Auckland lockdown is not so bad when you love your bubble buddy

Tuesday, 26 October 2021

Kate Murray and her boyfriend Thibault have kept each other sane through Auckland's lockdown.

Auckland is now one of the world's most locked-down cities. We asked locals to share their experiences.

OPINION: Lockdown has been hard on all of us, there's no doubting that.

But for my boyfriend and I, in some ways, it has been a blessing in disguise.

Before lockdown, we had distant plans to move in together.

However, this was still a while away, as I was enjoying living with friends, and had decided to wait until my lease was up.

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But when lockdown hit we had two options; either move in together or potentially face weeks apart. And so it was decided that he would come and stay with me for lockdown.

Neither of us could have imagined how long it would be.

My boyfriend had reservations at first, worried that if things perhaps turned bad, he wouldn't have anywhere to go.

I'm also only 23 and have never lived with a boyfriend before.

An outdoor picnic to help bring some fun back into lockdown.

It is rather daunting moving in together for the first time when you have nowhere else to go.

But what followed was a beautiful glimpse of what life will be like when we move in together.

We both worked from home, but aside from that, we did almost everything together.

From binge watching squid game, to frequent walks, to trying (and failing) at couple's yoga.

We learned each other's habits and routines.

We dealt with all of each other's moods and lockdown induced meltdowns.

It brought us closer together, being able to support each other.

I'm really not sure I would have survived lockdown without him.

I think lockdown puts a lot of couples to the test, being together almost 24/7.

If you can put up with one another and get through lockdown together, that's a pretty impressive feat.

While lockdown is never something I would wish for, I'll likely never get to spend this much uninterrupted time with my partner again. For that, I will be forever grateful.