People and vehicles queued at the Covid-19 testing station on Taranaki Street in Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
People and vehicles queued at the Covid-19 testing station on Taranaki Street in Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
OPINION:
Good luck to everyone as lockdown seems set in concrete, a bad idea whose time has come, the new black. It's a very black kind of black.
Good luck to the jerks who took their vino and pitted olives from Auckland to their holiday homes in Northland. Lockdown withbeach access! There are very good reasons not to have done that but you can only do what you think is right for the people you love.
Good luck to the sneaks and peepers ratting on breakers of rules. We must crack down on those whose actions threaten to extend lockdown! People will laugh at you and scorn you as curtain-twitching busybodies but you can only do what you think is right for the good of society.
Good luck to the party animals and freedom fighters who are gathering in defiance of level 4. You can't not have fun, sometime! The possibility that your actions will have serious consequences is a real possibility but you can only do what you think feels right at the time.
Good luck to the anti-vaxxers and their creepy unvaccinated flesh. Live long and prosper, Brian and Hannah Tamaki! Who's to say you are going about things the wrong way other than health professionals but you can only do what you think is right according to your insane beliefs.
Good luck to the pious left who gather on Twitter to mock and scorn all critics of the precious Labour Government. Leave Jacinda alone! You drive everyone else up the wall with your we-know-better ways but you can only do what you think the collective think is right.
Good luck to Mike and Kate and Heather and all the various assorted affiliates and non-affiliates of Newstalk ZB who are critics of the apparently hopeless Labour Government. To hell with Jacinda! You greatly distress the left and for that we should be grateful but apart from that you raise a lot of good points and you can only do what you think is right-wing.
Good luck to the swabbers, the vaccinators, the close contact representatives, the Healthline phone operators and all health professionals involved in the Delta fight. Thank you! You are doing what's right.
Good luck to the police who still have to go about their business in the deserted streets where crime never quite sleeps. See above.
Good luck to those who have tested positive. Good luck to the close contacts and the casual contacts told to self-isolate. Good luck to those about to be told they've tested positive, and those about to be told they need to self-isolate. God almighty. You can only do what you're told to do and think that everything is going to be all right.
Good luck to everyone. Level 4 in 2021 isn't as vivid as level 4 in 2020 – the first time was a moment in history, really quite exciting, what a thing to experience and witness, but this time it's a bad repeat on the Delta channel, Groundhog Day starring the team of 5 million as groundhogs, stuck in our burrows, again.
Again with the lockdown fandango, again with the turn of the screw. Again with the bad news, the daily lottery, the 1pm vibe. Again with the sleepiness, the queues, the desolate walks, the left and right going at it just for something to do. But we have to place our faith in good systems, in good science, in good curves.
One day lockdown is going to end; in the meantime, all you can do is cling to good luck.
