This year, I was going to the 2020 World Science Fiction Convention, in New Zealand. (ConZealand) At one of the first cons I went to – Continuum in Melbourne – I became a voter in the site selection ballot, and hoped to attend the Con if NZ won. Being an Australian, I knew it would be one of the only times I might be able to do so, because of living in the Southern Hemisphere. It costs quite a bit for us to head north.

And then…COVID-19. Sigh…

I’d even volunteered. Our daughter and I had planned to fly into Auckland, spend a week driving to Wellington, do a Weta Workshops tour, visit the Wellington Zoo (and have a big cat experience because, hey, cats!) and then attend the Con.

Well, I’m still attending the Con, albeit remotely, and I’m still volunteering, also remotely, and am very much looking forward to it. The accommodation is cancelled, and fortunately I’d left booking the tickets to be done in March/April, and of course by that time, it was obvious that international travel was not going to happen.

This year is a year like no other, but there are still things to look forward to. Pop on over to the ConZealand Website and have a look at what’s going on in just over a week. Even when things aren’t going right, there is still hope in the world.

And in the words of Samwise Gamgee:

‘But in the end it’s only a passing thing, this shadow; even darkness must pass.’