There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that the COVID-year has driven more couples to separate than normal. Family lawyers say that they have never been busier. They were already reporting a deluge back in August 2020 and it hasn’t ended yet. This doesn’t seem too surprising, for a whole lot of reasons: If you are lockedContinue reading “Tricky separations”
Author Archives: janecshearer
How free is your will?
When I started at the University of Canterbury in 1983, I underwent a minor rebellion and took philosophy instead of chemistry. I went to a couple of chemistry labs, didn’t find them very exciting at all, and thought that philosophy sounded like an interesting option to combine with geology, botany and zoology first year courses.Continue reading “How free is your will?”
Complacency and fatigue
Chronic fatigue is one of the common symptoms of ‘long COVID’. In Britain, there are estimates that 14% of people who tested positive for COVID-19 have symptoms which subsequently linger for more than 3 months, with most of these people aged between 25 and 70. The symptoms include coughs, headaches, muscle pain, shortness of breath,Continue reading “Complacency and fatigue”
How real is an earthquake?
As far as I was concerned this week’s news of the week (in a less than good way) was the restating of the risk of an Alpine Fault earthquake event. From talking with other people, it seems this news flew under the radar for many. This is probably a good thing, because there isn’t anythingContinue reading “How real is an earthquake?”
Introductions
I spent my work in COVID-ville, otherwise known as the City of Sails. The purpose of my visit was to run or facilitate a variety of workshops for different parts of the University. Running workshops is always a high energy and interesting experience, meeting a variety of people and attempting to use a wide setContinue reading “Introductions”
Difficult decisions
I was looking at masks when I flew up to Auckland this week, and wondering how people decided to select the mask they were wearing that day. Mask selection is not something that anyone in New Zealand thought about until 2020. The lack of practice at mask wearing makes mask selection all the harder. However,Continue reading “Difficult decisions”
Blowing bubbles
I was rather surprised this week to read that the travel industry thinks the government should insure travellers against getting stuck in Australia, once a travel bubble is opened. The reason given was that insuring travellers to cover the costs of getting stuck overseas, if a country locks down, is too expensive and the governmentContinue reading “Blowing bubbles”
Squashed frog
Upon finishing our 3 week cycling trip I suddenly felt flat. Dead flat. Perhaps as flat as a frog we saw on the roadside while cycling uphill on the Forgotten Highway. The squashed frog inspired me to write a song, on which I am currently working. The planned chorus runs something like: I’m a squashedContinue reading “Squashed frog”
What’s in a year?
A year ago tomorrow I posted the start of this blog, prompted by Jacinda Ardern’s announcement on March 21 2020 that New Zealand was going into COVID Alert Level 2 and the knowledge that, for the first time ever, New Zealand’s borders were closed to anyone not a citizen or permanent resident. The government’s immediateContinue reading “What’s in a year?”
Are you on an e-bike?
I have been visualising carrying a swimming noodle so I can whip it out and hit people over the head when they say, yet again, “Are you on an e-bike”. My mental swimming noodle is seeing lots of action, but I haven’t seen anyone flinch yet so I must be keeping it well within myContinue reading “Are you on an e-bike?”