The secret diary of . . . Ashley Bloomfield
MONDAY
Eastbourne beach is a lot busier these days. Locals have been out and about to get some fresh air during the lockdown. Even so, there seemed more people than usual when I stepped out on to the shore this morning.
It’s beautiful in Eastbourne. There are good walks in the hills, and the beach is long and unspoiled.
There’s no sand — you have to walk around the shore to Days Bay for that — but it’s nice to walk along the heavy gravel and watch the waves crash in and make a rattling kind of noise as the water sifts through the stones.I stopped to look out to the harbour when I heard a woman say in a bright, cheerful voice, “Lovely day, isn’t it!”
In fact it was very cold and a wind was blowing in off the Cook Strait. “Yes,” I said to her.
She was standing 2m away on the shore.“What a lovely smile you have!”, she said.
And then she said, “Don’t think I’m stalking you. I mean you might have seen me on the shore staring back at your house as though I were waiting for you since dawn, but I really wasn’t.
“I don’t know I could say that about them, though.”
She turned her head angrily.
I saw a long line of people standing alongside the shore looking my way, and noticed that they were all women.“Well,” I said, “as long as they’re conforming to the 2m rule.”
“Yes,” she said, and breathed heavily, “but it’s so difficult when one wants to get just a little bit closer.”
“Must dash,” I said, and headed for home.
Rising above the waves that crashed on to the shore were shrieks and sighs.
TUESDAY
I meet with Jacinda Ardern every day to prepare for our daily 1pm media briefing.
It’s been a rewarding experience in these dark times. I value her leadership and her professionalism.
“Lovely day, isn’t it!”, she said when we met today.
In fact it was raining heavily, and the temperature had dropped.
WEDNESDAY
I got home and said, “What’s for dinner?”
Libby said, “Oh, so the great Dr Ashley Bloomfield thinks he can just swan in, and expect to have his dinner cooked for him. Perhaps the nation’s sex symbol is getting a little bit too big for his boots! Perhaps he could get off his pedestal and do his share around the house!” I didn’t know what to say.
“Fell for that, didn’t you, darling,” she laughed.
THURSDAY
“Well,” the Prime Minister. “Let’s talk about Level 3.”
“Yes,” I said.“We’re going to have to be absolutely sure.”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure,” she said, and blushed, “that you want to take it to the next level?”
“Let’s wait,” I said hurriedly. “Yes,” she sighed. “Let’s wait.”
FRIDAY
I went out to the beach just before daybreak. It’s my quiet time.
Just to get away from it all, not think about the virus, and the flattening of the curve, and the clusters, and the incredible work so many people are doing to battle this disease.
The waves crashed in the darkness. I looked across the harbour to the darker shape of Ward Island, and the lights of Seatoun beyond. When the Wahine struck Barrett’s Reef, survivors made their way to either shore, and so did the bodies. It was a terrible tragedy.
It must not happen again.