiers, misled about the conflict they were fighting, will be shot if they desert. A Fox journalist and a producer have been killed, although Russian state media have been showing clips from Tucker Carlson’s show on the Fox News channel. It seems that of some seriously dangerous places to be at present, Ukraine has to be at the top. It seems that sanctions are really hurting the Russian economy (such as it is); the journalist who spoke out on Russian TV fears for her life, and Putin’s head of security and his deputy (who dared to challenge him at his security conference right before the invasion), are under house arrest. Apparently Russia has seized 500 foreign planes still in Russia: a form of stealing, perhaps? 

We are getting many podcasts and videos reminding us of Putin’s brazen cruelty and readiness to take risks, such as the polonium poisoning of Litvinenko, and the attempted poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury. The poisoning of Litvinenko was not only inept, but caused a radiation scare in London. When UK police went to Russia to investigate the crime, recordings of an interview were mysteriously destroyed. The story was played out again, recently, on the British Scandal podcast (all 5 episodes). We’re also reminded of the brutal wars in Chechnya and Syria, as well as Putin’s aggression in Georgia and in the east of Ukraine, when Crimea was taken. He also swung the 2016 presidential election for Trump, and look how that turned out.  Aging white guys (amongst others) are wreaking havoc on the world.  There have been cruel female rulers, but they’re seriously outnumbered by the men (who despise them, by the way, unless they’re their nubile daughter).

On the coronavirus front, it seems the BA2 variant of omicron is wreaking havoc, however the rest of the world is determined to carry on “as normal”. In Germany, the Guardian reports 262,594 new cases, and 293 deaths. People are still dying of coronavirus in Australia, as they do in the US.  I see the price of travel insurance climbing dramatically, as if it weren’t already quite expensive to get comprehensive coverage in the before times, pre-2020. In China, the Guardian reported on March 15 that a total of 3,507 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms were reported on Monday across more than a dozen provinces and municipalities. Coronavirus continues to devastate Hong Kong. It seems the Chinese vaccine, Sinovac, is not very effective.

Here in New Zealand, our water is not fluoridated, because of sickness. Kenepuru Hospital (north of Wellington) has closed to visitors, after a small group of patients tested positive for Covid 19. They’re closing to all visitors for 3 days while they do more testing. In Wellington Victoria University is footing a $50,000 bill for cleaning up its Pipitea campus. The Hon. Chris Hipkins has tested positive, and, reading between the lines, he’s not feeling great. Meanwhile, our borders are reopening, and hospo businesses are cheering.  Well, perhaps there’s not much Covid 19 in other places, but here in the Wellington area, and in Hawkes Bay, we’re very hard hit. You’d have to be a brave person to see the sights. Cruise liner operators are looking forward to coming here again; I guess, while the photos are beguiling, I should be even more fearful of cruises than I was before. Infections can spread at the best of times, and this ain’t the best of times.

This morning I sent an apology for Tai Chi. I looked at my Access roster last night, and found, to my astonishment, that they’d scheduled someone for today (Thursday!) I’ve told them time and again that Thursdays are no good for me. You’d think it would be on my file. Anyway, I’m off to get my new lenses fitted, and hopefully I’ll be able to see better after this. That will be my brave deed for the day, and I hope to find somewhere in the CBD that will make me a cup of coffee!  Late this afternoon, I’ve booked to join a Q & A with Prime Minister Ardern.  I’m looking forward to that.

Prime Minister Ardern has unveiled a new history syllabus, and says that New Zealand’s traffic light system will be reviewed next week. She also hints that the mandates and vaccine passes may be reviewed too, depending on case numbers and hospitalisations. There is still a desire to protect the health system. In  Auckland, a father of four has died four days after receiving a Covid 19 diagnosis.

Apparently Wellington’s Transmission Gully Motorway will open at the end of March. I honestly don’t know what the rush is, since we have a marvellous expressway around the Waikanae area, ever inching further backwards and forwards. But there we are, the Dompost can say it raised an outcry, and got a response.  The road was a part business/part government entity, authorised by John Key, raising some questions about responsibility; and it’s in quite a dangerous area, with steep slopes, isolation, and some earthquake risk. It’s reported that the transport agency will defer a number of quality assurance tests required under the contract with the road builders, CPB HEB, because it believes the 27-kilometre road is now safe for public use. Use everything here at your own risk! Freedom! You’ve got it. 

Early afternoon we went into town to drop my glasses off to be upgraded with new lenses.  Then we went to Lower Hutt, where we had lunch at Tutaki again. Sadly I dropped by KN95 mask on the floor, and it didn’t seem right to put it on again, so I had to resort to my emergency supply of medical masks.  They feel much less protective! We came back to Wellington, but we still had to wait a while.  The new lenses seem good, thus far.  It was good to be able to drive up Molesworth Street to get onto the motorway north, but there’s still plenty of security visible around Parliament Buildings.

The 1 pm Covid 19 report was a little better than yesterday’s, but it’s clear we’re not “out of the woods” yet. Today there are 19,566 new community cases, and there have been 10 further deaths (including a person in their 30’s). There are 930 people in hospital, and 23 of these are in Intensive Care. It’s reported that of the 10 people who have died, one was from Northland, five were from Auckland, one was from the Bay of Plenty, one was from Hawke’s Bay, and one was from the Hutt Valley. Of these people, one was in their 30s, one was in their 50s, three were in their 70s, two were in their 80s and two were in their 90s. Four were women and were five were men. Demographic information for one person was not yet available.

Yesterday there was a demonstration by a nurse on how to take a RAT test. It looked complicated! It’s also reported that now there have been more than 64,500 cases of Covid 19 in schools, kura, and ECE’s in the last 10 days. This us an increase of 40% from Monday’s total. It’s reported that 1 in 18 Wellingtonians have Covid 19; in the East Cape town of Ruatoria, 22% have Covid 19.

It’s now Friday March 18^th.

This morning we went to New World in Thorndon.  There were lots of cars in the carpark, but the store didn’t seem too busy. Everyone is polite. JD is pleased because they have Guardian cereal again!  It hasn’t been stocked for ages; we feared it was gone permanently. On the other hand, I couldn’t find my Sanitarium muesli. But we did find everything we were looking for, except for a potato-topped pie and Black Doris plums. The prices didn’t seem too awful.  Late yesterday afternoon I attended a zoon Q & A session with Prime Minister Ardern. I enjoyed the session, but my two questions didn’t get chosen. I asked about protection for people like my daughter, who’s in care in Napier; I also asked about Labour’s commitment to dealing with issues like child poverty; I feel that treating employees better would help solve a lot of problems created by poverty. If people weren’t anxious about money, I would hope some if not all of them would see that their families have a better standard of living.

Today’s Covid 19 report is still concerning, with 5 further deaths, but there are (only) 14,128 new community cases of Covid 19. There are 943 in hospital and 25 in Intensive Care.  In Auckland Hospital things are particularly difficult, with people queuing to get treated in the ED, and coping with staff sickness. It does seem that people who are double vaccinated and boostered are much less likely to be hospitalised. Frankly, you wouldn’t want to be in hospital, with nurses and doctors under such pressure, and so much communicable disease around.

With regard to the conflict in Ukraine, there were hopes yesterday of a peace settlement; perhaps false hopes. Putin gave an alarming speech yesterday, talking about “scum”.  I listened to a bulwark podcast this morning which gave me a lot of hope, however, about Ukraine’s sabotage efforts, the amount of extra arms and drones being supplied, and Putin’s isolation in his corrupt country, where his armed forces are shown to be not nearly as efficient as he might have hoped, and their equipment isn’t up to much, either. Meanwhile, he’s increasingly paranoid. A theatre where people were sheltering was bombed in Mariupol yesterday, in a cynical move that further shows his complete disregard for human life, be it children or pregnant women. He seems determined to destroy Ukraine; one wonders what his endgame is. He has succeeded in one thing: uniting almost all of the rest of the world against him, and against Russia. Of course the Russian people aren’t all bad, but their leader is a terrible, monstrous autocrat. It seems that Kyiv is not in fact surrounded, given that three EU Prime Ministers were able to travel there by train to visit President Zelensky; Turkey’s Foreign Minister is evidently there today.  Plans to invade 3 other countries nearby have been leaked. The refugee crisis continues, compounded by the difficulty of obtaining visas for Ukrainians who want to go to the UK!  It’s not that UK residents don’t want them, it’s the UK government is very slow about holding interviews for applicants with all the correct documentation!.  I quote from Zelensky’s impassioned speech to the US Congress: “I see no sense in life if it cannot stop the deaths”. Ngā mihi.

Today is Tuesday March 15^th, 2022. Kia ora.

It’s hard to be cheerful today. It’s a bit cooler, and drizzly.  The war in Ukraine is still brutal and bloody. The US should do more! Admiral (Retd) Stavridis (Supremo) says the Russian troops are acting as terrorists, not an army.  Many voices, many retired generals (who are closer to the end of their life than the beginning, although I’m sure most if not all have children and grandchildren), are advocating more help for Zelensky, that the Ukrainians operate their own no-fly zone, that the Polish jets be delivered to the Ukrainians; furthermore, they don’t think that Putin will use nuclear weapons, and they think that the US and NATO should take more direct actions to reduce the violence against Ukrainians, and further impair Putin’s not-so-great armed forces. But, strange and unthinkable things have happened already in this war, so who knows what may happen in future?

Of course, there are diverse voices. Some say Biden’s not doing enough, some say he shouldn’t signal what he’s doing; we’ve been told that some moves may be secret until they’re done.  Others say it shouldn’t be an either /or decision, to go straight to MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction): there are steps one can take along the way.  I am having so much trouble with my computer this morning. I picked up new reading glasses yesterday, and I’m in a world of semi-blindness and double vision.  I know I shouldn’t feel sorry for myself, but it’s hard not to! I’ve been reading the prophet Zechariah, and he talks about a plague, and about an attack that has been interpreted as a nuclear attack, although I suppose it could be a chemical attack (Zechariah 14:12). I can’t find the plague reference now, but there is an earthquake and evidence of climate change, and general bewilderment. Scary stuff. I try to feel positive about the potential outcome of this war: Putin’s military weakness, Ukrainian bravery, the willingness of most countries (except the UK) to take refugees in and be kind to them; but Putin has demonstrated many times that he has no respect for human life.

US intelligence has gathered that Russia is seeking arms and assistance from China!  This is extremely interesting. It shows not only that Putin needs help, but also that US intelligence is surprisingly good.  A really interesting question would be how does Russia pay?  I’d let Russia and China argue over the payment issue – what currency, and when? So far, no one has raised this issue, to my knowledge.

In New Zealand, the Labour Government announced yesterday that fuel prices and road user tax will reduce, and also transport fares will be halved for 3 months.  This is a welcome announcement to counter inflation as seen in the rising cost of fuel. The price of fuel should drop by about 25%. I am surprised that this is not seen as major news. National does not react until the next day to say that the Finance Minister is “addicted to spending”. This reaction seems to be more newsworthy than the original announcement. JD claims that reporters have, as usual, screwed up the numbers, and the price of oil should be about 25 cents less; by the way, the oil price dropped last night too.  Actually, it was me that got it wrong – the reporter said the cost of fuel would reduce by about 8% or 25 cents. My bad.

Meanwhile, in China, they’re still pursuing a “covid zero” policy. How quaint!  New Zealand was pursuing a covid-zero policy until late last year.  We did feel quite protected with the four-level stages. We’d gotten used to it!  Many public activities did not take place until we were at level 1. Now, it’s a new world. The UK’s Guardian reports that In China a province of 24 million people have been put into lockdown as China tries to contain an outbreak of 1,437 cases. Omicron, it seems, is getting the better of them. Hong Kong is still in a really bad way. The coronavirus ain’t finished with us yet!

Before we have lunch I walk up to the local supermarket. There is still no hand-sanitiser in the container by the entrance!  There aren’t many people there, and there aren’t too many gaps on the shelves. I buy coffee beans (there are plenty), dishwasher detergent, and croissants for lunch.  They have Hot Cross Buns for sale featuring their new one – Gooey Peanut Butter Choc Cross Buns. I don’t buy any yet. I am puzzled by the inclusion of peanut butter. Last year it was chocolate, I think. Some people find the crosses offensive.

A new LRB arrives today – I seem to have missed the last one. It has a very interesting article about Dissolution of the Monasteries during the time of King Henry VIII.  Actually, it’s about two new books, but takes the opportunity, in its lovely way, of widely exploring the topic.  There is an article about crime investigation (or lack thereof) in India, and a review of a biography of King George V, which is also very interesting.  I do wonder  at times how these guys survive: you have to have some highly specialised interests to get the most out of this periodical.

We feel very badly affected by Covid 19 here. My grandchildren are still home from school, not because they have Covid 19, but because so many of their friends do.  At Hōhepa in Napier, my daughter and her house mates are being kept at home for their health and safety; thank goodness it’s such a nice home in a semi-rural area.  I’m doing it hard, and goodness, I don’t have much to complain about.  Metlink are cancelling services because of illness; JD went to the local bank, but even though the internet said they were still open, albeit with their very limited days and hours, they weren’t actually open, due to sickness. Federated Farmers say Fonterra should get out of Russia; goodness, I didn’t even know they were in Russia! Oh, and Simon Bridges, a former National Party leader, is retiring from politics. This will cause a by-election in the Tauranga electorate. Sickness has caused a reduction in TVNZ’s news services, and affected three super rugby teams.

Today’s 1 pm Covid 19 report is as follows: there are 21,616 new cases, and there have been a further two deaths; there are 960 people in hospital, with 22 in Intensive care.  The deaths are of a man and a woman, both in their 70’s, one in the Capital and Coast DHB and one in the Southern DHB area. The new community cases were in Northland (708), Auckland (6085), Waikato (2062), Bay of Plenty (1424), Lakes (633), Hawke’s Bay (1111), MidCentral (888), Whanganui (276), Taranaki (510), Tairāwhiti (446), Wairarapa (229), Capital and Coast (1584), Hutt Valley (987), Nelson Marlborough (524), Canterbury (2642), South Canterbury (217), Southern (1238), West Coast (43); and nine in unknown locations. Evidently the BA2 variant of omicron has become dominant in New Zealand. It’s even more infectious than BA1, but this may actually be a good thing, says Dr Bloomfield.

I am listening to podcasts again.  Some are recognising the Russian invasion of Ukraine as representing a seismic shift in terms of the world’s security.  There are different thoughts about what this may mean, for different countries.  The US tend to say that the US (under President Reagan) won the Cold War. That is just so incredibly annoying. Others are explaining Russia’s moves in terms of Germany’s reaction to the Versailles Treaty that they signed at the end of World War I; this is seen in terms of the difficult time Russia had  in the early 1990’s after the end of communism and the USSR. This might have represented a hopeful moment for the West; not so much for what became the Russian Federation. Putin has changed everything, and although most people if not all saw this conflict coming, given the build up of Russian troops on the Ukraine border.  Despite Donald Trump, the cooperation of the US, NATO and the EU is remarkable. 

It’s now Wednesday March 16^th.

This morning I got up early (for me) and went to hymn singing. It was lovely, as always, especially so since we sang “How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds”, and “Glorious things of Thee are spoken”, sung to the tune Austria composed by Josef Haydn. Afterwards I bought scones for morning tea from the café, but I had to wait to enter, it was so busy. While I was in there, people kept coming in!  I felt a tad uncomfortable there.  On the way there, we waited for a train from Johnsonville. I couldn’t see any passengers on it.

The Dompost was interesting this morning.  Luxon has said he will cut three taxes, meanwhile Prime Minister Ardern has cut fuel tax, and now Labour is accused of being spendthrift.  There was a letter to the paper from someone who visited Wellington recently, and found many things closed.  Jacinda should do something!  Well, she can’t, actually. Some outlets have closed because people don’t come, they’re too sick, or they’re a close contact, or they’re scared of getting sick. That’s not Prime Minister Ardern’s fault. Her government has protected us very well.  If extra money were given to hospitality outlets, or any shops, surely Auckland and many other places would cry foul. and it wouldn’t make more people come. We’ve all been affected by the coronavirus. We’ve all had to make changes in out lives. As it goes on, we get older, and most things become more expensive.

There’s another problem on Prime Minister Ardern’s plate: the price of houses is falling!  Dear me, many of us are relieved.  When they were rising, there was a chorus of “Why doesn’t the government do something?”  On balance, it’s a good thing if houses become more affordable. Many of us are buying and selling on a falling market; there’ll be more relief than dismay, I think.

The Hon. Chris Hipkins has tested positive for Covid 19, as has Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris. In Wellington, the hospital is having difficulty with increased demand and sick staff.  It’s reported that 15 percent of staff are off work at Wellington Hospital, 16 percent in Porirua and 8 percent in the Hutt Valley. I have just learnt that someone who attended church last Sunday has tested positive for Covid 19. Oh dear, it gets closer and closer.

Today’s Covid 19 report is the worst yet, there have been 24 deaths. There are reportedly 19,542 community cases of Covid 19, although some expert thinks the numbers of cases in Auckland and Northland could be much higher than stated. There are 971 people in hospital, and 22 of these are in Intensive Care. Of the 24 deaths, 8 died on Tuesday (that would be yesterday). 16 died in the last 3 weeks, but have now been publicly reported. These were notified to the Ministry of Health in the last 24 hours, as per the new standard around counting deaths due to Covid 19. Whatever the reason, it’s still a shockingly high number. Of the 24, eight people died at aged residential care facilities., bringing the death total to 141. It’s reported that of the 24 deaths reported on Wednesday, three died in Northland, seven in Auckland, seven in Waikato, two in the Bay of Plenty, two in MidCentral and two in Wairarapa. One was aged in their 40s, one in their 50s, four in their 60s, three in their 70s, eight in their 80s and six in their 90s. Eleven were women and twelve were men.

It’s reported that there are new community cases in Northland (661), Auckland (5318), Waikato (1834), Bay of Plenty (1347), Lakes (584), Hawke’s Bay (1049), MidCentral (802), Whanganui (231), Taranaki (663), Tairāwhiti (370), Wairarapa (208), Capital and Coast (1308), Hutt Valley (780), Nelson Marlborough (487), Canterbury (2385), South Canterbury (184), Southern (1203), West Coast (30); and seven were in unknown locations. Just 2.6% were detected via PCR tests. Of the Rat test results reported in the last 24 hours, 71% were positive. Hawkes Bay and Wellington are still being very hard hit.

Apparently, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced New Zealand’s border will open to vaccinated Australian tourists from 11.59pm on April 12, and tourists from visa-waiver countries such as the United States and UK from 11.59pm on May 1. Come here if you dare! I gather skiing operators are getting excited.

Apparently Nicola Willis, Luxon’s sidekick, is to be the National Party’s money honey (finance spokesperson).  The Penthouse sent me their weekly email sating what’s new on their screens, special offers, and suchlike. They warned, however, that they’re affected by sickness, and will post limited hours on the front door each week.  I guess I won’t be going there for a bit, then.  And it seems British sanctions are hitting Roman Abramovich harder than cynics may have expected.           

I’ll briefly summarise my thoughts on the conflict in Ukraine. European leaders from Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic travelled by train to Kyiv to meet with President Zelensky and offer him support, in an act of extraordinary bravery. A Russian news anchor apologised on live TV for telling lies about the invasion and about Ukrainians. There are fears that Russia will default on its debt. Meanwhile, Russians are bombing Ukrainian cities like there’s no tomorrow, even bombing the ruins as civilians try to escape. Today there are thought to be 3 million refugees.  And still the brave Ukrainians resist, and are reportedly attacking and destroying Russian equipment. Who’s “winning”?  Who knows. It is so sad to see those beautiful cities destroyed and those lives ruined. And by the way, the only time I’ve ever seen Putin or Lavrov smile was in photos with – you’ve guessed it – Donald Trump.

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

 Today is Friday March 11^th, 2022. Kia ora.

Last night I learnt that Prime Minister Johnson in the UK has frozen assets of 7 Russian oligarchs, including Roman Abramovich (the owner of the Chelsea football club). This sounds very impressive; but I fear there are strings attached.  And there are: Abramovich has taken his luxury yacht for a holiday.

This morning I hear that Ukraine claims a regiment of Russian tanks has been destroyed outside Kiev, and its commander killed. I have tried unsuccessfully to find out how many tanks that would be. (JD says 31). Photos show some destroyed, and claim the others retreated. In a nod to George Orwell, Russian people are now reading the classic Russian novel by Tolstoy:  Special Operation and Peace. Foreign Minister Lavrov seems to deny there’s a war on.

I am expecting someone from Access to come and do some housework, so I change the towels and bed linen. Eventually I get a call to say no one is coming today.  The government has relaxed leading rules for first home buyers.

I walk up to the local supermarket. It’s as though most precautions are no longer being followed!  The hand sanitiser container is empty, for the second day running; there are no trolley wipes here, and no one is sanitising the trolleys.  There don’t seem to be any shortages, except for the Havarti cheese slices that I like to buy; there are, of course, plenty of Easter eggs. I buy some to send to my daughter, trying to remember what I sent her last time.  There are two check out operators on today – I haven’t seen either of them before, although the one who serves me wishes me a good day. I always wash my hands when I get home, and wipe my phone with Dettol. If I can still smell the Dettol, I figure I’m good to go. I haven’t resorted to shopping in rubber gloves yet.

Today’s Covid 19 report is not good. There are 20,989 new cases today, and 7 deaths. Five of the deaths are in Auckland, one is in Waikato and one is in the Southern region. A new record number are in hospital 856, and 20 in Intensive Care, 10 of them in Auckland. Metlink advises that there are a number of cancellations or changes due to staff sickness; some train services may be replaced by buses.

The war in Ukraine is just desperately sad, with the bombing in some cities so intense that some dead civilians cannot be buried properly. All this is just so needless.  It seems a “no fly” zone in Ukraine is potentially very dangerous, and like the Soviet MIG fighter planes, carries many loopholes. I still don’t really understand how the Ukrainians can be supplied with so many weapons, and yet no NATO or US troops can actually be on Ukrainian soil, or fly over this vast territory – there seem to be some very fine lines being drawn here.  There’s a lot of military analysis, which is quite useful. Retired generals have some very worthwhile things to say. Admiral (Retd) Stavridis, himself of Greek origin, former Supreme Commander of NATO, talked about the handful of Greeks holding off the vastly superior (in size) Persian army at Thermopylae. There’s a lot of talk about von Clausewitz.

I am a bit behind with listening to all my good podcasts, but this afternoon the good folk at The Bulwark opened up their Thursday night Livestream (this is the third time they’ve done it), and I listened with great interest to Professor Eliot Cohen talking about the war in Ukraine. This is appreciated. Cohen pointed out that the Russians have yet to take control of a major city, or establish air control. Lawfare, normally quick to pontificate, are strangely silent on this issue, except for a podcast about Putin’s imperial dream, and an interview with a refugee. Could it be, I wonder, that several of them are Russian Jews? Others such as Skullduggery, Stay Tuned with Preet, and the Bulwark have not skirted this issue. English pods have been interesting too: The Rest is History, and We Have Ways of Making You Talk. I’m sure there’ll be many others.

It’s now Saturday March 12^th.

This afternoon we were supposed to go out for afternoon tea, but it was cancelled.  The country is deeply affected by Covid 19.In the city, some entertainment venues have closed, like the Victoria St Café, which I used to patronise and rather liked. They had nice Louise Slice there, and did a great omelette. Floriditas in Cuba St is also crying foul, although I don’t like their food as much. Covid 19 has hit the Gloriavale community on the West Coast of New Zealand. There is a “significant cluster” there, apparently. They are under the spotlight at the moment over several folk leaving, over whether workers are contractors – all income has to be given to the community, which is a charitable trust; alleged child abuse, and punishments which would now be regarded as inhuman. 

Today’s Covid 19 report again breaks records, not with new case numbers at 18,699, but with 853 patients in hospital, 17 in Intensive Care, and 7 deaths, bringing total deaths to 105. The deaths were three in Auckland, and one each in Bay of Plenty, Mid-central, Wellington and Canterbury, four males ad three females, and mostly elderly folk.

In Ukraine, things are complex. It’s reported that another Russian general has been killed (making three so far); and a large plane was shot down; evidently the Ukrainians sank a Russian ship (the one that was at Snake Island); but Russian forces have regrouped outside Kyiv. In Mariupol, a maternity hospital was bombed: Russians accused women who escaped of being “crisis actors”.  It seems that somehow Putin has claimed ownership of the sky, not allowing other airlines to fly over it; the city of Kherson is under Russian control, and although brave residents have protested, they are being very harshly dealt with by their Russian occupiers. One commentator pointed out it would take a great many Russian troops to occupy the country of Ukraine. Putin is doing nothing to endear himself or his regime to those inhabitants of Ukraine whom he would conquer.  There have been more references to the treaty of Budapest, including a letter in this morning’s Dompost, pointing out that Russia, the US and the UK guaranteed Ukraine’s sovereignty, including Crimea, providing they gave up their nuclear weapons. I guess it seemed a good idea at the time.

The mayor of the city of Melitopol has been captured by Russians. Fierce bombardment of cities continues.

It’s now Sunday March 13^th.

It’s now 3 years since the mosque shootings in Christchurch.  I went to church this morning, where there was beautiful organ playing, but no minister – until he joined us on screen. He’s a close contact – someone in his family has tested positive for Covid 19. He says he ‘s fine, but he did sound a bit husky. He joked that this is the closest he’s come to being a Televangelist! Afterwards, I buy some scones for morning tea from the café next door, and then go to the supermarket across the road. It’s just as well I did buy morning tea, because there are no bakery goods at the supermarket, due to sickness: no chocolate snails, brioches, muffins, apple turnovers, or bread rolls, or Hot Cross Buns (always tempting, often disappointing).  The verse though is so heartening: many times I would have taken you under my wing, as a mother hen (paraphrased).  That would be God personified as a female animal.

Today’s Covid 19 report is again interesting, in that total new cases are down, at 14,494, and down considerably in Auckland, but numbers of hospitalisations and deaths are up, with 896 people in hospital, (18 in Intensive Care), and 8 deaths.

Numbers of new cases do seem to have peaked in Auckland, but not yet further south. The numbers in hospital, and the deaths, are alarming, and I expect there’ll continue to be a “tale” for a while of severe illness and death. There were 4,509 new cases in Auckland today. Outside Auckland, the new cases were in Northland (440), Waikato (1,420), Bay of Plenty (931), Lakes (394), Hawke’s Bay (597), MidCentral (472), Whanganui (137), Taranaki (355), Tairāwhiti (289), Wairarapa (105), Capital and Coast (1,141), Hutt Valley (845), Nelson Marlborough (376), Canterbury (1,664), South Canterbury (93), Southern (703), and West Coast (18).

I get an update from Hōhepa this afternoon. They have had 5 cases of Covid 19 amongst residents, and there is a staffing problem with some staff needing to support their own families, or being close contacts of other family members.  I feel fairly confident in their ability to manage this situation, but it must be posing all kinds of problems. So far, the houses at Kapiti are all right.

I went to church to be comforted by the oasis of peace there.  I’m confronted by the minister being a close contact!  As he says, we can still worship the Lord our God. I enjoyed the organ playing.

In Russia, it seems that of the fast food outlets (e.g. Starbucks) pulling out, what has really upset folk is McDonalds pulling out – of its 850 outlets!  Deutsch bank is now pulling out too, and it’s believed the Russian economy is in serious trouble.  There are serious concerns about Putin’s health – about his puffy face, for one thing, and his evident isolation – how can this man hold the world to ransom? Apparently the Russians are seeking to attack ships that would offer aid to Ukraine. The Turks have blocked access to the Black Sea though the Bosphorus Straits – but they’ve blocked all ships, not just Russian ones.

It’s now Monday March 14^th.

This morning I get a text from my opticians telling me that my new reading glasses are ready, and I should make an appointment to pick them up. I ring, and am asked which day would suit. I explain that I’m pretty free all the time (seeing that almost everything is cancelled); I arrange to go in this afternoon.

In other news, Lydia Ko and former president Barack Obama have diagnosed positive for Covid 19, and actor William Hurt has died at 71. I remember him mainly for his part as C in the movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; he looked really old and washed up then. Perhaps it was the makeup.

In Ukraine, the barbarity of Russian troops continues. A Ukrainian defence base was bombed near the Polish border, and 35 people were killed. An American journalist has been killed. Another mayor has been kidnapped. Meanwhile, bombing continues, and refugees flood into first Poland, then Hungary. Yesterday there were thought to be 2 million refugees. I listened to a podcast in Skullduggery, an interview with the US Ambassador to Poland (Meta Brzezinski, brother of Mika and son of Zbigniew, where he said now much Poland’s security was helped by its NATO membership, such that they were willing to accept refugees;  he also said that President Biden’s sharing of US intelligence about the Russian attack had given allies a heads up about the coming invasion, especially seeing that it was in tune with their own intelligence. Notable comparisons are being made between Hitler and the Nazis’ “false flag” attack on Poland in 1939 which started World War II; In Ukraine, there’s a very moving video of a pianist playing Chopin in a seemingly untouched grand piano, in a otherwise bombed out apartment block.

The Covid 19 report here remains confusing: the total of new cases is 15,540, but there are 952 people in hospital, and there have been two more deaths. Of those in hospital, 19 are in Intensive Care. It’s reported that today’s new cases are in Northland (482), Auckland (4,730), Waikato (1,532), Bay of Plenty (1,023), Lakes (457), Hawke’s Bay (680), MidCentral (528), Whanganui (162), Taranaki (343), Tairāwhiti (262), Wairarapa (167), Capital and Coast (1,191), Hutt Valley (749), Nelson Marlborough (373), Canterbury (1,896), South Canterbury (130), Southern (795) and the West Coast (31).

School have been incredibly hard hit, with 46,000 cases from schools or early childhood centres in the last 10 days. It’s reported that there are 952 people in hospital with Covid-19 across North Shore (185), Middlemore (210), Auckland (210), Waikato (78), Bay of Plenty (34), Lakes (13), Tairāwhiti (3), Hawke’s Bay (23), Taranaki (9), MidCentral (20), Whanganui (3), Hutt Valley (23), Capital and Coast (61), Wairarapa (7), Nelson Marlborough (9), Canterbury (29) and the Southern region (12). 61 in Wellington!  I wonder if any are at Kenepuru Hospital.  22 new cases were found at the border.

That’s it for today. Go Ukraine! Ngā mihi.

With apologies to Gerard Manley Hopkins

It’s now Wednesday March 9^th, 2022. Kia ora!

This morning I learnt that Phil Goff, Mayor of Auckland, has been diagnosed positive for Covid 19; that President Biden says the US will not longer buy oil, gas or coal from Russia; and a second Russian general has been killed in the Ukraine. There is some doubt around this last item, and I don’t have the details yet. Hint for the US: turn the air con down! It doesn’t have to be so cold that you need to put a cardigan on!  Although, in deference, I have wrestled with heat pumps that have an aircon function, trying to get the temperature that’s right for me.  You also want a quiet one.

This morning I got up early and went to hymn singing. It was lovely, as always; there were very few of us there, and we sing in the church now rather than the organ loft so there’s plenty of room.  Afterwards I tried the chemist there for RATs; they said to buy them at the supermarket: a new lot comes in every day. I did that – buying two (the limit per customer) from the checkout operator. I also bought the last package of trumpets! And some more raspberries – I can’t go past them at this price. They’re lovely with jelly and ice cream. Anyway, the RATs cost $32.99 each! That’s rather expensive, but then when I unpack them I find there are 5 tests in each pack, so I bought 10 tests in all. They still require a deep nasal swab.

The news informs me that the isolation time for Covid 19 is being reduced from 10 to 7 days, at midnight on Friday. Presumably that’s if you’re diagnosed positive for Covid 19 (or are a household contact of someone who’s diagnosed positive). Household contacts require two negative RAT tests. It also told me there’d been a death in Tairāwhiti (it’s reported he was a 77 year old man with pre-existing health conditions). Today there are 22,454 community cases, and there have been 4 further deaths.  Today it’s reported that there are 742 people in hospital, and 19 in Intensive Care. Of the four deaths, two were in the Lakes district, one in Tairāwhiti and one in Counties Manukau. It’s reported that there are 715 new community cases in Northland, 2109 in Waikato, 1427 in Bay of Plenty, 633 in Lakes, 707 in Hawke’s Bay, 655 in MidCentral, 202 in Whanganui, 536 in Taranaki, 373 in Tairāwhiti, 166 in Wairarapa, 1879 in Capital and Coast, 1062 in Hutt Valley, 452 in Nelson Marlborough, 2024 in Canterbury, 120 in South Canterbury, 835 in Southern and 20 in West Coast. In Super Rugby news, the Highlanders have Covid 19 cases which they are managing before their game against the Blues in Auckland on Friday.

I am reading Providence Lost, by Paul Lay, about Cromwell’s Protectorate.  But, was religion an issue, back then! I trust we’re a bit more tolerant now. Whoever was in charge – the punishments were terrible, quite violent.  What a time that must have been. There were not only issues between Catholics and Protestants, but with Scottish Presbyterianism and the Quakers!  For crying out loud, they’re all Christian religions.

The situation in Ukraine continues to be awful, and makes me think our present problems are very minor, really. After all, although scared of catching Covid 19, I can still sleep in my own bed, have a warm shower, wear clean clothes and eat hot food, and make myself a hot drink whenever I feel like it. One wonders how long the brave Ukrainians can carry on, without such everyday “luxuries”.  There are accounts of mounting deaths and destruction by the Ukrainians against Russian troops; yet the people are repeatedly fired upon, even when traversing supposed safety areas, where a ceasefire had been declared.  In the cities, they don’t have running water, or power.  One hopes that food parcels can be delivered, as well as medical supplies. There are stories of hospitals being bombed.  Yet this madness continues, as Russians protest at home, at great personal cost.  What will Vladimir Putin do next? How desperate/crazy is he? 

There are reports of 11,000 dead Russian troops (yesterday it was 10,000), including three senior guys: the Russians don’t have women in their forces, evidently. A Major-General Gerasimov is dead, who commanded in Chechnya, in Crimea, and in Syria, so that will be quite a loss.  And the stalled convoy of tanks heading towards Kyiv? They have probably run out of fuel and food, and I wonder how their morale is keeping up?  Perhaps they can’t go backwards or forwards, and are stuck, in what is soon to be very muddy roadways.  At the Chernobyl nuclear plant, captured by the Russians, the staff have been kept on, and can’t leave, fearful as they are of nuclear disaster. It’s a fallacy to think that this plant doesn’t represent potential disaster at the best of times.

It is hot here again, after a few days of welcome fine, but cooler weather. That would be hot as in 23 degrees Celsius, which is not really hot, I know. It just feels hot, and has you seeking out bus stops – they always seem to be in windy spots.

It’s now Thursday March 10^th.

This morning I went to Tai chi at Mana. Evidently the police put bollards at the entrance of the side street last Wednesday to present campers from camping there.  Anyway, thankfully we were back today, and again, it’s a lovely fine day. In the afternoon I go for a walk up to the shops. There’s not many shortages that I can see, although they have no WCC rubbish bags in stock.  It’s a pleasant walk. The Guardian is shrieking about rising prices here; they’re not bothering me too much; I only buy things if I think they’re reasonably priced. I’m not trying to feed children or teenagers, but they’re not affecting me badly. As for the price of petrol, surely people should be using public transport, or car/ride-sharing?

The Covid 19 news is disturbing: one of Chris Hipkins’ children has Covid 19, so he’s isolating.  This seems to be making children very sick; most have only had one vaccination jab.  Today there are officially 21,015 new cases, with 97% of them diagnosed using RATs.  There are 845 people in hospital, with 16 in Intensive Care. Auckland Hospital is reported as being under pressure. In one hospital 1/3 pregnant mothers have Covid 19. Dr Bloomfield says there’ll be a change in the way deaths from Covid 19 are reported. If a person dies within 28 days of being diagnosed with Covid 19, they’ll be assumed to have died from Covid 19. The death total to date is 81 (91?) – still remarkably low for the population of this country. It’s reported that the new community cases are in Northland (689), Auckland (7234), Waikato (2016), Bay of Plenty (1392), Lakes (632), Hawke’s Bay (700), MidCentral (653), Whanganui (156), Taranaki (524), Tairāwhiti (353), Wairarapa (170), Capital and Coast (1858), Hutt Valley (1103), Nelson Marlborough (449), Canterbury (2021), South Canterbury (109), Southern (918), West Coast (26); and 12 in an unknown location. Dr Bloomfield says that most people in hospital are there because they are ill with Covid 19. The Khandallah Town Hall community group have again cancelled activities for next week, Monday 14 March – Friday 18 March.

My grandchildren who attend school don’t have Covid 19, but some of their friends are quite sick with it. Who says children don’t get it? Try telling that to the schools here.  And let’s be honest: children’s hygiene isn’t great at the best of times. This is not the Best of Times.

It’s certainly not the Best of Times for Ukraine. It’s universally agreed that the invasion is not going as planned from a Russian perspective, (a dead general’s papers attest to that), but the evil and cruel bombing of a hospital in Mariupol, and the difficulty in arranging safe passage for Ukrainian citizens, the seemingly  indiscriminate bombing of civilians, has shocked the world.  The US and NATO are afraid of starting a nuclear conflict; the issue of what actually starts a war is a good question itself. The Russians confirm that they have used thermobaric bombs, and there are fears of chemical weapons being used. It seems Putin is determined to wreck Ukraine, safe in the knowledge that he won’t help rebuild it.  Last night on Youtube I saw a planned press release, that was supposed to be issued after the successful invasion of Ukraine. It was scarily Orwellian in its language and style. It even spoke about Eurasia!

With regard to the stalled, lengthy tank convoy approaching Kyiv, the Independent Newspaper reports that the soldiers in the tanks may freeze to death, as a cold spell is expected. Evidently they’re not being supplied with food and gas. There are now stories of Russian troops robbing Ukrainian villagers, for something to eat.  The Chernobyl nuclear plant is now closed, but there are fears for its safety.  Many cities have no power or water. There are reports of wounded men.  For all that the Ukrainians are “winning”, and defiant though they are, they’re paying a terrible price. Yesterday it was reported that there are 2,000,000 refugees, now going to Hungary rather than Poland. Hungary and Poland are bastions of right-wing rule and authority, but they’re helping these folk rather than Putin, surely an interesting reaction. The UK has increased the number of visas it will authorise from 50 to 300. Well, that’ll make a huge difference, won’t it. Shouldn’t the West do something more to stop this terrible carnage?  If Trump had done what President Zelensky wanted, and freely given the aid approved by the US Congress, and invited him to the White House, all this may have been prevented. 

I heard that the person in charge of Putin’s armed forces has not himself had military experience. The Head of the Defence Force in Belarus has resigned, saying he could not put a battalion together.  It seems the much-vaunted Russian Army looks scary in May Day parades, but in real life is a bunch of scared, ill-trained, ill-equipped youngsters, who’ve been lied to about the real reason for being in Ukraine. Contrary to expectations, they’re being met with swear words rather than apple pie and kisses!  But after two weeks, there is devastation in Ukraine. This country was the bread basket of Europe, known for its ability to grow wheat and grain. What an extraordinary waste, when already so many people are going hungry.  We pray for better things. Ngā mihi.

It’s now Tuesday March 8^th, 2022. Kia ora.

Now we all know someone with Covid 19.  We know of many more – people whom I don’t really know, I just know their names and roles.  No one in my family or friends in New Zealand has it as yet; a nephew in Australia has it for the second time, having returned from a South American country where he had gone to study, before Covid. In the former times.  I continue to pray that none of our loved ones gets it, but it gets harder and harder to avoid.  Knowing people who have it just makes it harder to take the risk and go out; it’s also difficult, seeing most activities are cancelled anyway, and you really need to get out.

Here in New Zealand, Hawkes Bay Hospital is under pressure, with 8 people with the virus in hospital. Their ED was already under severe pressure. They’ve scaled back some services and set up a dedicated Covid 19 ward, which can take up to 17 patients, with Intensive Care facilities as well. They’re going to start surveillance testing of all patients, to see if people without Covid 19 symptoms are infected; and they can take a further 24 patients if necessary. One hopes it won’t be necessary.

Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital is under pressure, with 195 patients infected with Covid 19. Some doctors are covering for nurses who are off either ill themselves or isolating. I guess if you have almost 700 people hospitalised, then they have to go to hospital somewhere.

The schools are badly hit, with 25,000 students and teachers isolating because of Covid 19.  They’re dealing with it in different ways, but it surely creates big problems; you might think you’ve solved the problem on Monday, only to have to find a different solution on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The Wellington City Council has problems with staff away; they’re not collecting crates of bottles for the foreseeable future; yesterday, in Broadmeadows, in the late afternoon recycling bins hadn’t been emptied. Staff are off at the Sewage Treatment Plant, as well. Some train services are being cancelled. Some stores are reporting shortages, although my local supermarket yesterday wasn’t too bad.

A Rhythm and Vines Festival that was to be held at Easter has been cancelled.

It’s reported that 6 members of Parliament have Covid 19. Meanwhile, the protest/campers have tried to set up camp at New Plymouth. Really, what’s left to protest about? The convoy outside Washington D.C. has stopped; perhaps they’re asking themselves the same question.  Some journalists here have tried to discuss with protesters what their grievances are; I agree it’s really trying if you’ve lost your job, but I wouldn’t want an unvaccinated person caring for my daughter or teaching my grandchildren.  Other than that, the call for freedom is pretty unnerving and unrealistic when you see what’s happening in Ukraine.

The upside of our omicron surge? New Zealanders are free to come here from overseas, and no longer have to try and book a place in MIQ. Come here, if you dare! At Auckland Airport, food outlets are running with reduced staff and availability – because of Covid 19.  New Zealand welcomes vaccinated Kiwis from overseas, (who don’t need to isolate), but don’t expect to eat at the airport! I find that is so ironical. PS any time I’ve eaten there, I’ve found the food overpriced and not great value for money.

Meanwhile, the dreadful war in Ukraine continues. It’s not easy to follow. There are streams of refugees; ceasefires to allow safe passage are being broken, again, as leaving residents are shelled. The photos show great devastation; it’s said Putin just wants to ruin the place. He won’t rebuild, even if he does win. He’s proposed six routes out of Ukraine, but four of them go through Russia or Belarus, so that’s unacceptable. President Zelensky calls for a no-fly zone; the West continues to resist this request, but more and more people are demanding that something be done to halt the dreadful damage and slaughter. There are broadcasters like Jake Tapper who point out that the West has appeased Putin for far too long; I guess, though, that they’ve sought not to rile him up.  In retrospect, it’s been a mistake to indulge him, and as for Dubya’s (George Bush II) words, I think Americans are far too trusting. Look where that got us! We get to live another day, and have more grandchildren, provided we don’t get Covid 19; meanwhile the brave Ukrainians’ lives are destroyed. Someone said the average annual income is $3,000(USD) a year. That’s not much, although they look like us.

The Russian Army’s much vaunted strength and power isn’t looking so great now, although it’s bombing apartment buildings and industrial sites with terrible effect. But the Ukrainians are fighting back, too, with photographic record of destroyed tanks, and some planes and helicopters.  I know that misinformation is a hazard, and you have to be careful about what you watch, but there are some videos on Youtube which seem to bear more truth than others. There have been clips of captured Russian soldiers apologising, saying they’d been misled, and they never should have invaded Ukraine. War analysts and some generals have useful things to say about supply lines and suchlike. The ground that Russian tanks are driving on already looks very muddy in places. 

The Ukrainians have been saying 11,000 Russian troops are dead. Even if this figure is exaggerated, it’s still remarkable. Mothers from Siberia are telling Putin not to use their sons as cannon fodder. This morning it was claimed they’d destroyed a column of 36 tanks. The historian Stephen Kotkin claims that war is always a miscalculation: of the strength of one’s  troops; the nature of the terrain; the power of the resistance, and, of course, how to supply fuel, food and much needed morale to the troops themselves.

New Zealand has imposed some sanctions, and is now in Putin’s bad books: it joins a list of other countries that have imposed some kind of sanctions on Russia: the list includes Australia, Albania, Andorra, Great Britain, including Jersey, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Gibraltar, EU member states, Iceland, Canada, Liechtenstein, Micronesia, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, San Marino, North Macedonia, Singapore, US, Taiwan, Ukraine, Montenegro, Switzerland and Japan. I think we’d be proud to be included in that list. There’s talk of the US not importing oil from Russia.

Apparently the Russian rouble has dropped even further in value: it was worth 1 cent (US), now it’s worth 0.6 cents. But Putin has a friend in President Xi of China, who refuses to condemn the invasion, and talks of setting up a Chinese alternative to Visa and Mastercard, who have suspended operations in Russia. Russian people cannot withdraw cash from ATMS, and what they can withdraw is almost worthless. 

Today the NZ Herald reports that Ukrainian forces have taken back the city of Chuhuiv, with defence officials saying Russia suffered “heavy losses in the battle”, including the deaths of two high ranking officials. It was reported that Chuhuiv is a small city 30,000 people, located about 35km southeast of Kharkiv. It was one of the first cities to be taken by Russia when troops invaded Ukraine on February 24.

The Russians have demands for the Ukrainians to stop military action, and for Ukraine to recognise Crimea as Russian, and Luhansk and Donetsk to be s separate states.  Do we think it will stop there? Is resistance a crime? Do we believe Putin, or his negotiators?  Zelensky has said nothing is off the table. Evidently he’s survived three assassination attempts. The British have said they will accept 50 visas from Ukraine – a move that is being widely ridiculed. I listened (with amazement) to a Guardian podcast about refugees fleeing from Ukraine, and hearing some of the personal stories; meanwhile, the UK only allows 50 visas. Poland has been very kind, but they are reaching their limit, too. The refugee situation is becoming a humanitarian crisis.

Today’s Covid 19 report is presented by Dr Caroline McElnay, who is herself isolating at home because she’s experiencing mild symptoms, and wishes to be seen taking her own advice. Meanwhile The New Yorker is letting me read an article about the first phase of Covid 19 in Ecuador, which killed so many thousands of people, although a doctor had prepared for Covid 19, on first hearing the stories out of Wuhan. It is just so sad. They already have a very high murder rate, but this wave of disease was something else: all normal systems for coping with disease and death were overwhelmed.

Today’s report, unsurprisingly, is worse than yesterday’s. There is a story in the paper about how difficult it is to get a RAT test: here’s a link.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/462903/opinion-getting-a-rapid-antigen-test-on-the-kapiti-coast-an-exercise-in-the-absurd

Today’s total of new community cases is 23,894, the highest yet, and the most people in hospital – 756 (another website says 757), with 16 in Intensive care. There are reportedly 9,081 new cases in Auckland. We’re not told the locations of the new cases, only that most are diagnosed through RATs, rather than PCR tests.

Isolation requirements are being relaxed for critical medical services only: a person can return to work on day 6 after having two negative Covid 19 tests; or a covid 19 infected person can work on a ward where all patients have covid 19. Predictably, the Nurses’ Union is calling foul, that nurses will be pressured to work when they’re feeling unwell. No one is supposed to work if they’re feeling unwell; presumably it’s their own choice if they do so.

In Ukraine, it’s reported that 9 planes have been shot down in 24 hours, a loss that can’t be sustained for more than a fortnight, according to some analysts.

That’s it for now. Ngā mihi.