Week 41/2021: lockdowngetdown

Week 41/2021: Week of 11 October 2021

Lockdowngetdown

I can’t say that, when I got up on Friday morning, I’d thought that 12 hours later we’d be in a covid lockdown, but there we are. Some guy from NSW, who tested positive for covid (dubbed “covidiot” in the local press on Thursday) and had no authority to enter Tasmania, came here on Monday, escaped from hotel quarantine and “moseyed about” (actual words from an ABC news story) in Hobart’s northern suburbs for the best part of a day before being located and returned to quarantine. His refusal to tell anyone where he’d been meant that the contact tracers had no idea which places might have been hotspots for infection, so the public health advice was for a three-day lockdown for the entire south of the state.

This left a trail of close contacts, including one who subsequently left home quarantine, and casual contacts being identified, and a whole bunch of nervous people waiting anxiously for test results to see if the virus had spread.

It was devastating for Kramstable, who had been working with his drama teacher on a piece to perform at the Hobart Eisteddfod on Monday. That was cancelled, along with everything else that was supposed to have taken place this weekend. It was heartbreaking that so many plans were disrupted by the actions of one person and a massive failure in the security system that is supposed to be keeping us safe.

But there was nothing we could do about it, and public safety was the most important thing. So we locked down and made the best of it.

As of Sunday afternoon, no one else had been identified as having the virus but they weren’t going to make a decision until Monday. So the wait continued. (Spoiler: no cases, and lockdown ended as planned at 6.00 on Monday.)

21 for 2021 update

I had another week where I didn’t do a lot on my 21 for 2021 things. I think I completely over-committed this year and I’m running out of energy to do the things, especially as I’ve picked up a bunch of other things that have taken up a lot of time, like writing courses and other photography courses. That’s not necessarily as bad thing. It just means I’ve adjusted my priorities over the year. I think I’m okay with that.

That said, I do need to get back to the In Praise of Veg book. I’ve ticked off all the easy wins and there are only things left to cook that are either tricky or involve difficult to find ingredients. A trip to the Asian grocer may be in order next week.

I’m also not sure what my excuse is on the Change Journal. That was supposed to be simply a matter of choosing one different technique each week and testing it out over a week. It shouldn’t be as hard as I’m making it.

Kramstable’s videos (thing 8)

I think I’ve got everything into the video that needs to be there, and probably a whole lot more as it’s over two hours—definitely the longest of these videos that I’ve made. But I’ve included a lot of Kramstable’s own footage from his YouTube channel that I think adds to the story of his year, so it’s all good.

My mother’s story (thing 9)

I visited my mother during the week and found out a bit more of the story of her childhood home, my grandparents home, which I used to visit regularly as a child.

21 for 2021 summary

• Things completed this week: 0
• Things completed to date: 4 (1, 11, 18, 20)
• Things I progressed: 2 (8, 9)
• Things in progress I didn’t progress: 10 (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17)
• Things not started: 5 (3, 12, 15, 19, 21)

  

What else did I do this week?

I’ve changed yoga classes. I used to go to a 7.30 pm class on Wednesdays, which was great but I’d often be so tired when I got there, I spent more time trying to stay awake than focusing on the class. So when my teacher said she was going to start 7.30 am classes on Tuesdays, I was very keen to sign up.

The first class was on Tuesday and it was great. For once, I didn’t feel like I was ready to go home and fall into bed after a class, and I didn’t spend the entire class fighting sleep. My teacher said that yoga puts you into the state you need to be in, and it made me feel a lot more alert and awake.

It was a good decision.

I made a few good decisions this week. Some years ago, my friend samedog posted something about his walks and, while I can’t remember his exact words, it went something along the lines of how important walking was to him and that, short of weather that could possibly endanger his life if he went out, serious illness or an injury that physically prevented him from walking, it was a non-negotiable activity for him. I loved this so much I adopted “walking is non-negotiable” as one of my rules for life, and I’ve missed very few days since then.

Saturday might have been one of those days. The weather was shocking. It had been raining, it was windy and cold and it wasn’t the kind of day you’d want to be outside for too long in. While we were allowed out of lockdown to exercise, we had to wear masks. And I’m sure anyone who wears glasses knows how much fun that is when you go outside, so going out for me this weekend involved an extra friction point of having to wear my contacts. Because fogged up glasses for an hour does not appeal one little bit. (Whinge whinge whinge.)

It would have been easier to stay in bed. I really wanted to. (I recently got this weighted blanket that is just the BEST thing ever.) But walking is non-negotiable, so I dragged myself out of bed, put my contacts in for what I think is about the second or third time since the original covid lockdowns in March 2020, retrieved my mask (coincidentally designed by the guy whose words were responsible for me feeling the need to go out in the first place), rugged up and went out for my daily permitted exercise.

Another good decision.

When did I listen and what did I learn this week?

I learned that if there is an email in your outbox that you spent an hour putting together and that isn’t sending, you should copy the text and save it somewhere before restarting your computer when everything freezes. Alternatively, don’t write emails that are very detailed. Put the information into an attachment.

A not good decision.

What was the best thing about this week?

Having a day off on Wednesday.

What I’m reading this week

• The Meaning in the Making by Sean Tucker
• Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Habit tracker

• Days I went for a walk in the morning (Goal = 7): 7
• Days I did my morning planning routine at work (Goal = 4): 0
• Days I did my post-work pack up routine (Goal = 4): 0
• Days I worked on my art (Goal = 2): 3
• Days I read a book (Goal = 7): 7
• Days I did yoga stretches (Goal = 7): 0
• Days I had a lunch break away from my desk (Goal = 4 work days): 4
• Days I went for a walk or did other physical activity in the afternoon (Goal = 5): 4
• Days I shut my computer down before 9.30 (Goal = 6): 7