It’s like we’re on another planet. No – more like we died and went to some Covid-free heaven where you don’t need masks (mostly), you can hug your friends, share food, eat in cafes and the sun is shining. But let me start at the beginning. The day begins with 2:30am school as usual forContinue reading “(No More) Quarantine Hotel: Day 14 – Freedom!”
Category Archives: General writing
Quarantine Hotel: Day 13 – The Finish Line
For our last day in captivity, things go remarkably like any other day. Except, of course, that happy little moment where three nurses and two soldiers show up at our door with negative Covid test results, check-out papers for 9:30am tomorrow and green wristbands saying “Tuesday”. (If we’d tested positive, we’d have started the 14Continue reading “Quarantine Hotel: Day 13 – The Finish Line”
Quarantine Hotel: Day 12 – So Fancy
I’m not sure why I decide to put on fancy clothes today – well, a skirt, anyway – but it sets the tone for the whole day. Of course, it’s Sunday, even in quarantine. Also, all my leggings and T-shirts are in the laundry. The day starts well enough with coffee, croissants and a CovidContinue reading “Quarantine Hotel: Day 12 – So Fancy”
Quarantine Hotel: Day 11 – Weekend!
Well, we made it to the weekend. Just for once, I sleep in. When I wake up, my son’s finished class and it’s a sunny Saturday morning outside. Over coffee I have a balcony phone chat with my old school friend Claire while she watches her son’s cricket match. She lives just outside of Sydney,Continue reading “Quarantine Hotel: Day 11 – Weekend!”
Quarantine Hotel: Day Ten – Sink, Swim, Float
The days are getting longer, with less substance, a kind of stretching blank miasma. Or an expanse of cloudy water, with no visible edge or shore. We work at our tasks in the morning, my son starting at 2:30am and my daughter at 5am with a midterm exam. I wake at 4am with a nosebleed,Continue reading “Quarantine Hotel: Day Ten – Sink, Swim, Float”
Quarantine Hotel: Day Nine – So Boring, Baby
Another early morning, this time after a rather disturbing nightmare about leaving our dogs only to have one get critically injured. I text my husband to make sure he’s filling up their water bowl. And watering the plants. Then I lie awake feeling claustrophobic – something I’d been worried about since I first heard aboutContinue reading “Quarantine Hotel: Day Nine – So Boring, Baby”
Quarantine Hotel: Day Eight – Living in the Moment
It’s another 4:30am start. My son has a calculus quiz at 6am, so I head out to balcony to write down some of the morning birdsong. Then I hear agonized moans from inside: the hotel wifi has struck again, refusing to upload his final answers before the test times out. I hurry inside and whipContinue reading “Quarantine Hotel: Day Eight – Living in the Moment”
Quarantine Hotel: Day Seven – Are You Well?
Woohoo – halfway through quarantine! We’ve made it this far, so I’m pretty sure we’ll make it the rest without any major collateral damage. But more and more, people are asking the big question “How are you?” I honestly don’t know what to say. “Tired” is a great word right now. I got up forContinue reading “Quarantine Hotel: Day Seven – Are You Well?”
Quarantine Hotel: Day Six – Mambo!
Life’s just getting better and better. It might be Monday morning for the rest of Sydney, but the three of us are still kicking back on the Tacoma weekend – no school, no emails. So instead we party! Well, I do, anyway. The fun begins, ironically, with the hotel manager. Evidently he feels guilty aboutContinue reading “Quarantine Hotel: Day Six – Mambo!”
Quarantine Hotel: Day Five – Daily Bread
Sunday, a day of rest. Which we all kind of need at this point, despite the fact that all we’ve done for five days is sit in a hotel room. I take breakfast onto the balcony and discover that “QU” has fallen down, with “TINE” looking dodgy also. It’s the gum. Overnight it leaked andContinue reading “Quarantine Hotel: Day Five – Daily Bread”
Rosemary Ponnekanti 