It’s official: all of New Zealand is in lockdown. I was at work on Monday, though the library itself was closed to customers, and that night Jacinda Ardern announced that all non-essential businesses and public venues would be closed for the next four weeks (today and tomorrow will be the grace period for people to start shutting things down).
The good news is that I was prepared for it: my father’s cousin is a doctor who warned him that this was a) serious and b) something that would last for a while, so that message was passed onto me about a week ago. The panic-buying has officially started, but I’m well-stocked. On the whole everyone is pretty calm: the government put a plan in place and has been following it for a while now; the local news stations have been wonderfully informative and Jacinda herself projects a sense of calm and competency.
I’ve no doubt there’ll be a few wankers who will make things difficult (despite all the warning signs, some people just didn’t bother to prepare) but on the whole the general feel is that we’re in control and nipping this thing in the bud. The number of cases is now over one hundred, but people are recovering and there have been no deaths so far.
So what to do when you’re in self-isolation? I’ve always got a pile of books to read and shows to watch, but I think it’s important to choice your material wisely. Don’t for example, watch HBO’s Chernobyl. Seriously, that would be a really stupid idea. Not something that I would ever do. No way.
Be smart, and choose something from my recommendations: eleven chill, spiritual, life-affirming stories to read/watch while in self-isolation:
