Day 1

​Yesterday was day 1 of lockdown. I noted it on my calendar. The day was muddled, disorganised, disrupted and it was also brilliant because I mastered a new skill - I took part in two zoom meetings. I began the day composing a daily schedule. It includes: writing time, attending to business matters, of which there are a lot following the successful outcome of divorce mediation last week, housework - keeping the two spaces ordered in my tiny granny flat, on the lower slopes of Takarunga in Devonport, might give me a sense of control - I've included the important daily communication with close family and friends, Radio NZ programme to awaken to and keep on for company - apart from the glorious music, it has fewer news bulletins and I need that as a protection against worry - exercise. I’ll expand and refine the components as I go. Gratitude is on my mind today as I remember yesterday. I am grateful for the mellow autumn day we were granted and my walk around the volcanic cone of Takarunga. I went without my phone wishing for time out from messaging and instantly regretted it when I got up high and scanned the expansive views of the sparking city floating on its isthmus, Rangitoto silent and Sphinx like across the water, the sea silky and smooth and the colour of pale blue milk. Along the path I saw a child swinging on a rope swing above and her mother watching from lower down the vertical incline. I hadn’t ever noticed that swing on all my walks around Takarunga during my time on the Michael King residency in 2012. The father and his son were throwing acorns at a fence trying to hit a mid-point. They grinned when I commented on their resourcefulness. ‘We had five acorns and five goes and both failed to hit the bullseye,’ said the father. My day ended with a meeting of my Buddhist sangha on Zoom. I could see them. I could hear their sane reflections. Our scholar teacher, presently stranded in Birmingham, led us into the thirty minute meditation. Her emphasis was on compassion, for the self, compassion for every human being on this planet currently challenged by the pandemic. Then she led us into silent meditation on the words, Here. Now. This.