Connecting Through Corona

  Coronavirus Covid 19 GB Shooting How did it affect us? It all officially started when our Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the Nation on March 23 rd 2020, to inform everyone that the country had to ‘lockdown’ in the next 48 hours to try to stop the spread of the Covid 19 corona virus. All social contact, pubs, restaurants, sports venue’s and basically any social gathering had to be cancelled or strictly limited, even weddings and funerals. We were ahead of the game as we rarely went to the pub or dined out these days, but we had bought tickets for a comedy ‘Bang Bang’ at the Windsor theatre in March. We thought long and hard and weighed up our options regarding safety and decided to go. It was a great farce and we were pleased we had gone but many of the audience had not turned up in fear of catching the virus and Windsor was like a ghost town but at least it was easy to find a parking place! I was invited to a charity lunch in London the following week and my wife was a

Khaled Wakkaa   We were enjoying a beautiful and busy life before the Coronavirus (Covid 19) appeared in the world. I was an active member in the community in many fields, most of which focused on volunteer work and assistance. I used to help in many activities and build wonderful friendship with members of the community, leading exercise sessions, providing free food and drink to passers-by in the street and leading a cycling group. I used to spend much of my time volunteering in either the Exeter Islamic Mosque or the Baptist church in South Street. I was also organizing an international celebration, aiming to bring people together and share heritage and culture, live songs, in addition, traditional foods with the help of the communities in Exeter. On the eighth of March, my wife contracted smallpox and began to show symptoms, a high temperature and a fever coinciding with spring and an allergy to pollen in the flowers.  We had to stay at home because of these symptoms, then after

Brigitte Deneck Saturday 13 June 2020 at 3pm, this is the time of our “apéritif”, a drink together on Zoom. One square for me who launched the idea from London. One square for my sister Caroline in Lille. One square for my cousin Fabienne in Charleville. One square for my aunt Berthe with Pierre and Paul.  It’s been 50 years since I saw Pierre and Paul, who has just prepared and shared with Berthe the Saturday meal. An amazing cook, Pierre told me in his email. 96 year old Marie-Marthe is Pierre and Paul’s mother. We talk.  “What are you drinking?” Pierre holds in the palm of his right hand a tulip glass which he turns slowly. He raises his hand to breathe the amber eau-de-vie resting at the bottom of the glass. He takes the glass to his closed lips to taste it, and remains still for a while. He says: “A 50 year old cognac”. He looks like someone who knows, slightly amused. The way he carries his head reminds me of his father Leon, Berthe’s husband and my mother’s brother - the only Du

Christian    González Cano I would like to take the opportunity given to participate in this book to tell you about my experience over the months in this strange and new situation in which we find ourselves. First I want to put you in context. My name is Christian and I was born and raised in Hospitalet de Llobregat, a city next to Barcelona. My education has been given mostly in Spanish and Catalan, my mother languages. But I am currently having to live my life in a language that I have known since September 2019: Dutch. When my partner and I signed up for the experience we are living, we did not imagine for a second that it would all be affected by coronavirus. In May 2019, a month and a half for finishing the university, we went to a speech to evaluate the option of going to live and work in the Netherlands. Both my partner and I are dentists and, seeing the improvement in working conditions for dentists in this country, we didn't hesitate for a second to jump in. Imagine wh