World of change
The lockdown challenge
It’s in times of crises that people often reveal their true colours, so it makes sense that nations do too. While more than a third of the world is now in ‘‘lockdown’’, that word means different things in different places. Toilet paper, flour and hand sanitiser are in hot demand worldwide, but countries and cultures vary markedly in what they consider to be among life’s ‘‘essentials’’.
Belgium’s legendary friteries continue to do a roaring trade in fries, for example, while the clubs and concert venues of Berlin have government backing to livestream daily DJ sets for the city’s high number of hard partyers.
We asked Kiwis in six countries to share how the coronavirus pandemic is highlighting what matters most to the people who live there; the things that, even in the midst of a global pandemic, they believe they cannot live without.
London
Ever eager for a new trend to latch on to, Londoners are treating lockdown as a challenge to cultivate active virtual social lives, Sebastian Duff says.
‘‘To be honest, I thought the British would have a hard time with being told to stay at home, especially in a city like London where so many people spend most of their free time away from home,’’ Duff, originally from Christchurch, says.
‘‘I’ve been surprised by how well the majority of people have been coping . . . It seems like people are taking it as a challenge to find new ways to keep their social life active while staying isolated. If there’s a way to make something trendy, Londoners will find it!’’
This has included coming up with creative ways to keep that bastion of British culture – the pub – alive. Many have created cyber premises using apps such as Zoom and Houseparty, so punters can enjoy a bit of banter with their after-work-from-home drinks.
Jim the Janny’s Virtual Bar garnered more than 39,000 members on Facebook in its first two weeks of opening, while the Staying Inn, which hosts quiz nights and talks on topics such as ‘‘forensic psychology and female serial killers’’, has also proved popular. Its tagline: ‘‘the pub where everyone feels at home – because they are.’’ The menu also suggests the proprietors have retained their typically British sense of humour, with drinks including home brew, house wine and quarantini cocktails, and meals such as toad in the home and Swiss (toilet) roll. All BYO, of course.
Signature Brew Taproom, meanwhile, is delivering a ‘‘Pub in a Box’’ to parched punters, which include beer glasses and mats, snacks, curated playlists, and a pub quiz with up to 24-packs of beer.
Duff and his wife hadn’t been big on pub quizzes before lockdown, but are finding virtual ones ‘‘a great way to socialise and spend the evening while locked up’’.
The lockdown also appears to be thawing Londoners’ notoriously icy demeanours.
‘‘Generally speaking, Londoners are suspicious of strangers,’’ Duff says. ‘‘Now that everything moves so much more slowly, that distrust is still there, but they don’t seem to know where to direct it. This week, I’ve noticed more people smiling as they walk past each other, and even having conversations while they queue.’’
With more time on their hands, many are reaching out to the wider community with offers to deliver food, teach a foreign language, or arrange social events, he says.
As much as he loves living in London, however, Duff wonders whether the coronavirus will prove the push he, and others grappling with the city’s high cost of living, need to move out permanently.
‘‘At the moment, ‘‘the city that never sleeps’’ is nothing more than an expensive one-bedroom apartment with a weekly trip to the local
Japan
supermarket to queue for an hour. My wife and I have been considering moving . . . to the commuter corridor where we can get a house for the same money.’’
Poland
The Poles aren’t losing their dark sense of humour in the face of the coronavirus. If anything, the pandemic is intensifying it.
At least that’s the impression Clint Heine, originally from Nelson, has had while stranded in the country. Based in London, he flew to the city of Ostrow Wielkopolski to check on his mother-in-law just before Poland closed its borders.
‘‘The Polish have a dark sense of humour about everything – politics, religion, and society in general – so there have been a lot of brilliant jokes about this throughout,’’ he says. Community minded and adept and making their own fun, the Poles have adjusted well to life in lockdown, Heine says.
‘‘It’s a culture where there is no such thing as boredom. You don’t really find children on electronic devices. They’re outside playing all the time, and there is always something to do. This has meant a lot more home DIY and playing within your own gardens.’’ Bakeries and butchers remain open, highlighting the importance of bread and meat in the Polish diet, he says. ‘‘Polish kitchens will have plenty of vegetables, bread and pork – always,’’ Heine says. Despite restrictions on the numbers of certain items that can be bought at supermarkets, there has been no panic-buying. ‘‘People who didn’t before are offering delivery services, so we have had potato deliveries and freerange eggs . . . In a way, [lockdown] is driving people to be more forwardlooking with connecting with the public.’’ Physical distancing has done little, if anything, to weaken community bonds, Heine says. ‘‘Here in Ostrow, we still wave and say hello to our neighbours from a distance . . . People are buying masks for one another to enable them to go out to do their essential shopping. Overall, the community spirit has not changed at all.’’
The Japanese fear of ‘‘losing face’’ has compelled many to self-isolate despite the country not being officially in lockdown, Jessica Gerrity says.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has declared a state of emergency in an effort to curb a sharp rise in coronavirus cases in Tokyo and other major cities.
Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike’s recent plea to residents to stay at home to help prevent the spread of the virus appeared to have prompted many to self-isolate, with streets that had been crowded until then clearing. But it didn’t stop some going to hanami (cherry blossom viewing), Gerrity says.
While Gerrity is frustrated with what she sees as the government’s slow response to entering lockdown, she feels the Japanese desire to be seen to do the right thing in public and not cause a scene will compel most people to self-isolate.
‘‘Even without an enforced lockdown, the concept of the group movement, and shaming those who don’t fall into line, will work effectively to get people to self-impose lockdown.’’
Not surprisingly, rice – eaten at most meals in Japan – has been flying off supermarket shelves, along with ‘‘cup ramen’’ (instant noodles).
Despite being on the forefront of technology in many respects, Garrity says very few people worked from home before coronavirus.
‘‘Because of the virus, even the most rigid, infamously busy advertising agency, Dentsu, started to let staff work from home after it got one confirmed case within the company.’’
Home-based work isn’t the only thing Gerrity predicts the virus will boost in Japan.
‘‘I joke that even though the birthrate is famously low, with families spending more time together because of the virus (usually absent husbands spending more time with their wives), we may see a mini baby boom 36 weeks from now.’’
France
Fresh bread, cheese, wine, and cigarettes are ‘‘essentials’’ even, or perhaps especially, in times of crisis, the country’s lockdown rules suggest.
The French Health Ministry has issued an official decree listing some 40 items considered ‘‘indispensable for the continuity of the life of the nation’’, including bakeries, butchers, wine and cheese shops, and tabac corner stores, which sell items such as cigarettes, newspapers, magazines and lottery tickets.
‘‘Of course, the boulangeries are open as the French could not live without the wonderful variety of baguettes and other breads and pastries,’’ Kay Williams, who together with her husband Mark, offers tours of the Languedoc region in the south of France, says.
Eating out is also such a big part of French culture that the government has relaxed its rules somewhat concerning restaurants, allowing some to provide takeaway meals and deliveries,’’ says Keryn Webster, who runs B&B Mas Saint Antoine
in Provence with her husband.
‘‘And in some departments smaller food markets are allowed to open but under the agreement from the prefecture/mayor.’’
But while ‘‘a nation of rebels’’, Williams says most French seem to be sticking to the rules.
‘‘We have just heard that some Parisians are making the trip down south to spend their Easter holidays in the sunshine. Luckily, in most cases, the gendarmes [police] are stopping them, fining them and sending them home. [The French] are also a nation who consider their health to be very important and that seems to be the overriding factor in compliance.’’
As in Italy and Spain, the French have taken to standing on their balconies or in their front gardens at 8pm each day to thank frontline workers – in their case by clapping and banging saucepans.
‘‘We also had a ‘solidarity’ night last Wednesday where every church bell in France rang for 10 minutes, and we were asked to light a candle in the window,’’ Kay says.
Kay feels the crisis has enhanced camaraderie among residents, French and expats alike.
‘‘There are many heartwarming stories coming out of our local villages. One such story is about a village that is making masks for locals as it is likely they will become compulsory very soon. Someone is washing the material and cutting out the pattern, someone else is stitching them, another person is distributing them when doing home deliveries for their nearly closed catering company. They are using Hepa vacuum cleaner bags between fabric. People are donating fabric, vacuum cleaner bags and money to keep it going and it is showing a wonderful community spirit as well as keeping moral high.’’
Germany
Living and working in Cologne, Ally Koehler was surprised by the things that were still considered essential services in Germany after borders, schools, restaurants, bars, museums, and cultural spaces were closed.
‘‘One thing that surprised me was the length of time hairdressers were considered essential services and allowed to continue operations,’’ she says.
Lockdown rules are not as strict in Germany as they are in some other European countries, which Koehler feels it reflects leaders’ reluctance to ‘‘infringe on personal freedom and democratic rights through implementation of a full lockdown.
‘‘In the early stages, many hoped appealing to people’s sense of social responsibility with messages to adopt social distancing practices, selfisolate and only venture out for essential reasons would be enough.’’
As in France, bakeries are considered essential in Germany, and remain open, as do weekly produce markets and kiosks (dairies with booze).
‘‘A kiosk’s bestseller is beer by the bottle. This is known as ‘‘wegbier’’ – beer that you drink on the go. Buying a bottle of beer to swig while you walk is as common as grabbing a can of coke on the way and, from what I see, people are definitely still trading euros for wegbier before a stroll down to the Rhine. In fact, alongside the river, people are out in force. Though they do seem to be observing social distancing guidelines. Police are patrolling this and the fines are pretty hefty for people who don’t comply.’’
Todd Purchase, who lives in the southwest state of Baden Wurttemberg, feels Germans responded to the crisis in typically pragmatic fashion.
‘‘Being a super-organised country, a lot is being done in the way of explaining methods and theories of prevention. But, as everywhere, the cases of the infected keep rising.’’
As far as he is aware, there has been none of the singing, clapping and pot banging on balconies other European countries have experienced.
Spain
Ordinarily Spanish streets are packed with diners and drinkers every night of the week and, in lockdown, many have taken the fiesta indoors.
Pierre DeBaas, who lives in an apartment in Valencia with his husband Yohe, said they rarely saw their neighbours before lockdown as Spaniards ‘‘don’t usually use their outdoor space.
‘‘But since lockdown, there are people using their outdoor space 24/7. We notice everyone talking loudly to each other in their buildings or to neighbours across the road.’’
Many have taken to cooking up a storm – ‘‘the Spanish love to eat and the smell of amazing food being cooked up to five times a day is yummy’’ – while virtual parties and drinks catch-ups, and loud, livestream workout sessions are also popular.
As the lockdown wears on however and the country’s death toll continues to climb, DeBaas says morale is suffering.
‘‘It’s like a war without guns here – the streets are mainly empty. The police drive past every five minutes and if you’re in the streets without reasonable cause you get a fine from €600 (NZ$1000) to €60,000 (NZ$109,000). Every day we see.’’