Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Editorial: Lockdown looms but reflection is Covid-positive

Hawkes Bay Today
18 Aug, 2021 02:37 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
The allure of a Hawke's Bay spring may make it tougher to stay Covid-compliant, writes Mark Story. Photo / File

The allure of a Hawke's Bay spring may make it tougher to stay Covid-compliant, writes Mark Story. Photo / File

By Mark Story

Déjà vu?

Yep. But please don't use the term "new normal". That tag made me retch last lockdown, so let's not.

Come Friday, team Ashley & Ardern will advise whether we're to endure another lengthy stay at home.

The victims and collateral victims of the mutated Delta strain are a broad church, so the reaction will be mixed. That is, a hard lockdown is relative.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

For me the home office is a breeze.

No daily commute from Ahuriri to Heretaunga and back. No boring packed lunches, no search for clean socks, no wondering if anyone in the office will notice I've worn the same shirt for three days, no looking for car keys, no saying goodbye to my wife and kids, no holding my breath past Awatoto's industrial stink.

Some have it lucky.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

For others, for whom lockdown means a wage cut or no work at all, this crafty microbe is a stinger.

To boot, this time around it's struck a different season. Lockdown 2020 was an autumn-winter gig. In 2021 it's hit during the Bay's daffodil and blossom season; the spring-summer window will make it less easy to hunker down and hide, and may hit businesses and hospitality even harder.

And spare a thought for our returning Olympians - two weeks in MIQ, only to now face further time in a different bubble.

Hearing the news on Tuesday evening I decided a bottle of chardonnay was in order. I opted to dodge the supermarket mayhem and instead head to Big Barrel boozer.

Surprisingly, but perhaps not, there was a queue 12-customers deep from the beer fridge to the counter. Many were holding as many bottles as they could handle, others had full trolleys.

For some it's a rush on toilet paper and cat food, for others it's alcohol.

Our lockdown behaviours are a neat delineation of our condition, a reflection of what we wouldn't normally see.

Notwithstanding everything else, that can only be a Covid positive.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Family bereft as first-time mum dies at home of 'medical complications'

12 Sep 06:00 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

Inside the survival game as a Hawke’s Bay fashion retailer

12 Sep 06:00 PM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

The three Matildas: Trio of young actors share production's starring role

12 Sep 06:00 PM

Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Family bereft as first-time mum dies at home of 'medical complications'
Hawkes Bay Today

Family bereft as first-time mum dies at home of 'medical complications'

The Hawke's Bay community is rallying to support newborn Charlie-Mae and her family.

12 Sep 06:00 PM
Inside the survival game as a Hawke’s Bay fashion retailer
Hawkes Bay Today

Inside the survival game as a Hawke’s Bay fashion retailer

12 Sep 06:00 PM
Premium
Premium
The three Matildas: Trio of young actors share production's starring role
Hawkes Bay Today

The three Matildas: Trio of young actors share production's starring role

12 Sep 06:00 PM


Kiwi campaign keeps on giving
Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP