New Zealand Lockdown - As Told by the cast of 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'

by Anne-Marie Jones

Here in New Zealand, we have been in Level 4 lockdown (our strictest level) for eleven days now, and while the rest of the country is moving down to Level 3 on Tuesday, Auckland and the top of the North Island will be remaining in lockdown awhile longer.

For the sake of humour during what can be a hard time, I thought I’d round up some examples of when “It’s Always Sunny in Philadephia” summed up the feelings of our country right now.

1 – For a nation of drinkers, lockdown provides a great opportunity to ‘GET ON IT!!!”. No pesky alarm clocks, school drop offs or work to go to in the morning, and fuck-all else to do most of the day.

I actually think it’s a wee bit sad that I can easily and quickly get a wide range of alcohol delivered to my door during Level 4, yet elderly and vulnerable people are struggling to get milk and bread.

“Well, the uh, gravity of situation just set in”

2 – Just before lockdown, our new rabbit chewed our router cable and we were without internet for about, oh, half a second. We just about lost our minds! I cannot even IMAGINE lockdown without internet.

3 – You know at the beginning of Spring when your nose gets a bit tingly and sniffy, and you’re just not quite sure if it’s a cold starting or not. In lockdown, the slightest vague sniffle can prompt a call to Healthline and a place in the queue for a Covid test.

“Can I offer you a nice egg in these trying times?”

4 – This is certainly a trying time, particularly for those at the top of the country right now. And with popular grocery items like toilet paper, pasta, flour and eggs often out of stock these days, I would most definitely accept an egg from Danny Devito (if he was in my bubble).

“I’m sitting in my chair, I’m relaxing, I’m getting blackout drunk…”

5 – Honestly, as someone who prefers tea/coffee to alcohol, this is basically me but with a hot drink in my hand trying to watch my shows. Lockdown with a busy, loud child is difficult when you’re trying to work at home and find time to relax as well!

6 – Dressing up to go to Pak n Save be like this. No sneezing on the produce, OK?

7 – Come on, team of 5 million, Ashley and Jacinda have told us to stay home, let’s all do our bit!

8 – Essential workers, you are all absolutely amazing and we appreciate you hugely right now, thank you!

I wanted to share this as I know there are some workers out there (mostly older and not tech-savvy) who would actually rather be at work than at home, so I could see this conversation playing out between them and an essential worker.

I hope you are all finding ways to bring a smile to your face, taking some time for yourselves, and coping OK during these unfortunately quite-precedented times.

Be good to yourselves, and to others. Stay in your bubble, and of course, as Chris Hipkins might say, “Spread your legs, not the virus”.