A new love
Post-lockdown we left Gibbston for Christchurch and we’ve been surfing. Life feels great – a new sport, new people, no tourists like those who clogged Queenstown post-COVID.
Author: Jane Shearer
The lucky country
Both New Zealand and Australia are lucky countries in COVID times – it helps to be islands. And it looks like it helps to have lockdowns. How has the severity of our lockdowns compared? Who knows what the longer term effect will be on our economies.
Living at Level 2
It’s great to be in level 2 and catch up with friends. It feels like the time after the Canterbury earthquakes, reconnecting with people. However, like after the earthquakes, it’s not yet clear what the fall out from the ongoing COVID situation will be. One likely fall out will be extended loss of jobs, like our travel agent friend who was recently made redundant.
Leading horses to water
What makes a successful leader? Is Jacinda Ardern successful? I think so, though I have a friend who thinks she’s a devil. Is Jim Boult, Mayor of Queenstown, successful? Both have good qualities and bad, and qualities suited for particular times.
The price is wrong
Which freedoms will we get when we move to Level 2? Hopes of domestic tourism are rising. People want to travel and businesses want custom. Will they have to reduce prices which supposedly got too expensive when it was an international market?
Evidence in the face of belief
Some people are positive saints in these COVID times. The process of beatification is a long one, so they won’t likely become saints until they are dead. Beatification often seems to include belief without evidence, like what we believe about the economy.
Comparing lockdowns
Lockdowns have varied across the world in their severity. In some countries people can’t go further than 100m from their houses or exercise at all. As countries come out the other side of their infection curves restrictions are reducing, as in New Zealand. However, the USA has not yet got on top of COVID, not surprising given their variable approaches. But maybe they haven’t all swallowed bleach yet…
All we like sheep
Sheep – an important export from NZ, first for meat and coarse wool and now also for merino. And in COVID…we are expected to behave like sheep and herd well. Cultures vary in the ‘sheepishness’. How sheeply are New Zealanders?
A breath of fresh air
Where has the New Zealand COVID experiment got to in the last 5 weeks? In comparison to China, or Sweden, we’re looking pretty good. Which is why we are moving from Alert Level 4 to Level 3 for the next 2 weeks.