During Lockdown – A Week in my Life (Mon. Mar.30 – Wed. April 8, 2020).
Some of my utterances
By chance ending on Buddha’s Birthday. This is my memory of and dedication to the good times, the laughs, the funnies, the not so funny, the “putting up withs” and the plain daft – it’s probably a fair reflection of what activity in many homes during prolonged lockdowns.
This is a sample – most of them blessedly brief – of mainly questions put or answers given in more than a week during New Zealand’s total lockdown of almost five weeks from March 26th to April 27th. In that time my cousin Billy from Sweden stayed with us, having to self-isolate in our tiny studio for a couple of weeks. My partner, Beth allowed only a little of her speaking to be recorded here.
Beautiful morning, look at the sunshine! “Oh, you are my sunshine, my only sunshine!” Did you have a good sleep?
Watch your posture, the way you’re sitting at the computer. You’re all hunched up. That can’t be good for the neck and shoulders.
I’m not going to do the shopping this week, the Covid regulations say I’m too old. It could be one of the few advantages of being of a certain age!
We must try not to feed Lucy so much, it’s not good for her, especially when she gets so ravenous. I heard her vomiting this morning, we must find it! There’s a tin of Whiska’s Fish on the top of the fridge for her.
You really must get a panel beater to fix your car damage. The good one I used is in Mill Lane.
I think a burglar, a big bold burglar, might have bolted with your beautiful blue bra. Yes, I know, very clever. It’s called assonance. Oh, you knew, very good.
(Singing) Sunshine came softly through my window today …
Oh, you don’t know that one. It’s a Donovan song way back, big hit in the 1960s, it’s Sunshine Superman.
Could’ve tripped out easy, but I’ve changed my ways … darrrarra … Coz I made my mind up, you’re going to be mine.
Did you have a good sleep?
Oh, you’re referring to Lucy, an old lady, you’re right!
I really don’t understand panic buying. The government has said there’s no need to do it, there’s plenty in the supermarkets for everyone, and the thing is that’s its daft stuff like toilet rolls that they’re buying, stupid people are buying toilet rolls. Guess what New Zealand actually makes itself, for itself, coz we’ve got loads of wood. That’s right, paper, the stuff that toilet rolls made of. Try telling that to stupid people though. I think there’s a psychological thing to it like buying is something I can do to defend myself against this virus, there’s nothing else I can do, so I’ll go and buy heaps of stuff I don’t need. I saw a man with over two dozen cans of spaghetti, tomatoes, beans and fruit in his trolley. I wish I’d stood and counted them. You know, there’s a sign up at the entrance and on the shelves, “Only three cans per person”, something like that. I hope they stopped him at checkout.
I often think how lucky we are here in this part of the world, particularly Northland, a region of 150,000 people with only 24 cases of CoroVee, the whole of NZ now reduced to only two cases a day, compared to the horrendous numbers in other countries. We are surely not in much danger here, we have a lot to be grateful for.
I thought it was interesting what Billy said about his class of Japanese students who complained. I wish I’d asked him if he knew what it was about. The main things Japanese students want from a teacher is comprehension, they have to be able to understand the teacher, then there’s the chance to speak a lot, the practice they badly need. Dunno. Maybe they wanted Queen’s English or something. It’s unlike Japanese to complain, certainly not as individuals. I remember once at Mitsui Trading they complained about a woman teacher, I forget the reason. Usually it’s if they can’t understand the person or if there’s too much listening or not enough variety of activities. It’s a difficult one at times though, so unlike Japanese students to speak out any criticism.
I don’t eat much at dinner time, I think I’ve said before. My main meal is lunch.
It’s going to be a beautiful day today.
Oh, what a wonderful morning …
All right, all right, you’ve got that.
A great thing about this virus news is the media are preoccupied with it, nothing else! So there’s no crime, no accidents, no fires, no other awful things. Of course, they probably still happen but they don’t get reported. Actually, I’ll bet there’s less crime with everyone having to stay indoors. That’ll mean more domestic violence, of course. We’ll be hearing more of that, no doubt. Still, it’s better content on the media, it means less writing by me complaining about their sensational stuff, telling them I’m not in the least titillated.
I think that we should try to reduce plastic, it’s such a nuisance to get rid of, that’s why I take my own plastic bags now, and go to the bulk shop. No, no, I don’t mean you have to do it, but I won’t eat vegetables bought in needless plastic. You can get them loose now at the market, or in paper bags. I don’t buy anything unless there’s paper bags to put it in.
You know, the media are doing their best. Stop coming down like a ton of bricks on their reporting style. You’re too critical of everything in the media. They’re doing a difficult job.
Oh, look at this on my screen, it’s terrible! How do people do that kind of thing? I don’t know, it shouldn’t be shown, it shouldn’t be there, I hate seeing creatures in trouble.
I wonder if Billy would like some more fruit or bread. He needs an opener, veggies, cheese, ciggies and a bottle of Merlot.
Did you sleep well? Want some porridge? I’m making some now. How about some eggyweggy?
We are so lucky with our simple life, surrounded by green, a garden to work in, nobody to look after but ourselves, no great needs to do with food, except my wine. Can you imagine what this lockdown must be like for a family of four or five in a small house, worse for some bigger families? I’ll bet there’s a rise in domestic violence, and maybe some women are happy being solo mums.
Don’t say the coronavirus could infect sheep and cows, that’s too awful!
There’s no point keeping the kitchen all clear, the flies will still be there. You never used to be so clean about kitchen things, but maybe in our present situation, it’s a good idea.
I don’t know how many times I’ve written to TV One about their presenters, about their bare arms on the News. The men don’t have bare arms. And some presenters’ enunciation is over the top, they say /t/ for almost all past endings with -ed. So they say walkt, pusht, sait, playt, happent, includet, and heaps others. And they do it on -s endings too, hisss-hisssing on times, virus, houses, news, courses and others. It’s called over-enunciating.
Don’t talk to me about placebo, I don’t believe it’s as high as 40%, that’s a silly figure. I can’t believe doctors use it so much. Doctors surely know more to help people rather than rely on suggestion and people’s personal healing powers. No, no, I don’t need any explanation! Please try not to explain things to me!