The other day my brother told me that lockdown was the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year. He wasn’t entirely accurate – apparently, there are so many words that have either appeared or become more prevalent this year that the OED is having trouble picking one. They describe 2020 as an unprecedented year for […]
Tag: Covid 19
Covid: The Return (Part 2)
At 10.13pm when both phones in the household go off with a note that neither of us recognises or has chosen, we know it’s not good news. That cold hand, the one that’s been around a lot the last few days, hovers over me, the hooded claw from Scooby Doo. I shiver, despite that I […]
Covid: The Return
If that sounds like a sad sequel to a bad B movie be assured that that is what it feels like. After 24 days of no new cases, a week of no active cases and an end to restrictions, we were all silently hoping our covid story was over. The words elimination and eradication were […]
Normal?
After seven weeks of being unable to do it, getting in the car and driving up the highway feels strange. Only it doesn’t; it feels normal. That’s because it is. All these things we are slipping back into the practice of are the things that were part of our daily lives until recently. It is […]
Lockdown: Day 49
After my post yesterday a friend sent me a picture of the results of her efforts to cut her husband’s hair. Taken from the back, it shows a narrow band within thick dark hair of shaven head going up a few inches from his neck. It made us howl with laughter and Neil comment: ‘that’s […]
Lockdown: Day 48
It’s interesting to compare the reaction of different countries to this virus. We locked down early, and we locked down hard. There were stringent movement restrictions, although not so stringent we couldn’t leave the house, as in some countries. Our border was closed to all but Kiwis and a 14-day isolation period implemented, which soon […]
Lockdown: Day 47
Even as we celebrate the news that we will be dropping to alert level two in a few days, leading to more freedom and a return to a normal world, it struck me this morning that ‘normal’ is a long way off. In fact, it may never return to that of the past. The sound […]
Lockdown: Day 46
‘I think most people have already gone to level two,’ said Neil, as we cycled out yesterday morning. There were fewer cars on the road but otherwise he was right – Oriental Bay was packed with people and there were bikes everywhere, ours included. The weather was on our side, a gentle breeze barely ruffling […]
Lockdown: Day 45
It seems appropriate that I choose day number 45 to talk about war, the second world war ending in 1945. I’m actually a day late for the seventy-fifth anniversary of peace, but here in New Zealand it would have been today that people awoke to the news that the war in Europe was over. There […]
Lockdown: Day 44
Yesterday’s update gave us information on what will be allowed under level two ‘when we get there’ – those last words repeated by the Prime Minister half a dozen times, just in case you were tempted to think we were already there. The best news for us, and that made me fist pump the air, […]
