Lockdown lifted -- sort of

New Zealand moved to "level 3" today, with a lot of shops and restaurants opening for collection/delivery only. That's good for the economy, but I'm grateful none of us have to go to work or school so our "bubble" remains the same.

The most exciting thing this week was switching from Netflix to Disney+. We'd finished Ozark, IT Crowd, Rick and Morty and Shaun the Sheep, and while I was really enjoying Community, I couldn't see myself watching five more seasons. Nobody was interested in Tiger King and we couldn't find anything else. (Two days after I cancelled Netflix, I found out more Rick and Morty episodes are coming.)

So we spent the last week watching Star Wars and Pixar films, and now are struggling to find anything else to watch. The frustrating thing is, I have a long list of films I want to see or share with the kids, and none of these are on streaming services. Classics like Always, Out of Africa, the World According to Garp, Yentl, Cannonball Run, Young Frankenstein, Flash Gordon, Arthur, Poltergeist, Dr Strangelove, the original Bad News Bears, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Xanadu, Buckaroo Bonzai, Brief Encounter, My Life as a Dog -- perfect popcorn fare for these times and instead I'm watching Incredibles 2. (How do you take 14 years to make a terrible sequel?)

That said, I know a lot of my favourite films from childhood have not aged well, and the kids are only interested in what their friends are interested in. That's just part of being a teenager. I turned on Blues Brothers the other day, one of my favourites, and in about 30 minutes they all had gone off to watch TikTok videos or something. Of course it's frustrating, but it's life. They can't possibly appreciate how precious this time is. 

Fortunately I still have one thing in my pocket: When it's homework time, I become the most popular person in the house.