You’ll basically do anything on Zoom after a bottle of red.

I’m Henry, I’m 31, I live in Birkenhead and I’m the creative director at Someday Studios.

Lockdown for me looks like … Big Brother, without the girls. There’s three of us - myself, Matt and Dwayne. All single. Can you imagine? What are we doing? Well, we exercise. We work full days Monday to Friday. We cook. Lots. Eat lots. And well, we talk a lot about our dream wives. Come Sunday, we’re pretty bored. And horny.

I moved over to Birkenhead the day before we got locked up. I packed an overnight bag with my toilet bag, exercise gear, slippers and my work stuff and moved into this house. I literally have nothing. It’s quite refreshing. I did try to panic-buy a puppy but that didn’t happen. But I’m loving it over here, we live 50 metres from the beach and I feel like I’m back in Bondi. Just swap out all the young models for middle-aged couples or newborns and dogs. It’s epic. Have you noticed that everyone, every stranger, every person you see is just so much nicer? I’m loving that. Everyone smiles and waves and yells good morning. Everyone cares for everyone. I really, really hope that stays the same.

My mornings are still the same. Up early. But even earlier now because I’m in a single bed that’s so close to the street lamp, it may as well be outside on the footpath. I’d usually go for a run by the water to get my ocean fix. I’m still doing that, thank god. But then before this, I used to have a lot of human interaction - with work, and outside of work too. I love people. All of them. Everyone. So, not being able to see anyone … that’s fucking killing me. And not being able to swim in the sea and surf. Torture.

I’ve picked up a few new habits like eating, snacking and eating some more. I’m eating so fucking much, I’ve put on about 10kgs. I look like a glazed Christmas ham. Oh yeah, I’ve also started doing ‘singles date night strip poker’ on Zoom. That’s pretty classic. You’ll basically do anything on Zoom after a bottle of red. The strip poker was pretty funny. Funny, interesting and sad. Sad cos when I took my shirt off she was like, “Yo, Kim dot com!”, laughing through the screen. Fuck. Can’t wait for Little Bird to open so I can do one of those bullshit juice cleanses with Milly.

How am I keeping my spirits up? Fresh air. Exercise. Music. Laughter. Ringing friends. Ringing mum. And the two boys I’m locked in with keep my spirits up. We’re all on the same buzz. We have our own businesses to keep alive, we’re active and enjoy each other’s company. Fuck we’ve had some laughs. Wow. We’ve also adopted a pet grasshopper called Gobby, he’s pretty cool. Last Friday night, we snuck out like little teenagers and got blind drunk in the park down the road. We were gonna go skinny dipping but then remembered we’re not allowed to swim, so we just sat drinking wine and watching the stars until five in the morning.

The hardest thing right now is … hmmm … not having a girlfriend? (Laughs) Pretty hard being single in a worldwide pandemic. It’s fucked actually. Sometimes I’m like, ‘Is this whole thing just a nasty joke on all the single people?’ But nah, the hardest is definitely not having my friends around. I miss them all like crazy. I miss greeting everyone with a hug and a kiss, I’m pretty affectionate. I hug and kiss all my friends. Even the boys. Except for Tom and Rizzle, can you imagine? But yeah, I miss all the crew big time. It’s killing me. I cannot WAIT for the reunion. My dear god, look out. It’ll be bigger than the 2011 RWC final.

The worst thing to run out of would be energy. I’d hate to run out of energy. And laughter. Those two things … they’re the key. Looking ahead, I try not to worry too much. It’s a waste of energy. Much more fun and healthy thinking about the positive. Like, even though this seems like we’re totally fucked and life won’t be the same, I think we’ll all be ok and come out of this for the better. We just all have to stick together and help each other out. Support your local businesses, support your friends. Business will boom again, people are going to be so excited to regroup and grow together - we just need to be patient and trust our Queen, Jacinda.

If I could go back and do anything before lockdown, it would be … to get a girlfriend. Have I mentioned I want a girlfriend? No, I wish I’d flown down to Christchurch to look after Granny Bizzle. She’s all on her own and is hating it. I’d love to be sitting with her in her little room, having a shandy and a cheese toastie. Her favourite things. I’d love to be in lockdown with Georgia Fowler. Imagine. Nah, if I had to choose one person in the whole world it’d be Mum. Definitely Mum. I FaceTime her every morning at 6:30 while I’m running, when I get to the ocean. She’s always on her walk along the beach, so we share our ocean sunrises. But it would be way better if we could share them in person.

I’ve been thinking, once we’re out of this I want to be around positive people that are really doing things. I don’t want to be around anyone negative, anyone who judges or talks about what other people do. I want to be around people that dream and support and do things. I have so much respect and admiration for every single New Zealander. Everyone has their own shit going on but somehow, we’ve all rallied together and put everything aside. With Jacinda at the helm, shit, we’ve fucking nailed it. I want everyone to come out of this and fill their days with colour and joy. To remember to play, to think like a kid. Be nice. Be happy. And always, always listen to Neil Young.