I realised, after posting yesterday’s blog, that I’d got it wrong, and we were actually still on day zero. The New Zealand quarantine regulations stipulate that those entering the country must spend a minimum of 336 hours in managed isolation – which might conjure up an image of all those troops of corona viruses carefully synchronising their watches before setting out to invade an unsuspecting traveller: 336 hours; 20,160 minutes; 1,209,600 seconds.
With that in mind, the earliest we will be allowed to leave this hotel will be 12.20pm on Thursday 10th December, exactly 336 hours after our flight – EK448 – touched down at Auckland international airport.
The flight itself had been remarkably comfortable, even if rather long. New Zealand is a long way from the UK, so it always takes a long time. And this time it seemed longer than usual, given an 8-hour stop over in Dubai and a further brief stopover in Kuala Lumpur. Checking in at Birmingham airport was a strange experience – never have I seen the airport so empty, and once checked in, we whisked through security to wait for our flight.
The first two legs had been daytime flights, and I took the opportunity to read, in its entirety, a book on safeguarding in the Church of England for my PhD. That, and two inspiring but challenging films: Harriet – the true story of Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who went on to rescue dozens of slaves, leading them to freedom along the underground railroad in 19th century USA; and Ken Loach’s latest film – Sorry We Missed You – a harrowing story of a family struggling with the gig economy. The reality of life for so many families living on the edge, and now made worse by the pandemic and lockdown, is something that is hard to face.
Once again, I have been left with that unanswerable question – why am I so privileged while others have to live with such inequity?
The last stretch of our journey was a night flight, and I lowered the tone somewhat by watching Charlie’s Angels, for a bit of mindless escapism. With a nearly empty plane, Lois and I were both able to stretch out on two separate rows of seats for as good a sleep as one can possibly expect on a flight. This pandemic may not be good for the airline industry, but it does make for more comfortable flying.
So here we are, properly completing day one of our quarantine. Refreshed by a good night’s sleep. Engaged by a day of reading, writing and a little bit of arithmetic thrown in. 28 hours down. Only another 308 to go. 😊
