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In the time of coronavirus

A collection of stories submitted by the public on their experience of living through the time of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed our lives. Globally the scale of human suffering as a consequence of Covid-19 has been very great. Everywhere people are now reflecting on what this major and previously unimaginable global crisis means for us, as individuals, living in the 21st century. This forum offers a space for writers to reflect on their experience in Aotearoa and to consider questions such as: What might we need to remember and preserve? What has been my experience, my observations, how might my priorities have shifted, in a good way, as a result of the lockdowns? If you would like to contribute to the re-collective effort through any of the following life writing formats — journalling, nature writing, memoir, commentary, poetry, notes on work in progress during lockdown… — please make initial contact through my contact page. Next prepare a page of A4 writing, starting in the present moment and moving where you need to into the recent past and forwards from that point, with a title, brief bio, photo (optional) and your contribution will be added to the repository of important writings flowering in this space.

“Securing the memory of COVID-19 is the minimum we owe to each other in the aftermath of this catastrophe.”

Richard Horton, “Covid-19 and the Ethics of memory", The Lancet , 6 June 2020
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Covid Lockdown by Tony Eyre

7/9/2021

1 Comment

 
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​Tony Eyre, with his wife, Yvonne Fogarty, live in the harbour suburb of Vauxhall, Dunedin. They have four adult children and five grandchildren. Tony has been a chartered accountant in public practice for over 50 years and is also a writer specialising in creative non-fiction. He is currently working on a bibliomemoir, an account of his life as a book collector.

From our upstairs bedroom window, I have delighted in a hundred-year-old kōwhai in full bloom. It’s a busy tree on some mornings. A pair of melodic tūī do their usual breakfast ritual of feeding on its kōwhai flowers. A lone kererū perches statuesque in undistracted contemplation, and an unexpected swarm of tiny silvereye suddenly emerge from the golden blossom and dart off on their tree-to-tree circuit routine. Beyond this miracle of nature is the layered vista of the calm Otago Harbour, the inner-city high-rises and hillside suburbs and, depending on the weather, a blue or gray sky.

In pre-Covid times, this annual spring extravaganza of sun-infused fiery gold always seemed to last just a few short days before its blossom faded into a pale-yellow insignificance. But Covid lockdown has shown me different. With time to be still, rather than the usual day-to-day busyness of workday routine outside the home, I’ve continued this past two weeks to be spellbound by the performance of this magnificent old kōwhai, silhouetted on the skyline.

For three days of the week during the alert level lockdowns, my downstairs library reluctantly converts into a home office where I work with remote access as a chartered accountant, unable to operate from my 6th-floor business premises in the city. My floor is littered with client files; my communications with my partners, staff and clients is by phone and email; scanner and printer technology, reliant on home Wi-Fi, is not as reliable and efficient, and on one hair-pulling day my remote access software crashes out every four minutes. A midday walk along the harbourside with my wife Yvonne provides some sanity and a much-needed break from my sedentary home office routine.

Thankfully, on non-workdays, my office files are tidily stacked into a corner and my library transforms back into a warm calming place where I like to spend time reading and writing and to be encircled with books, like they are old friends, revisiting them often with affection. Naturally, it’s my favourite room in the house, further enhanced with vintage writing desk and leather and bentwood library chairs — and the subtle smell of books. A place to be still, whether in Covid lockdown or not.

1 Comment
Paul Sorrell
10/4/2023 07:25:02 pm

Nicely done, Tony. I see your bibliomemoir was more than a gleam in your eye way back then!

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Deborah thanks Rangimarie Kelly and Pikau Digtal for website design and artist Karen Jarvis for her image ‘Writers at the Devonport Library,’ (2023)
Writing Memoir
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Copyright © 2023 Deborah Shepard
  • Home
  • Books
    • The Writing Life >
      • Reviews & Interviews
    • Giving Yourself to Life
    • Her Life's Work
    • Translucence
    • Between The Lives
    • Reframing Women
    • Tributes
    • Personal Writings >
      • Conference Paper
      • Lockdown Journal
      • Travel Journal
      • Elegy for a friend
      • Christchurch - Post Quakes
      • On a residency
      • Deborah’s Love Letter to the Women’s Bookshop
      • Deborah's Q & A With Unity Books
  • Writing Memoir
    • Defining Memoir
    • The Participatory Model
    • Tips on Writing and Posting a Story
    • The Value of a Writing Class
    • From writing course to book publication
    • Your Writing Space
    • Writing on a Theme >
      • Window
      • Surviving a Crisis
    • Reviews of Memoir
  • Writers' stories
    • Writer's Stories
    • Covid-19 Stories
    • Writing Guidelines
    • From Being Mentored to Book Publication
  • Events
  • About
    • Testimonials
    • Media
  • What People Say
  • Contact