In suburbia

City Rise is not really a suburb, it is a little city within a city. And it comes alive at night when the sifters emerge from their rickety flats and head down the hill to a gig at The Crown Hotel.

It takes all kinds, and being a mini port town, where people constantly come and go, you get all kinds in Port Chalmers, writes Talia Marshall.

One of the casualties of the plague has been suburban life, which seems ironic since everyone has started staying close to home.

Someone once described Queenstown to me as being the Ravensbourne of Central Otago. It was an insult to both places and he was referring to the lack of sun, writes Talia Marshall.

I was chased out of Brockville once, writes Talia Marshall.

I have a confession to make: I used to find Caversham depressing. As depressing as the music to Coronation St, writes Talia Marshall.

The annual student exodus has been less noticeable this year, because the of the plague, writes Talia Marshall.

Climate change is responsible for intimidating waves hitting the wall at St Clair but, equally, when Pakeha settlers planned the city they could never have anticipated our bleak environmental future, writes Talia Marshall.

Even a recluse who almost never leaves the house can have their plans thwarted by this pesky, mutating virus, writes Talia Marshall.