May 1

May 1 George and Manon, Wainui

We’ve started isolating parts of my body that don’t move. Like I’m real good at wiggling my bum, but nothing else goes.

I’m George, I’m 29 and I’m an actor. Originally from Invercargill.

- I’m Manon, I’m 29, I’m a model and I come from Paris.

We’ve been living between places for a while, and now we’re in lockdown at Wainui Beach. On a day to day basis it’s generally really –

- Cool. It’s beautiful.

Yeah, it’s awesome. Right now, we’re sitting inside. We’ve closed the door because the ocean’s quite loud. We’re right on Wainui Beach and we’ve got these wonderful neighbours who we’re essentially in lockdown with. They’re great.

- They’ve been looking after us, because two weeks ago we didn’t know we would be in Gisborne, you know? It was not expected. Last week, we booked into this Airbnb, where we are now, and we start to talk with the neighbour who own it. They were really nice and were like, if anything happen you can come back and stay with us. We create a relationship with them, they are coolest people ever.

We were on our way up to Auckland to finish shooting this film I’m in when we got told shooting had been cancelled. We went up there anyway, spent some time with our friends Tom and Sophie, ate good food and stocked up our cupboards a bit. Then we were like, you know what? We might take Sally – who owns us this place – we might take her up on her offer. It’s been a really good decision, we’re so happy. We had a place in Avalon, in Aussie, but decided to move out of there for the meantime. Manon spent more time there than I did. We moved around a lot, looking for work. We’d be working as well, but mainly just looking for it. I’ve been spending a bit of time in LA –

- I’ve been waiting around, like usual.

We haven’t ever really had a proper base. For us, it’s normal to be living out of a suitcase. The only thing that’s not normal I ‘spose is that everyone else is in the same boat. And we don’t have many work opportunities. Although I did do an audition yesterday, which was cool.

- And I was there to help out, like usual. I always help George when he do the audition. I was filming and, what you say? Like the – oh yes, reading the lines. I was a …

Manon won’t even know what her part was (laughs). She was a detective.

- With my beautiful English, I need a little bit of preparation before I read the line. Mainly, I’m just filming George and then we watch the video together.

Manon helps me pick the best takes to send, she’s got a good radar for that.

- Because I know my husband so well! I know when he’s acting and when he’s really living the part. Usually after an audition we feel quite free and … we have fun.

Usually, you’d do three or four auditions in a week, and on a Friday you’d have a few drinks or whatever, but yesterday was what – Monday? Tuesday? Hard to know what day it is. But we’ve actually been having so much fun with our neighbours –

- Oh my god.

I should stop saying neighbours, they’re not our neighbours. We’re in one half of their house, so we’re actually in lockdown together.

- We have coffee with them, we have a couple bottle of wines with them, it’s nice. You realise in this time, it’s nice to share love and happiness instead of worry.

And they’re really non-judgemental –

- Yes, non-judgemental and did you know they are like, maybe like –

They’re in their early sixties I suppose …

- And we are like, our thirties?

Not yet, mate.

- You know, they are like couple of generation up, but they are so young and free in the way they live.

We’ve become really good friends. And Andy, sometimes he’ll see me sitting there thinking about the future or trying to sort through something, and he’s always like, ‘You know, you can’t worry about what the future holds. I’m a farmer, if I was sitting there waiting for it to rain … there’s just no point stressing about it you know? You won’t know what will happen until it happens.’ It’s such a great way to be, but it’s hard at the moment. If you can force – and it’s so hard – but if you can force yourself into –

- Live the moment, day by day. If you spend your time worrying about something, you miss the beauty of life.

We do keep reminding ourselves we’re still in the honeymoon period of all this, and for us, not a lot has changed. Money still doesn’t come in, it just goes out. We’re unemployed – what’s new – but now the government might help us out, which has never happened before. I mean, you’re a writer, you know what it’s like.

- To be a model, the money, it never regular. When it comes, it comes. You try to be thinking, ‘Ok, so money coming in now, but maybe for a couple of week or couple of month there will be nothing.’ You try to make it work and adapt to that.

That’s what I’m excited about too, because the world’s now in this new format. People aren’t consuming in the same way and they don’t have all the same distractions. But then, if I think too far into the future it does scare me. Jesus, I’m excited to watch plays and films and go to a bar and get wasted and make new friends again. Even us talking to you right now, look at us! We’re fucking going for it, because we’re craving that connection. And are we fighting? Ask Manon. Fuck, we always fight, Manon’s a psycho.

- I am French so you know, I am pretty open about my feeling. Sometime too open …

That’s actually the number one problem, me telling her to be quiet cos we’re sharing a house with people. I’m literally whisper-yelling at Manon, ‘I don’t want to be kicked out of this amazing place, we’ve got to stay friends with them.’

- Yes! He say, ‘We can go to the beach, we can go to park, we can have a kōrero outside of the house, but not here!’ No, what have we been fighting about?

Jeez, don’t tell her …

- The best thing is George and I, we try to practice mindfulness. The best way I know for me is, I decide now to write a – how you say – a notebook?

A journal.

- Right. So, you can empty your head instead of becoming angry. You express it in a paper and no one can read it, is just for you. Whatever helps you through your day. That’s why I actually married George, why I grabbed hold of him, is because he is someone who is always trying to grab the best of things. He believes in not to be a pessimist. To live in the beautiful. Sometimes we are like, ‘Oh, we shouldn’t be so happy today in this situation,’ but with George I am having the best day, walking and laughing together and cooking beautiful food –

I reckon at the end of this I’m going to be really ripped.

- ahahahahahahahaha.

It might be the one time I manage to get a bit of sculpting in the rig.

- George, no. We have just been eating and drinking wine –

Yeah but you’ve got a sore shoulder so you can’t do anything! No, we’re good, but what worries me is we’re not sure how to help other people out. I’d love to do deliveries, anything I can. If anyone in Gizzy needs help, please sing out. I know people must be going through hell. That’s the thing too, even with Manon’s family - a sister in Italy, Mum in Paris, Dad in Paris, and her other sister stuck in Sydney, in isolation by herself, trying to get back to France. Their isolations and our isolation look very different. Over here, we’ve got amazing produce and people are sharing amongst each other, we’re realising how sufficient we can be. I just pinch myself every day for being here, we’re so fucking lucky for being in NZ. I could be in an apartment in LA –

- That would be a nightmare.

For sure. It’s actually quite cool cos I’m always thinking about work, and for the first time ever I’m not thinking about it much. I’m always up in my head as well. Manon’s a dancer, so she was like, we should do some dancing! So we’ve started isolating parts of my body that don’t move. Like I’m real good at wiggling my bum, but nothing else goes. So, Manon got me moving. Took me out of my head.

- When I look at George dancing, oh my god. It’s the best. Super cute and when he really let go, I’m like – that’s my husband, he’s the best! I think for me, this can be a positive experience because I never live in New Zealand. If you told me one year ago I will live in Gisborne for maybe couple of months I would never believe you. Paris to Sydney to Gisborne – I am going smaller and smaller. Maybe I go to farm next, or Invercargill.

Nothing wrong with Invercargill girl!

- George, she ask a new question … can you repeat please?

Something we don’t want to run out of …

- For me, books. I am reading French books and I’ve got three or four, but they won’t last forever.

What about toilet paper?

- I don’t care about toilet paper! I will clean my bum in the water. The ocean is right there!

Mate, you can’t do that.

- I don’t care, I need my books!

It’s good to know what the rules are. When Jacinda Ardern talks you feel like she’s talking to you, and you feel responsible as a kiwi to adhere to her rules. It’s pretty cool that we have such a compassionate government. When I listen to old ScoMo and Boris and even Macron in France, you go – when you open your mouth, I don’t trust you. Jacinda makes me feel safe and really proud to be in Aotearoa. Fuck, we’re so lucky aye.