Sunday.

Definitely a day of rest in this first full day in managed isolation.

Highlights of the day:

• A long conversation with granddaughter Isabel, who asks concernedly “how are you doing, Ouma?”, and is very excited to be returning to school on Monday just 4 weeks after major surgery. Izzy, you rock!

• A newsy catchup with family in Melbourne – endless time to talk allows us to traverse news of the whole family. Yes family, we talked about ALL of you!

• The food, definitely the food! Eating far far too much – though now that we’re into the new week, our own menu selections kick in, which mean there will be less food, and definitely fewer desserts! The meals here at Rydges Auckland are exceptional.

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• The health checks – I know, how sad is it that this is a highlight. A real person at our door to take our temperatures (the only human we say all day), and a call from the nurses in the evening, to take our medical history & assess our “needs”. Hope they heard Peter’s statement that he can’t manage his health without exercise!

• My Day 0 covid test result is in and it’s negative. Now just waiting for Peter’s result.

Lowlights of the day:

• No exercise (though I did do an online pilates class). We can’t book outdoor time until our Day 0 covid tests come back negative, and we get given our health ‘all clear’ this morning. Hoping to fix this on Day 2.

• Very poor wine choice with dinner – they didn’t have our first choice, and the alternative was well below par, even given our reduced expectations. Hoping to fix this also on Day 2 with (fingers crossed) a delivery from the wine store!

• Worrying about the amount of waste being generated by the disposable packaging and cutlery used for all the food – and really hoping that the waste is being composted as they say – not noting that some of the packaging is definitely not compostable!

Discoveries so far (aka advice for those of you following us into MIQ, and noting that this probably varies by location)…

• There are two cups and two glasses in our room, a kettle and nothing else. Also no way to actually wash those dishes. I ordered a delivery from the supermarket, including dishwashing liquid (and a bucket for washing them in as the bathroom basis is only about 3cm deep!). And tea towels to dry them! And a knife to cut the fruit and cheese, that also came in the order. Orders are checked by security – I did wonder if they’d allow the knife through, but yes!

• Should have ordered toilet cleaner too – hoping that the hotel will provide that today, along with a toilet brush. Obviously the rooms are not serviced (no one allowed into your room unless it’s an emergency), so you’re on your own in terms of keeping your space liveable!

Small things make life easier… now heading into Day 2, fingers crossed for some exercise, or we may need to reorganise our tiny room to fit in a hired exercycle (assuming someone is willing to send one into an MIQ facility)! Now there are words my good friends never thought they’d hear from me.