The Covid19 pandemic was something I thought I would never see in my lifetime and I bet many people can say the same thing. When the country went into Level 4 lockdown it was only businesses of essential services which could keep pressing on. New Zealanders had to adapt to a whole new type of normal with new terminology where days were measured by case numbers and isolation and on it went.
New Zealanders were suddenly told to stay at home and for some they wondered how on earth they were going to fill their days in for the next few weeks. Exercise regimes were implemented, family cooking and baking sessions went into overdrive and for those who planned a little, plenty of home and garden DIY was carried out.
Typically, car guys never have to worry about what to do next as their minds are never at idle as they work on their current pride and joy or build a project in the shed or quite possibly planning the next one and the one after and so on. Operating GMS Hot Rods from home meant that I could have plenty of time to tend to customers projects with zero interruptions and also focus on my own projects. Needless to say, time flew by real fast and as I write this we are now sitting at Level 2 with new terminology such as social distancing and contactless transaction and so on. I sure feel for a lot of people and businesses who are or have been under considerable financial, emotional and physical pressure due to the impact of Covid19 and how it was handled here.
New Zealand has been in the most fortunate position to be so isolated from the rest of the world and on that note many people feel the borders weren’t closed soon enough. There was also some irony as to what businesses were deemed safe to the public and which businesses were either closed or had to jump through many hoops to be able to trade in a contactless way. Some of that just didn’t make sense no matter which way you looked at it. But in general, New Zealand sure pulled together where and how they could to make this right. How it all plays out from here is anyone’s guess from a national and international perspective.
Back to my car enthusiast perspective due to the restricted numbers of public gatherings, one can pretty much write cancelled through a lot of upcoming events for the next few months, perhaps well towards the end of the year - who knows? For some of these events the impact is great on the small club running it, it’s amazing to think how Covid 19 has impacted every aspect of everyone’s lives. Back to my little bubble (another Covid 19 term) and Level 2 has enabled me to restock supplies and materials for the business, a couple of customers have collected their cars or visited on the progress of the cars they have with me. One thing for sure though is there still isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done. The other thing too, is it’s too early to know what our new normal is - it’s going to be an interesting few months or near future to see how this all plays out. Stay safe!