(17th August 2021)

This COVID lockdown has been so different for me to my last one. I had been working part time as the Telehealth Coordinator at the Waikato District Health Board (Hamilton NZ). With the arrival of COVID my hours were quickly increased to full time. We were frantically trying to support health professionals, working from home, to continue seeing their patients using technology. Working from home was foreign to those of us in NZ so there were problems with connectivity, learning technology etiquette and booking appointments on line. An exciting but very tiring time.

This time is so different. I have the luxury of living at a slower pace. Home looking shiny, gardens manicured within an inch of their lives, new activities trialed such as making a pizza from beginning to end and learning how to video and edit on my phone (first attempts not too successful but can only get better) and the most enjoyable part ,walking each day and having the time to enjoy the beauty of nature. There are three favorite walks from which I can choose, all about an hour and half in length. They are a treat I give myself each day.