Level Two

So here we are at Covid-19 Level Two. Restrictions have been lifted, shops, cafés and restaurants opened, and New Zealand travel allowed. Yippee!

On the first day, we headed up to Zealandia for the first time in seven weeks, for a walk. We got there early, and it turned out that this was a good plan, as by the time we were returning the place was beginning to fill up. Certainly the car parks were full! I will be returning there on Saturday in a professional capacity, volunteer guiding in the afternoon.

We then headed into town for me to get…a haircut! Yes, the Eighties look has been lost, and I’m now back to my Shaun The Sheep style. They were only allowing three people into the shop to wait, so the queue had started to form outside. I was fifth, but as there were three hairdressers we got seen fairly quickly.

For lunch we went out to Café Polo. They’re still offering only a limited menu, but at least we could sit down in there, have a beer or wine with lunch, and generally try to get back to normal. There weren’t as many people availing themselves of this as I’d have thought. The Larder don’t appear to be open for business yet – they’re still passing food out onto a table à la Level Three. They were offering a bubble dinner on Thursday and Friday, but these sold out within minutes and we didn’t make the cut. We’ll be back to them when they reopen properly – probably next week. Meanwhile, we had their Vietnamese lunch the other day – pork banh mi and chicken dumpling soup – which was very tasty.

We’ve also had another meal from Loggy B’s (that’s Logan Brown to you) delivered for home assembly. This time we had confit duck, and again it was a restaurant-quality experience. We’ve ordered again for next week.

On Friday morning we went down to Scorch-O-Rama for brunch. Again, oddly quiet. I’d have thought that people would be flocking to these venues again, but either they’re back at work, or staying at home afeart. Maybe they’ll be busier over the weekend.

In Covid-19 news, we’ve had three days on the trot with no new cases, followed by one case today...but this turned out to be someone who had symptoms two months ago, tested negative, was isolated anyway, is now no longer infectious, and now tests positive. Not entirely sure how they get this to be a “new case”, but hey, what do I know?

Next week will see further relaxations, with pubs and bars allowed to reopen. Some are open already if they're serving food, but there are no drinks-only establishments open at the moment. And no, crisps and nuts are not a meal (they checked). The Level 2 restrictions will be reviewed on Monday, 25^th May.