Walking down the middle of the road and other fun stuff

We've been so fortunate with the weather here in Auckland. Every day since the stay-at-home was imposed has been fine, warm, plenty of sun, a few showers but nothing to keep anyone indoors for long.  The tail end of a gorgeous summer.

People are making the most of it, getting out for walks, sitting down at the beach, enjoying the warmth and the scenery. Kids are finding ways to entertain themselves, as kids do. They're so good at it. If I was a kid, say 10 or 11, and I was told I'd have to be at home, wow, what a school holiday bonus. 

What would I be doing?

Well, it was different when I was that age .. I sound like an old thing don't I? 'When I was young we had to stay outside and play until dinner time, and we didn't have video games, and ... and ...' It's true, and our house on Auckland's North Shore in Murray's Bay had plenty of good stuff to explore and keep us busy.

We had bush down the back where we'd set terrible booby traps for each other and try not to fall over the cliff edge, we had home made trolleys (literally an old apple crate on wheels) that we'd race down the hill, trying to avoid the massive old drainage ditches on either side of the road so you wouldn't have a 'crash'up' , we all had bikes and we'd terrorise the place, whizzing up and down like high-powered vultures. Ah, those were the days.

And kids in our neighbourhood are doing cool stuff: they're playing tennis in the street, skateboarding over the traffic humps or flying down the steep access road to our beach, learning to play the drums, building interesting looking huts in trees and on front yards, playing hide and seek, taking their younger siblings down to the sea for a while.

As for us, what are we doing to entertain ourselves? My walking buddy Pam and I really like strolling down the middle of the road. The picture is of Pam doing just that.  This is mighty fine entertainment. There are no cars, no motorcyles, kids on bikes and skateboards give us a wide berth and the tennis stops as we parade by. We are making the most of this.

It feels thrilling. It's something extraordinary that we can do during these most extraordinary times.  

​We're not really up for playing tennis any more, so why not?

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