Club Speaker: Anne Worley.
As many of you know I have recently moved into a retirement village.
Before I moved in a friend gave me a book to read entitled THE SOCIAL COMMITTEE of the JACARANDA RETIREMENT VILLAGE.
I laughed all the way through the whole book. Surely life in a retirement village is not like the book said. Let’s face it the book was fiction – right?
After being in the village for a few months, I started thinking that the author Joanna Nell must have used my village as the resource of her book.
For example, there is one woman aged 85 – going on 19. Her dress and makeup would be the envy of any teenager. As my husband would say – mutton dressed as lamb. Whenever we had music/drinking one older woman would start pole dancing (Don’t laugh - This is the truth and I have the photos to prove it) Everyone had an opinion and they fought to convert people to their side.
To recap, the retirement village was just like any dysfunctional neighborhood or family.
Then came Cyclone Gabrielle. I could not believe how such a devastation would turn us into a very close and united unit. As luck would have it, Knightsbridge was not an area that had to be evacuated. There were knocks on everyone’s doors to ensure that everybody was safe and to advise us to make our way to the hall for a meeting. As we all gathered and spoke to a very bewildered crowd, we talk through some basic steps that we were going to put in place. We soon learned that other than SPARK, other telephone providers did not have coverage. Those of us with SPARK left our phones at the hall so our residents could be in contact with family.
We gathered transistor radios so we could all hear the latest news. We asked people not to open their freezer so food would not get soft. The village hall was going to be command central. We encouraged everyone to pop in whenever they wanted as a few of us would always be there. Our village has a very large gas BBQ with two pilots on the side for pots and pans. We quickly put in place that tea/coffee will be served at 10.30 am. If anyone had a flask we would fill it with hot water for personal use. At three o’clock we will meet and decide what we were going to do for our evening meal.
First night we asked if anyone had fresh meat or fish so we would cook that first. Many residents also donated their fresh vegetables. Our storeroom looked like green grocers and we cooked accordingly. On day two we learned that we would be without power for the coming days. Everyone pitched it. I was amazed at the number of people that still do home baking Our morning breaks were coupled with yummy treats. One of the last few nights we had 5 roasts on the grill. We were eating and drinking like kings. Our “command” centre was turned into an entertainment centre.
During the day people kept busy with crafts, playing board games or cards, people were sitting keeping each other company around transiter radios. Family and friends would ring every day and tell us of the devastation on TV to see how we were getting on. I for one was having the time of my life, I was getting to know my neighbours and we had happy hour every night. As we got news from “outside” we would share it. It was like living in the twilight zone. We were in utopia as the rest of Hawkes Bay was going through hell. Gabrielle truly changed the mood of our village.
When I first moved in we had “happy hour” twice a month. We now have it officially once a week. We started a craft morning every week and ladies get together to chat more than anything. We also have an “event or two” every month – This month we had a fashion show with Caroline Eve and a few of our residents were the models. Many of us liked the idea of interacting with other residents and now most of is go over for a quick drink. We catch up with what is going on in the village and the health and welfare of our residents. So as the saying goes – FOR EVERY BLACK CLOUD THERE IS ALWAYS A SILVER LINING