The upside in all this

Upon reflection, I’m not sure Zombieland Double Tap was the best choice of movie to watch last night en famille in the middle of a pandemic.

I felt a bit unsettled and nauseous afterwards … although maybe that was from overindulging in homemade fish and chips for dinner.

Actually, nothing feels quite right at the moment.

There’s the whole COVID-19 thing; I’ve had a pimple outbreak at age 52; the eldest started clearing out his room; the dogs are really needy – they sit on the arm of the couch beside my desk as I work, tapping constantly on my hand with their paws, demanding I pat them.

I’m also beginning to feel a little lairy about leaving the house. It’s getting so quiet and strange out there.

I grabbed a coffee yesterday afternoon from one of my regular cafes and all the tables and chairs were piled up in the corner. There was a lone barista working behind the counter. I asked him how long the place was staying open and he shrugged his shoulders. He said it depended on what the Prime Minister had to say in his latest briefing, but he’d be opening up the cafe this morning if he could.

Things are moving so fast at the moment – a bit like the evolved zombies in Double Tap.

The way the world was turning just a week or two ago seems like another lifetime.

I wonder if things will never go back to the way they were. I ponder how long it will be before there’s safe international travel, or even local. I suppose it’s as far away as the vaccine that scientists are frantically trying to create.

Forgive my maudlin jag. Blame all those rampant zombies I watched last night.

I am now officially lucky enough to be able to work from home for the foreseeable future. I wasn’t sure how much there would be to write about in the liquor sphere during a pandemic, but I’m run off my feet. Yesterday I churned out 10 stories, on everything from rum distilleries turning their production to hand sanitiser to the AHA and unions co-operating to save hospitality jobs.

Also, people in NZ are really freaking out about the level 4 restrictions that kick in today. There was uncertainty about whether bottle shops would be allowed to remain open, so some store owners were putting in concrete barriers to try and avoid being ram raided. Blimey.

Sometimes I think being in digital media means you know too much.

Remember when you were a kid and the only place you got information was The World Book? Oh how I loved our mission brown and cream A-Z set.

Now we can search the internet and get minute by minute updates on how many people are infected.

In happier news, I bought the youngest a big box of bread mix at the supermarket and she made her first loaf yesterday. Delicious!

And DD popped over to fix my broken printer, then sipped a glass of red wine with me afterwards. Equally delicious!

I also got a bloke over to measure up the front bedroom for a double-glazed window, to move us a little further along the path of shifting the rats to the garage/art studio and the youngest into the vacated room (following intense sanitising).

The bloke’s name was Bruce, bless him, and we discussed – as we kept our social distance – how you just had to keep doing stuff like asking for quotes and getting tradesmen out because you just don’t know what the future holds, so you might as well keep the engine of commerce ticking over while you can.

It will take about six weeks to get a new double-glazed window. I wonder what those six weeks will hold. Going on the last six weeks, it will hold quite a lot and not very much.

I’m expecting the youngest and I will find ourselves playing a few games of dominos and Jenga again, after a few years hiatus. The youngest reckons she was only humouring me towards the end when we played. But she’s bored already after just 24 hours at home without school or skipping training.

She’ll be begging me for a little Battleship before she knows it.

I’m thinking an upside will be families rediscovering their connections with each other. There’s only so long we can all fiddle on our electronic devices before we start seeking each other out to talk, watch movies on the couch, play board games on the dining table and shoot hoops in the backyard.

There will be good that comes out of all the bad.

Take care, stay well. Catch you tomorrow.

Song of the day: REM “It’s the end of the world as we know it … and I feel fine”