On hold- Fullerton-Smith, Beverley Patricia & Lewis, Barbara Interview

Erica Tenquist interviewing Beverley Fullerton-Smith and Barbara Lewis for the purposes of Covid-19 records, and the date today is 15th August 2020. Okay, we’re going to start with Beverley first; she’ll introduce herself.

Beverley: These are my experiences with regard to the lockdown, Covid-19 pandemic from 25th March 2020. My name is Beverley Fullerton-Smith. I live at Hastings Central. I am seventy-nine years old and a retired health professional with a Certificate of Health Promotion from the University of Otago. I am also a Justice of the Peace, and have served in that capacity for nearly twenty years.

When Level 4 was announced to take place at midnight on 25th of March, I was reasonably sure I could manage, having lived alone since 1997, and that proved to be the case. My next door neighbour, Robyn Morgan, kindly offered to do my shopping; she works at New World supermarket. A couple of weeks into the lockdown, poor Robyn developed shingles, and my gardening helper, Pam Kesby, then put up her hand, so I was kept well supplied for food. Payment was through electronic banking, and I washed the surface of all items, and my hands, before storing.

The afternoon of Friday, March 27th was quite interesting because I became aware of cars parked outside my house, which was unusual as everybody had been directed to stay at home. There were several people milling about. The following evening four cars were parked across the road, and with horror I saw several people come out of the house; much kissing and hugging ensued as guests left the premises. I knew one of the couples and rang them, and expressed my displeasure as to the lack of their adhering to the Covid-19 requirements. It transpired that my neighbour had died on the 25th and no way were any of them going to comply with the rules. This continued right through the lockdown by lots of friends of the widow who called repeatedly, and she went out every day of the lockdown bar two days.

After consultation with a Hawke’s Bay District Health Board member, that Board member decided to report them to the authorities, mainly the Police, on a dedicated website. The behaviour continued. After writing a letter of condolence to my neighbour and enquiring after her social distancing, it became obvious she was never going to do the right thing by our neighbourhood – no consideration for any of us – and her late husband had died in a rest home. I text [texted] the Minister of Police, a family friend, and rang the Police hotline 105; and after about three weeks I am pretty sure a policewoman spoke to her one evening as she came home. However, the friends kept on coming visiting, and I subsequently took their car registration numbers and only then did I really dob them in as well. Not a great experience. I was very concerned for all of us, who included ten to twelve neighbours, all health compromised.

In the second week of the lockdown, for example, we had a medical emergency, where a neighbour collapsed in the street; he was a severe diabetic. Subsequently another neighbour went into care, and another died at the end of the lockdown. The majority of all who live in this part of Hastings are elderly pensioners … the most at risk.

On going to the Hastings Health Centre in early May, shortly after the lockdown was finished, my miscreant neighbour over the road, was actually parked on a disabled parking lot. I was not impressed as she is as fit as a flea. [Chuckles] That attitude and behaviour defined the ultimate of selfishness in my book, and in particular a lack of care for the community at large, which could’ve been of major concern if the virus was widespread in the community then or in the future, for [a] predicted second wave of the virus.

The best part of the lockdown was the lack of traffic; peace and holy quiet; making Covid-19 friends … people who you would not normally speak to; baking, and spending a great deal of time on the phone; reading, and visiting friends; social distancing naturally; and celebrating with a glass of wine every now and then. In the late autumn afternoons we had the most beautiful weather. I even pumped up the tyres of my bike and daily biked around the block three or four times.

The fifth week was the hardest as far as I was concerned as I was so sick of my own company; not being able to socialise at the bridge club and missing playing bridge in particular; not being able to go to the movies, U3A, [University of the Third Age] the library; not being able to get out of Hawke’s Bay and see my family. As a family we zoomed frequently on birthdays and special occasions. Two of my daughters live overseas; my eldest daughter, Jane, in New South Wales in Australia, and next daughter, Cecily, in North Wales in the UK. [United Kingdom] There was much rejoicing when we came out of the lockdown. My daughter, Susan, in Wellington and son, Quentin, in Auckland and granddaughter, Matilda, came to visit me at the first opportunity, once the lockdown was lifted. August 11th at 9.25 pm, the second wave of the virus was announced by Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.

We are still in Level 2.

Beverley: Mmm. The rest of New Zealand …

And then there was bulk buying again.

Unknown speaker: Yeah, I can’t understand it! [Speaking together]

Beverley: Fortunately I had been to the supermarket the day before, so I was quite okay.

Barbara: Yes. No, ridiculous. People are stupid, really.

Barbara?

Yes. I’m Barbara Lewis and I live at Southland Road; I’m ninety-four, and I’m a recent immigrant from Wellington to Hastings; very much enjoying the different conditions in the climate. My observations for lockdown was that for old people like me, it was not as drastic because our pace is slower, our habits more set, and movements more restricted. It brought back our wartime way of living – feeling shared experiences, and being aware of one another’s needs. For some reason it upset my sleep pattern, amazingly; always a good sleeper, I woke many times, and probably because of lack of exercise didn’t [coughing] need the amount of rest

[Coughing] Thank goodness for being able to entertain myself; not feeling alone; having reading, jigsaws, crosswords, and exploring YouTube helped enormously. The quite streets, parents out with children, and the teddy bear walks were all great to observe; and perhaps what I missed most was doing my own shopping, and coping with what was purchased for me.

A local noticeboard read: ‘In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which part[s] of normal are worth returning to.’ And another: ‘Reading gives us somewhere to go when we have to stay where we are.’ Anyway, alas! We have retreated to our old ways very quickly. And I wrote this when another lockdown might not happen, but alas, it has, and it behoves us to handle it with dignity and respect, so that it doesn’t have to last any longer than absolutely essential.

Now there’s a few things I wanted to know – how many years have you been in Hastings then?

Beverley: Five.

Barbara: Yes, yes.

And … oh, where was the noticeboard?

Barbara: Oh, the noticeboard was on the corner of Charles Street, and I thought it was lovely. I felt it said a great deal about the situation. Yes, I do … think it was great, and that really says it all.

Beverley: It’s very apt, very apt.

And can you add a bit about polio? You would remember polio differently … yes.

Barbara: Actually, surprisingly enough, I don’t think I did. I think we were all geared up for … it would be post-war?

Beverley: Yes, it was 1947, wasn’t it?

Barbara: And we were far too involved in getting over the war, and 1947 was the worst year weather-wise that Britain had, and it was awful, and I think that’s when people began to think about living somewhere else.

So you were in Britain at that stage?

Barbara: We were in Britain right up until 1953, and we came to New Zealand in 1953, and we thought that we had found … Havana? [Nirvana][Chuckles] With sunshine; I can remember sitting outside the caravan we had rented, eating pineapple and cream out of a tin, and butter on bread; and thinking that that was just magic! Yeah, it was wonderful.

Thank you, Barbara. What about you, Beverley?

Beverley: Well I was at school at Ngaio State School during the polio epidemic. I distinctly remember it because we couldn’t go to school; we had correspondence, and my grandmother who had been a primary school teacher came up from Invercargill in the South Island to look after us … my mother never kept particularly good health. And there was a boy in our school – I was only six at the time. So I do remember that there was a boy, you know, one of our primary school pupils who lived up the road, I think in Cockayne Road, somewhere up there in Ngaio, who got polio. But that was the only one that I … you know, vaguely remember. I’d have to talk to my sister who’s two years older than me; she would have a better memory probably of, you know, who was affected.

Did you miss doing your own shopping​?

Beverley: Yes I did, because going to the supermarket was an outing, and you know, I’m always interested in probably saving money and the specials and things like that; and I for some reason or other – okay, pension day is on a Tuesday. I generally seem to do a bit of a shop then, or a major shop; and then the following Tuesday, because pension comes every fortnight, I … you know, top things up and what-not. So I generally seem to do shopping on a Tuesday. And that’s a social activity, ‘cause I like to chat to people. Shall I tell you a funny experience I had last year? It was in the winter time so it must be a year ago, and I wanted some pearl barley, you know for soup. And there were two girls at New World supermarket, just having a chat, and I’d looked all over the place for this wretched pearl barley and I couldn’t find it; and I said to one of the girls, “Could you please tell me where I could find Pearl Barley?” And she looked at me, and she said, “Oh, she doesn’t work here any more.” [Laughter] I just shrieked with laughter. [Laughter]

Oh, that is funny …

[Laughter] It’s the sort of thing you never forget, you know. Oh dear!

And what about you, Barbara?

Barbara: Well, no – I must say I have my shopping bought for me, and of course the young are very extravagant [chuckle] these days. They do not, … you know, they do not choose carefully, and I ended up with … oh, loads of things; and I mean, happily; but, you know oodles of self-raising flour which I seldom use; lots of … what’s that long-life milk?

Beverley: Oh, UHT! Oh, for heaven’s sake!

Barbara: And things of that sort which I never would never have purchased. But you were just thankful for the good deed, and then you get around to it and …

Were they friends or neighbours, or who was doing the shopping?

Barbara: Oh, yes, they were …

Beverley: They were relatives, weren’t they?

Barbara: Yeah, yeah – they were relatives, yeah. But like everything else, you know, you’re grateful for small mercies …

Beverley: Oh, totally …

Barbara: … because it was better than having nothing. It took you back to your two ounces of butter a week, and you know; and an egg and something. Yes. No, we were very well looked after really, but it does annoy you to see people behaving badly when it comes to shortages. Very poor.

Beverley: Well after the lockdown, and when we were able to go shopping, you know, pensioners – because up until then it was a no-no, even though Costa Paxie next door who’s older than me, insisted on doing his shopping. And I said to him, “Costa! You’re not supposed to do this.” And he loved shopping; and his wife has since died and I think it was to get out of the house, and away from you know, his domestic environment. But when I first went … because my mobility is compromised … with my stick, the first person I saw at New World was a security guard whom I had married a couple of years ago, who recognised me straight away. And she’s gay and it was a gay wedding that I’d done at Flaxmere; so she let me in straight away, with all this crowd, you know, waiting in a queue; and so I had no problem getting in. The first time I went I though, ‘I’ll go at quarter-past seven in the morning and there won’t be too many people around’; but there was still a queue. But there were only about a dozen people in that huge [chuckle] supermarket – it was brilliant, you know.

So it did have some good ..?

Oh yes it did … it did, yes.

And now we’re back again in Level 2, have you cut down on some things you were doing before the first lockdown?

Well I’m certainly not going out as much. I’m very particular about when I come home, and wash my hands. And of course this morning I had to go to the hospital for a CT [computerised tomography] scan, and that was in lockdown; because they’d had five patients from Auckland within the hospital premises. Ad everybody was wearing masks and hand sanitiser was the norm, in and out. And yes – I’m not playing bridge, which was you know, part of my life. I’ve been to the library more than usual probably, so … yes.

What about you, Barbara? Have you restricted what you do?

Barbara: Oh – I’m absolutely amazed over the last say two years how I have adjusted to a slower pace of life. I was always one of those people, if I thought of something I was going to do, I’ll do it now, and do it. But now I can be at home and it doesn’t worry me, and I’m quite content. And I think this is, you know, age preparing you for what you’re not going to be able to do. So I’m quite happy, and should I be, you know, holed up for any length of time I really feel I can manage it quite well.

So that’s something to be thankful for; but I can appreciate how difficult it is for younger people.

So how many family members would you have here in Hastings?

Well, we were very fortunate. On 14th May we had organised a family reunion, and we had eighty-six people because a lot of my family came in 1953 and ‘54. They were aunts, uncles, cousins, and we had all these people; and the younger members of the family didn’t know one another. And we found that we had a Māori side of the family, and it was really lovely to meet those young people, to hear about their lives. The other very nice thing about it was that they said that in ten years’ time the young ones would have a gathering. Yes, and it was lovely.

Beverley: Can I just contradict you? And I may be quite wrong, it wasn’t 14th May, it was March, wasn’t it?

Barbara: March; did I say May? Beg your pardon. Yes, and it was so fortunate, because they’d come from Australia, you know, they had been here; and they got home [chuckle] before it finished, so we were really lucky and it was an extremely happy day; yes, so that was lovely.

Are you the eldest in the family?

I’m the … no. I had two brothers who were older than me, but they had both died; but I was the oldest girl, so I landed all the kids. [Chuckles] I’ve done my share of domestic, so I kept well clear of all that.

Beverley: Mother number two, in loco parentis. [Chuckles]

Barbara: Yeah.

What about you, Beverley, how many relations have you actually got here in Hawke’s Bay?

Beverley: None. Well, having said that … relations by marriage; my fourth child is an adopted son, and his grandmother who I’ve known for probably twenty-odd years, lives in Pōrongahau Beach and is a wonderful, wonderful woman. Barbara has met her because that’s what we did; as soon as the lockdown finished I said to Barbara, “How about a spin in the country?” And off we tootled down to Pōrongahau Beach. I do have relatives in Central Hawke’s Bay by marriage who are also great friends, and we called in and saw one of those on the way to Pōrongahau Beach. But actually, since … I don’t know, February … certainly February, I haven’t been out of Hawke’s Bay; which is unusual. I’m very timorous about travelling on public transport at the moment for the obvious reason. I have a first cousin who is in Taupō – I married her actually, for the second time, she and her husband; and she rings me quite often. And last week only, she said, “Now come on – when are you coming up to stay with me?” And I said, “Well I don’t really want to travel over the Napier-Taupō Road in the winter, thank you.”

So it has made you be a bit wary of that?

Oh yes. Not only because of possibly of going on the bus, but you would have known the death rate on the Napier-Taupō Road is just horrendous at the moment, and I haven’t been to Taupō driving myself, for probably three years, so …

So thank you both very much …

Barbara: Oh, it’s a pleasure.

… and the Knowledge Bank will let you know when it is online but it will be probably at least six months.

Beverley: Yes. No, no, that’s all right. You may or may not be aware that the University of Auckland is also asking people … senior citizens … through the Department of Social Welfare Senior Citizens emailed newsletter – do you get that? Because there’s a link right at the bottom of the last piece where you can, you know, join up and do this sort of thing.

Barbara: It’ll all make interesting reading [speaking together] in fifty years time …

Beverley: … for, you know, our families, historically.

Barbara: … for other times, really.