…Felt such happiness on not finding parking at the Ormiston Town Centre and Botany Town Centre parking lots.
Never have I ever….smiled so much when I see cafes filled with people sharing stories and restaurants doing brisk business with family and friends meeting up. Can’t stop humming Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World.
Never have I ever….felt so good catching a glimpse of people booking their tickets at Flight Centre, Botany, a place that wore a deserted look for the last two years or more.
Never have I ever ….taken a personal pride in businesses having the courage to get back on their feet after the crippling blow that Covid and lockdowns dealt them.
Yes, the oft repeated term ‘new normal’ is now part of our lexicon which is probably why any kind of normalcy feels like manna from heaven. For instance, the pure delight on people’s faces as they hug their loved ones at the arrival lounge at Auckland airport. It best describes happiness, in a world that has turned upside down.
Disrupted classes in schools, paranoid parents constantly worrying about their children’s safety at school, seniors afraid to step out of their homes; teacher’s struggling to recognize their students with their masks on even as their glasses fog up in stuffy classrooms, the list is endless.
Of course it’s not all gloom and doom. The upside is the hybrid workforce that has emerged from the virus adding a new spin to our lives. The option of working from home is a trend most mums enjoy as they don’t have to navigate their way to the workplace during peak hours. Even if it means you can hear the clatter of cutlery or a baby crying in the midst of a work conversation.
It’s the era of mass resignations and millennials taking up a side hustle to supplement their main source of income. Self promotion on Insta has taken a new meaning with young, online entrepreneurs navigating the world of 15-seconds of attention span.
In the April issue that celebrates Easter, our junior home cooks have fun sharing more than 15-sec recipes; a go-getting Bo Burns talks about doing things differently during lockdown in the year that was.
The hostess with the mostest, Val Lott takes us on a garden tour of her delightful patch of paradise.
Also, in the month of Kidney Health, Peter Young shares how grateful he is for his gift of life. It’s been a year since his 71-year-old wife Pauline gave him a kidney.
A visual feast awaits you as local artists showcase their beautiful works of art that tell a story of how they coloured/sculpted their world during lockdown, and what they look forward to, in the year ahead.
