I was 7 years old when the war broke out. I don't remember much of those years except they just rolled along but I do remember when the American Soldiers arrived in Auckland and a very fancy ice cream shop was opened in New Market and sold ice cream in a cone and with all sorts of fancy toppings.
The very first ice cream I had ever seen or tasted.
The other memory was when the war ended in Europe we all stood after the announcement and banged up and down our desk lids and cheered loudly. That lid banging was repeated several months later when Japan surrendered. We had rationing , but it couldn't have been too bad because I do not remember any hardships or changes in food supply . I went to ballet classes even danced at his Majesty's Theatre , music lessons playing the piano , which later on in life meant that I could accompany my husband singing and entertain the people in Nursing and Retirement homes, which we did for nearly 10 years .
The schools still had retired teachers brought back to help because the younger ones had gone to War. In 1946 I went off to Auckland Girls Grammar School. But in 1948 the Polio epidemic closed all the schools. We all went on to correspondence lessons.
The New Zealand Herald reported at that time
Now you might manage most subjects but I could not get the French lessons to sit comfortably with me. With a number of other girls I decided to leave and go to Business College instead.
During that time the New Zealand Navy purchased 6 Frigates from the UK. Some of the crew were NZ sailors but the majority were ex Royal Naval men. My Uncle owned a farm and the local people invited the UK Naval men to a weekend of Country life. Saturday night in the local hall was the Entertainment venue. A girl friend and I were invited to join the fun. That was where I met my future husband . We were married for 65 years and he used to laugh and say , can you believe... my girl friend plays Hockey on Saturday mornings. I later played competitive tennis and golf before returning to the piano and music .
When my husband retired we moved to Queensland. Noosa, where we had spent many lovely holiday visits over the years. For example when we first visited the area in the middle 60's the David Low Way was still a gravel road and we saw Kangaroos , Hastings street had a bait and tackle shop where the Surf Club now is. Just sand dunes and no buildings. Of course after a few years it changed , but it has never lost its appeal . Very lucky are we folk who are fortunate enough to live and enjoy this lovely area.
Now another Health issue has invaded our Country not Polio this time but the Coronavirus. Until this awful time has passed I think I will say "No visitors" especially as the over 80's are a great risk and I still have a few responsibilities on this earth . Unfortunately people who have travelled on Public transport do not know who has been there before them . And a lot of people are saying they are using skype to keep in touch with the elderly relations but are not going to subject them to the chance of infection. Lets hope that it will soon be back to normal and the risk of infection will be a thing of the Past.
I must admit that I think we had more resilience back when I was young. Our ability to cope with things if they went a bit haywire was much less panicked. It is laughable to see people racing around grabbing huge bundles of toilet paper I don’t know quite what they intend to do with it all. I wonder how people today would cope with the polio epidemic or rationing.
For me it is a matter of being sensible and staying away from people until I have a better idea of what is going on. Just using common sense really. But I think that skype will be a great salvation for me and many other older people in the months ahead. Stay in touch with your relatives but do it from a distance.
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