The world seems to have shrunk since the pandemic started. Another holiday spent at home, another day going back to work – at home. And at home I’m likely to stay, for many months yet, everything depending on those figures beyond my control (vaccine doses set – rising sharply; registered cases – sinking slowly; hospitalisations – rising, but not as steeply as before; etc, etc).

So what can you do, other than try to make home bigger?

The sunlight comes in through the kitchen window in the afternoon and evenings now. I photograph the mess on my countertops and look out through the dirty windows. I clean a winter’s worth of dirt from our stamp-sized balcony, and think about buying a floor covering and some plants to cheer it up, expanding the home office by a couple of square metres or so. I buy new Polaroid film and try to remember where my Polaroid 600 camera is – it’s been that long.

I go for walks around the neighbourhood and find signs of spring.

I think about how fortunate I am, after all, to be able to wait out this storm at home with my family.

And so it goes. Until someday, something will finally change, and the world expand and open up again.

How are you coping?

All the best, Jenny G.