Mum’s funeral was a day of coming together for many people that had touched her life, even though many people hadn’t seen much of Mum for a few years – such was the torture of Alzheimer’s disease in stealing her away from so many people. It was a moment of remembering the person she was […]
It’s been four weeks since I landed in England, where half of my heart lives. It was so hard to say goodbye to my husband and three amazingly supportive children to make this journey, not knowing when I’ll be able to return to New Zealand. I talk to them via video calls most days and […]
It’s been a few quiet weeks at home for us, with the level 4 lockdown lasting for two weeks and then moving to level 3 on 1 September (basically level 4 with takeaways for us!). Tomorrow, on 8 September, we move down to level 2 with schools and hobbies resuming. Auckland remains in level 4, […]
On Tuesday night New Zealander’s got the news of one person in the Auckland community having tested positive for Covid-19 and that the entire population of New Zealand would got into a Level 4 lockdown at midnight. This was the first case in the community since February. With the more contagious Delta variant, recent outbreak […]
Happy New Year! I have to say I’m feeling very fortunate to be living freely in New Zealand at the moment. Writing about all our freedoms seems a little unfair when so many people around the world are struggling with the Covid-19 Pandemic, facing lockdowns and huge restrictions on normal day to day activities. I […]
‘HELLO!’ such a simple word. Five letters, two syllables. Spoken several times a day without much thought. Thrown out in passing, shouted across the street, as we enter a shop, greet someone in the local cafe, throw open the front door – ‘Hello’ we call out, ‘Anyone home?’. I never gave the word much thought, […]
I miss her, Mum, even though she’s not gone. Still here, but not. I see a flash of her smile and hear her laugh. Drying dishes. Tears in my eyes, wishing for easy conversations. I move on. Wipe down the kitchen bench-top; my daughter has left hot glue gun remnants soldered onto the surface. I […]
New Zealand moves to Level 2 tomorrow, after seven weeks in ‘lockdown’ due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Level 4 started with me away from my husband and three children, as a result of having recently returned from overseas and therefore needing to self-isolate for 14 days. I self-isolated in our holiday home, in rural Martinborough. My […]