The COVID-19 diaries: writers’ group

It’s weird how communications have so rapidly escalated under this new regime. I never used to FaceTime people – I’d message – and now I’m video chatting all the time. I noticed that zoom had been installed on my work desktop too, so I guess I will be zooming all next week!

Jonathan and I decided to stay in our respective houses – the apartment and the Karori house – because I was higher risk (T1 diabetes) and I also thought I would go mad stuck inside the apartment alone for two weeks or more. Jonathan is popping up to visit the younger children every few days, and he has our eldest living with him, so I am not parenting entirely alone, but it does sometimes feel like it.

I guess this is why video messaging is so incredibly valuable. Suddenly there are animated faces and a cacophony of voices inside your home. Suddenly you can do things together – eat lunch, have a coffee, do the office quiz. I do worry that the internet will break under the weight of our frantic communications and then we’ll really be in trouble.

In the meantime, I am still ok. I have people to talk to, I have my comics diary project, I have baking and cello playing. I have dance playlists to compile and books to read. This is curiously more social than my usual life. It’s just that we’re together alone.