I’ve had a few people ask about lockdown 3.0, so I thought I’d take a minute to explain what it looks like in this neck of the woods. We live on the Mornington Peninsula which is considered a part of Metro Melbourne. All of Metro Melbourne currently finds itself in stage 4 lockdown. We have entered this level of lockdown, when we were already 5 weeks into a second stage 3 lockdown. So, what does that mean?
• It means there are four reasons to leave your house - for supplies, for exercise, for work and for medical reasons.
• We are allowed 1-hour of outdoor exercise each day.
• One person from each household can go to the shops for groceries, or other supplies, each day.
• There’s a curfew in place from 8pm to 5am.
• A mask must be worn when out of the house.
• You can’t go further than 5km from your house, your house bubble if you will.
• If you are going to work outside the 5km bubble, you have to have a letter from your employer explaining when you work, in case you’re stopped by authorities.
It’s a little wild spending 23-hours a day in our home, so I am grateful that it’s such a cozy space (And even cosier now that it looks like Christmas, yes, the house is decorated for the holidays - because why the heck not at this point). For those of you who currently find yourselves in the same boat, what are you doing to keep entertained?
So apart from decorating the house for Christmas, we’ve been trying to keep ourselves busy - books, games and movies have been a fantastic distraction. We get out for a walk or run every day to enjoy our hour out of the house. Lou likes to draw (she recently finished an incredibly beautiful rendition of Shadowcat, who knows what’s coming next...) and she’s been working through a Māori language course. I’ve been trying to document the experience as best I can, photos, journalling, and have been learning how to make my own watercolours, to better understand what’s involved, the process (and hopefully save a little on handmade watercolours into the future).
At this point, I can’t count how many times we’ve said how grateful we are to be people who have a lot of hobbies…
But today, we both had our first day where we felt the lockdown after lockdown had won. We had so little motivation to do much of anything, so we didn’t. Sure, a slow walk, sure a bit of time writing, but otherwise, re-runs of Hamish and Andy, chocolate chip cookies and lounging on the couch are just what the doctor ordered.
So I ask, when you’re unmotivated, what do you find yourself doing? Any and all ideas are welcome.
2020…. It’s been a heck of a year so far. We’ll have to see what tomorrow brings…