Quarantine Day Zero to One – windows, food, rum, blogging

tl;dr – the first 24 hours have been not bad at all. I even got some work done.

Just over 24 hours ago the coach pulled up at a four and a half star (no, I didn’t know they did half stars either) hotel in the CBD of Adelaide. After a brief wait while the last coach decanted its contents (folks who’d gone through passport control and customs before us), along came Tony the manager, with a brief spiel that included assurances that yes, wifi is a thing (the old line about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is especially true if you are in quarantine for 2 weeks).

I asked about balconies and windows that open and was beyond delighted (no BEYOND DELIGHTED) to hear that while balconies there were none, opening windows came as standard (it matters not a whit that they only open a couple of suicide-prevention inches. It’s air, dammit).

Off the coach, collected my only bag and in to get my A4 white envelope. Then chaperoned by a nice young lady (masked up like me) first to the police desk (hold up envelope, which has my surname and room number, and passport), get told not to try to leave room or else the ED-209 will be activated). Up to my room, which looks like this

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and has a view like this

I unpacked all my stuff and will blog about what I brought and why because I need to have some sort of control over my space/time and it’s at times like these that my self-diagnosed OCD comes into play.

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The white envelope did indeed contain wifi instructions and other useful info.

And there were nice touches, like a white chocolate cookie (hey Dr Termagant!)

and an idiotbox screen that was addressing me…

I had a much desired shower (bath. The room has a bath too. I foresee a lazy lazy Sunday afternoon with some radio on). Possibly two Sunday afternoons.

Dinner arrived at 1915 and was delish

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I got the wifi set up (did I mention there’s wifi?) and sent some “I made it in more or less one piece” emails. Watched some TV news – Australia in a gathering trade war with China (because we’re Uncle Sam’s military colony, have been since 1942), and Sydney in lockdown. So, no change since October-November 2020 then…

There’s a bunch of movies I will watch (including Judas and the Black Messiah, which I did not have headspace for on the flight).

Even got some sleep (3 hours) before reality of jetlag reasserted. Some work, a WhatsApp with the wife. But, gasp, more sleep from 4 to 8am.

And settling into the rhythms and norms of quarantine (I am, after all, an old hand). At 1111 the expected knock on the door – I showed my passport to the two gowned and masked up women taking swabs, crouched like a Catholic supplicant waiting for the wafer – but got a cotton bud to the throat/up the nose. If it goes wrong I am kicked out of heaven and end up… elsewhere; plague central. Fingers crossed

Breakfast and lunch lovely

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I phoned reception to see if there was decaf coffee sachets and oat milk available, but that they weren’t urgent. Twenty minutes later a knock at the door…

Did some upper exercise with my theraband stuff – Tmrw start my exercise proper, including a half hour walk…

Got a bunch of work done, including beginning to index “The Magpie,” the newsletter of the Manchester Wildlife group.

Police phoned at 1320 – just a courtesy call,make sure everything is okay (am I to be deprived of the daily public health checklist call that was the highlight of my last quarantine?? We shall see…)

Phone call from a good friend who is going to do some shopping for me, and also some Shut Up and Writes.

And then at 1640 another knock at the door. That was quick of her, I thought. But nope. It was this –

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So, that’s my first 24 hours (the first 8 don’t count towards my 2 weeks, but hey ho…) Gonna watch a film of some sort tonight, do a bit more writing too…

1 down, 13 to go… Am very grateful for even being here, the thought that the Grand Chancellor folks have put into this, and my friends and family beyond these four walls. There’s a pandemic going on. Almost everyone else on this planet has it much much worse than me.