Thursday.

Today things will be better. We have the long awaited appointment to exercise on the rooftop terrace, AND there are positive signs that Peter’s bicycle will arrive.

Highlights

• Day 3 Covid tests both negative. A small relief, given that there was at least one positive test amongst the people who arrived on the same plane as us. I’m assuming that had we been sitting close to them, we would have heard a bit more about it by now.

• The rooftop terrace – not just because it’s not “the ramp”, but especially because the lovely AvSec man in charge of making sure we all keep 2m apart took it upon himself to add some bouncy, happy Kiwi and Pasifica music to our exercise experience. Such a small thing – and so much appreciated!

• And yes, the arrival of the bicycle, along with a note under our door reminding us that….
  “All guests are to exercise quietly; and are to conduct exercise where the creation of noise is unavoidable only during daylight in reasonable waking hours”. Hmmm, not sure this is going to turn out well.

• A good board meeting for me, and Peter making himself useful supporting a friend in need, all made the day immensely more interesting – turns out that being useful is a basic human need! (I knew that).

• The chef is back! Great food again, with roast lamb and vegies for dinner, followed by a very scrummy chocolate brownie with berry sauce and ice cream! Yum!

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Lowlights

• Discovering that my fellow director in the morning’s board meeting, who is on Day 2 of MIQ, has a ground floor unit with a small garden and outdoor furniture to use! Definitely a better experience than we’re having – and no doubt his exercycle will be less of a noise hazard to others! But I am NOT complaining!

• Unrelated to MIQ, but absolutely gutted to hear that Aaron Gate has broken his collar bone and is out of the Olympics. Bad enough to watch him crash out in the race for Bronze last night, but to miss out on his marque event is just SO sad for him. Sending aroha to him, the team and his whanau.

Discoveries for future inmates…

• Take care when filling in your menu choices (not just because you might miss out on the feta in your greek salad!) If you want low sugar cereal, say so – the first option we got was 23% sugar, more like dessert really. Specify your fruit – within reason of course – but if you prefer apples to bananas, say so. That’s what the “Notes” field in the menu is for, it turns out!

• Think about what you order in – once it’s in the room, it can’t be sent away until you leave. Not a problem for us (just yet), but worth noting.

• You probably won’t get through your long list of things you’re planning to do to keep busy in MIQ. With a thir d of our time now gone, I’ve barely scratched the surface of my list. I’m fine with that. The “Daily Bubble” activity sheet that arrives every morning with our breakfast has received scant attention – probably only for the truly bored!

Decision for tomorrow – would it be presumptuous to book Bledisloe Cup tickets for Saturday 14th, on the assumption that we’ll be let out of jail on time?