I went out for a walk this morning before starting work. I saw two people out for a walk, a man and his dog, a couple of service vehicles, and a woman posting a letter. OK, old school, but I’m good with that.

A solitary tui was sitting on a power line, listening intently to the call of a prospective mate. A blackbird was foraging for bugs in a crack on the pavement. It looked like he’d been at it a while, undisturbed.

It felt like 3am but with the lights on.

I have actually been at home since last Wednesday last week due to a dry cough that I’ve now had for three weeks. Leading up to my self-isolation, daily commuters on Wellington train services were looking suspiciously and scoldingly at anyone coughing on the train. I can’t blame them to be honest.

Working from home hasn’t been a super-tough transition, although I do miss the high-bandwidth of face-to-face communication with colleagues. My company is split between Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, so most of us are already used to being remote from colleagues; now we are all remote from everyone.

It’s so quiet in the neighbourhood. There is no traffic noise. I can hear people walking in the street talking to each other. Usually we don’t see a lot of people going for walks where we live. There are a lot of dogs barking. This will be news to some of the owners who usually leave their pets alone all day, every day.

On my lunchtime walk I saw that the police had pulled someone over in the main road at the end of our street. I don’t know if the conversation was going well (“on you way”), or badly (“you are not playing by the rules”). They were parked for a while; you guess.

There is a water leak in our street. My neighbour told me, as she stood in her front yard, me in the middle of the street, that it was reported two weeks ago. They will now come and fix it in about five weeks, she said.

I hope it doesn’t burst in the meantime as we won’t be able to play under the fountain – the would be against the rules.

Also, the street will have no water.