Living Language Group Interviews

This is Erica Tenquist recording the Living Language Group; five [four] members here today are going to talk about their main impression[s] of Covid-19. The date today is 15th June 2020. I’m going to start off … I got out walking more than I’d ever walked in the last thirty years. I’ve tried to keep that up, and over the main three weeks of the lockdown I averaged one and a half to two kilometres a day.

Peggy Saxon: My name’s Peggy Saxon, and the week before lockdown, my daughter became very worried about the news of Covid-19 from overseas. She looked online and ordered one hundred face masks and a litre of hand sanitiser, which we thought was quite weird. A week later, things changed. We were bemused by her actions but carried on as usual, going to our Jazz Club, out to lunch at Esk Valley with a group from the village. Sunday we went to Georgia’s, my daughter, for tea and said goodbye to our grandchildren with hugs and laughs.

The next day we became aware that something serious was happening, and sure enough were told that on Wednesday the 25th March we should go home, stay home. We all obeyed like robots. Tuesday, people raced around the shops and emptied them of toilet paper. What amazed me was the absolute trust and obedience of almost all of us. Some days my husband and I just looked at each other in disbelief. We didn’t realise how fortunate we were that the lockdown worked, unlike other countries, which dithered.

Now we’re going on to the next person.

Cath Taylor: My name is Cath Taylor. I think the biggest thing about the lockdown that I enjoyed was there was no rush; there was no bustle. We didn’t have to be anywhere, we didn’t have to go anywhere; we walked a lot, and … yeah, it was just so relaxed. It was like the olden days, dare I say it [Chuckle]

My husband was ill in the middle of Covid-19 and got flown to Wellington for a pacemaker. His best memory of the Covid-19 lockdown was his flight home in the helicopter. [Chuckle] But my step-daughter … I said to her the other day, and she said, “Well, my husband and I have spent more time together in the last two months than we ever have in our whole married life, which is about thirty-eight years.” So [chuckle] everybody’s got a different opinion, but it didn’t worry me in the least, and we were very safe in our village; very lucky.

Carry on with that one …

Heather Coombes: I’m Heather Coombes. I actually did quite enjoy the lockdown; really for the first time for many years I had permission to sit and read, ’cause nobody was there to say, “Why aren’t you doing something else?” I was, and still am, quite worried about my daughter who lives in England, and the fact that they’re relaxing their rules; although my daughter is being very careful because she does have underlying issues. Here, the main issue I had was the fact I couldn’t see my own family for about a month; and I found that quite hard as I usually see them about once a week. So that was difficult, but other than that I was quite happy; but I’m used to living on my own and doing my own thing, and I think that can make a difference. But I enjoyed the walking; did lots of walking round the village and out up to the local park and back, and so I too upped my amount of mileage during the lockdown.

Diane Dicker: I’m Diane Dicker. I’ve written in my book, ‘Find out about the epidemic in South America’; I must’ve been worried about the Zika virus – and the answer was, it’s still active in South America. I must’ve been thinking that this one was going to go on and on and on, which we don’t really know about yet.

I loved the exercises we did on our road and the coffees we all shared afterwards, plus Erica’s [Tenquist] Dominion [newspaper] quiz. There was a real sense of community, which … me being fairly new to the village … brought me closer to so many of my neighbours. I learned how to do internet banking because my children encouraged me, which was great; I can do it now, but I used to go into the bank and every time they said, “Would you like to do internet banking?” I’d go, “No thank you.” [Chuckle] I took up walking around Summerset, and then finally out through the gates, and I really enjoyed it; and I’ve spoken to quite a few people and they said they enjoyed the lockdown – they did feel more relaxed and things slowed down; it was wonderful. Thank you.