Te Puke community figures share snippet of life and activities in lockdown

Western Bay of Plenty deputy mayor John Scrimgeour. Photo / File

Te Puke residents have been staying in their bubbles, and finding ways to keep entertained and the wheels rolling in a new lockdown world.

Te Puke resident and Western Bay of Plenty deputy mayor John Scrimgeour says he has mostly been busy catching up on jobs around the farm and orchard during lockdown.

He has also been working on a jigsaw puzzle - "a lovely picture of Central Park in New York".

"Council meetings have been off the agenda apart from a few Zoom catch-ups, but there are still a few people ringing to discuss their concerns.

"Otherwise, reading emails and trying to keep up with a rapidly changing situation."

However, he has been saving a lot of travel time, not to mention fuel as well, he says.

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Scrimgeour says Zoom had been something he had not used before the Level 4 lockdown.

"Apart from physically looking after ourselves, the most important thing for us all is to keep in touch with each other.

"We are so fortunate in this age to be able to make phone calls and send texts or emails.

"It's hard for us to imagine what life was like during the Spanish flu epidemic at the end of World War One. We all need to take time to communicate with others and not become isolated."

Ashley Peat, president of Te Puke Sports and Super Liquor owner, says during the lockdown period he has been working on the sections at home, with the chainsaw featuring plenty, and tidying up.

"I've been doing all those jobs I've been waiting to do for years."

Te Puke Sports president Ashley Peat. Photo / File

He says he and his wife Sue, who is president of Epic Te Puke, have been FaceTiming with their kids around the world, and are still doing some work and planning for when lockdown ends..

Peat says although they have quite enjoyed having some time to chill out, the sooner we can get out of lockdown the better.

"Overall, everyone seems to be adhering to the rules, and the sooner we can get through this and out of it the better."

He says in terms of sport in Te Puke, everything is on hold at the moment and they will just have to see what directives come from the government, "but hopefully we will start in a month or two for some sort of season".

There are now 546 reported cases of people with Covid-19 infection which the Ministry of Health can confirm have recovered. The current combined total of confirmed and probable cases of the infection in New Zealand is 1349

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website