It was a weekend of the Big Gay Out, the Americas Cup … We spent time with friends, out and about, scanning and masking as required. We were living, if not the dream, then at least our slightly nervous nearly normal. Then the country was back into degrees of lockdown.
Later that day my mobile suddenly emitted a nerve-shredding eldritch shriek of the sort you might expect if being alerted to a nuclear facility in core meltdown. I swear I levitated half a metre off the couch. Still, effective public health communication, for sure.
The announcement set off, like twin malfunctioning klaxons, National's Judith Collins and Act's David Seymour, enraged by the Government's stubborn refusal to infallibly control the mutating virus currently ravaging the world.
Nothing involving humans will be perfect. Plenty of evidence of that as the impeachment trial of former President Trump for inciting insurrection played out to its dispiriting foregone conclusion. The violent security camera and bodycam footage shown by the house managers put what happened at the Capitol on the historical record. "This is all emotional political theatre," railed Fox New's Greg Gutfeld. A colleague disagreed: "It's not theatre, because that's what happened."
If it was theatre, it was a sort of medieval morality play. Beware compromising your soul to follow false idols who will forsake you in a heartbeat. The Arizona rioter with the horned headgear, the "QAnon Shaman", had time to ponder this in jail. "Be patient with me and other peaceful people who, like me, are having a very difficult time piecing together all that happened to us, around us, and by us." Trump inspired him, he said, and Trump let him down. No good playing the victim now.