781

 Tomorrow marks the 2-month point of my learning te reo Maori. I'll write about that then. For now, though, I want to address the lethargy I've been feeling these past few days. Initially, I thought it was the return of the cold I had the previous week - and so it may have been - but I believe that I have also been suffering from caffeine deprivation.

During lockdown, you cannot go out for a coffee. Neither can one help oneself to the delicious coffee provided for staff in the staffroom. All we have at home is instant decaf. So my caffeine level is dropping . . .

The last time I went through this was over a year ago during the first lockdown. I remember that it took between 2 and 3 weeks before I detoxed completely. Will this lockdown last longer than that?

780

 I feel that there are parallels between the historical colonialization of Maori culture and the current, largely politically driven, response to Covid 19 over these past 18 months. I'm not suggesting that they are equivalent, of course, or on the same level, but I can well imagine the effects of a lockdown mentality if it had been imposed upon a people for over a hundred years. Point of commonality:

• the people are controlled for their own good
• the people's opinions and viewpoints are disparaged as being less-informed
• people are conscripted into "our team of 5 million" whether they agree to that or not
• people are expected to conform to the majority viewpoint or common consensus
• people have imposed upon them the 'correct' view of the situation
• laws that people had little or no say regarding rule them
• dissenting views get censored and canceled
• legitimate questions are given short shrift
• discussions about alternatives are shut down
• the justice system, the police, religion, and even the medical establishment enforce the way things self-evidently 'ought to be'
• respect is withheld, and those who don't toe the line are patronized 
• no leniency is shown to those who have formed their own worldview
• only the one economic, political, spiritual, and sociological stance is permitted
• all protest is scoffed at and eventually declared illegal
• One universal living arrangement swamps all others 

779

 The unexpected disruption of a lockdown meant that for the first time since I started learning te reo Maori I wasn't able to complete my day's target. Today I'll try to rectify that.

The problem as I see it is two-fold. First, during lockdowns routines get broken. You don't automatically do what you normally do; you need to remember. Second, your mental balance is affected. You are not in a relaxed state of mind that allows you to recall and retain your train of thought.