Here in New Zealand, we have just had a strict Level 4 lockdown as Delta has finally made its way here. Prior to this, we had around a year of relative freedom, where we could eat out, socialise and gather without masks. We know we’ve been lucky.
On the 17th August, our whole country moved to the highest level of Covid alert. Level 4 here means we have to stay in our houses. We can shop for essentials – with masks and social distancing. We can walk or bike around the block. Essential workers can go to work. And that’s it.
We have 1pm live updates each day with case numbers and vaccination rates. The kids are doing their schoolwork at home via Zoom. My husband is working at home. I am trying to work on the kitchen table between craft projects, and getting snacks.
There is very little privacy, food supplies are patchy, and it is fair to say everyone is picking at each other.
So keeping myself busy during the lockdown is how I cope.
I wrote a short memoir for Memento Vitae about karate and how it helped me grow as a person.
Finished reading a review copy of Butcherbird by Cassie Hart. This is deliciously woven horror set in rural New Zealand. It’s a spooky, gritty read with a supernatural angle for people who like The Shining or The Girl on the Train.
I was interviewed on the Manybooks website as Author of the Day.
Finally, I managed to finish the prequel to Brand of Magic. It is set five years earlier in Dunedin, New Zealand and is called Potions and Promotions.
If you like your witches real, awkward and anxious, and magic in everyday life, you’ll like this story. It’s free to read when you sign up to the newsletter.
And as you can tell, I managed to get back into blogging. This site has been woefully neglected for a while. For that, I’m sorry. If you’re reading this though, thanks for sticking around. Your support means a lot!
Thankfully, spring has well and truly sprung and the days are sunny. Tulips are strutting out in their bright red, and the grass has long passed being described as woolly.
We in the South Island have had some restrictions lifted, so we can go out and buy a contactless takeaway coffee (yay) but it’s still a long road ahead. So while I wish I was road tripping around the country, I will stay home.
If you’ve got any great suggestions of how to distract myself while being at home, they will be gratefully accepted. You can always catch up with me on Twitter.
What are you reading? Watching?