Starlings in Quarantine

As lockdown is gradually lifted and we approach the start of the term, I feel there isn’t a great amount that can be said that hasn’t been covered over the course of this series of articles. For me, quarantine has been a slow, grumbling ride. The consolation that can be taken in trying to describe […]

“Oh wait, let me grab my mask.” A simple six-word phrase none of us thought we would have engrained in our brains, but here we are. Here we are in a world that seems so uncertain, full of dull daily routines and bright phone screens at 3am. But then again, here we are in a […]

My first year in St Andrews abridged, I’ve returned across the Forth to Edinburgh. Following the news of a looming global lockdown, the halls emptied as people rushed to make the last flights home. The corridors became silent. Without my friends, the old building intimidated me. I just wanted to go home. As I put […]

At the start of every new school year I worry that I am not ready for its challenges. I worry I won’t know how to accommodate a different teacher’s style, that I will be overwhelmed with work and unsure how to manage my stress. Every year I convince myself that I am ill-prepared to take […]

While term was ongoing and university work was still taking up most of my time, I felt untouched by the pandemic. Though I read the news and regularly listened to the increasingly unhelpful Downing Street daily briefings, there was nothing tangible in my day-to-day life to suggest anything was different. To me, this was just […]

I am writing this from my tiny room in Peebles, in the Scottish Borders, after what could only be described as a rollercoaster of a day. It’s a weird phrase to associate with a time during which I have achieved next-to-nothing, but that’s the nature of the lockdown brain, I suppose. I began the day […]

As we moved on with our daily lives, the coronavirus developed unseen from view – passing from one creature to the next. It gave us an understanding of the breadth of its breeding ground, spanning continents, from a small-town neighborhood to an entire country itself. Metaphorically, it resembled a grandiose revenant, devouring its victims at […]