One week since Lockdown...

Empty local streets and parks

Yesterday, I emerged out of the house at 1pm and decided to get some fresh air and a change of scenery on Day 6 of our Lockdown. I took our youngest out for a bike ride with me accompanying her on foot and it was quite eerie to see lots of cars parked outside of homes but no sign of movement outside of homes.

Very little traffic passed us and no one else was walking out in the heat and when we did see one family exchanging pleasantries with a parked car with passengers outside their driveway, we decided to cross the road and maintain the two-metre social distancing recommendation. We only saw a couple of families with children outside but many were on lockdown in their houses.

After walking around out block, the heat was too much for our youngest and so we decided to head back home and passed the corner park that is usually occupied with children but from a distance, we could see a white sign written in red that it was prohibited to be on (not that we were going to go there in the first place). Needless to say, there were no children on that park.

What this has done for my extended family is that many are reaching out and calling in and checking on my elderly parents, messaging, video chatting and texting from all over Auckland and overseas in seeing how everyone is and how each is managing.

Our prayers and thoughts go out to those in the front line of this silence war: the shopkeepers, supermarket workers, shelf fillers, the doctors and nurses, sanitation workers, medical suppliers, those in the food supply chain, electric and internet providers etc. and the list goes on for all those still working in the essential services to ensure that for those of us who are on lockdown - that we continue to stay home and save lives too!...