Walking through the streets this morning it was easy to think that the world has returned to normal. Cars queued at junctions where last week there were none, and there were people all over the place. Then I looked closer – most of the people were wearing orange vests and they weren’t standing in huddles, […]
Tag: Covid 19
Lockdown: Day 35
Given that I’m used to being at home during the day you’d think this lockdown lark wouldn’t be much different for me. But I’m also used to being able to leave solitude when I need, or want, to. I would walk around the corner to shops where they know me by name; I would meet […]
Lockdown: Day 34
Our first day at the lower level three and, if my brief foray out of the apartment to hunt bread from the local bakers this morning is anything to go by, the next couple of weeks will be tough. There were so many people around it was almost impossible to stay two metres away from […]
Lockdown: Day 33
Today is our last day at level four lockdown. Not that level three looks much different for most people, including us, and we are warned that, if we don’t behave ourselves, we will be back to level four. I smile as I type that, imagining Jacinda putting on her best schoolmistress voice and ordering us […]
Lockdown: Day 32
When we were in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, last year I was dismayed at the amount of graffiti we saw; it was everywhere. It’s a perfect example of how easy it is to take your local surroundings for granted – there’s very little graffiti in Wellington, and if any appears it always seems to […]
Lockdown: Day 31
It’s a weekend, so it’s a longer walk and, again, we headed to Mt Victoria. We paused at the side of a wider section of path to allow a family to pass, two adults and three small children. The woman herded the two smallest in front of her with the words: ‘remember when we meet […]
Lockdown: Day 30
Last weekend’s paper carried an interview with Marian Keyes, in which she said that lockdown in the middle of a global pandemic is not the time to be particularly productive. It’s especially not a good time to write the novel you’ve always been planning – because we’re in fight or flight mode all our brain […]
Lockdown: Day 29
I’m watching a lot more TV than I usually do, a combination of keeping up to date with the situation and that, in a smaller living area than we are used to, it isn’t half a kilometre away at the other end of the room and I can actually see it whilst I’m preparing/eating dinner. […]
Lockdown: Day 28
All the best apocalyptic movies have a hidden danger lurking somewhere in the silent streets, just waiting for our heroine (or hero) to fall asleep, make a noise, or say ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’ Then they pounce. Or crawl slowly as dramatic music plays. With a suitable gravelly voiceover, I now report that […]
Lockdown: Day 27
It’s that time of year. The time when my dreams are haunted by columns of figures and my days are filled with excuses to avoid doing our tax returns. This year, being in lockdown, I should find it easier to plant my bum on a chair, stay inside and just get on with it. But […]
Tracy Annenberg 