How Covid made libraries nicer

The maternal side of my family has always contained inveterate users of the public library.

Every two weeks, you gathered up your books and returned them, and then took out some more… this routine was as cast in stone as cleaning your teeth. (And the treatment of library books was as strictly observed).

I remember with pleasure our visits to the library when I was a child, and the excitement of bringing home a new pile of books. And trips with my sister (10 years younger than me) where we would choose her books together, and then read them together.
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What Covid brought us – paella (or Renee’s rice dish)

It’s a year now since South Africa went into a total Covid-19 lockdown.

That initial set of restrictions in late March 2020 took away both my and my sister’s birthday celebrations (we both have birthdays in April). They took away being able to walk the dog. They took away my husband’s ability to earn his income (temporarily). They took away bustling out to the office for my hours at allAfrica.com.

For many people the restrictions and the virus took much more: lives and incomes went, along with our sense of certainty.
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Thoughts at the end of a long year

Cricket is back, and I don’t know how I feel about that.

In the depths of South Africa’s strong lockdown, I remember wishing that there was some cricket to watch – it felt as though a leisurely Test match would help pass the time.
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