I’m Rita Hammond. I’m 90 years of age.
I’m a resident of a nursing home.
I came in on the sixth of February.
And then after a month COVID started.
We didn't realize in the beginning
how bad it was going to be.
Not having visitors is hard.
But we've had the Zoom,
and we're forever texting each other
and you can talk on the phone.
I actually texted to my daughter,
and I said, 'Look, Trish, I really am alright.'
And she texted me back, 'but I'm not.'
She said I need to say you.
I feel close to my family and grandchildren,
nieces and nephews, everybody rings.
Some of my friends, in here,
have found it difficult.
I think it's changed a lot of people.
If it slows the world down,
I think that's a good thing.
Because everything's going so fast.
Perhaps this might teach us to listen to the
scientists in various ways with the
world, environment and everything.
I feel better about the future than I did before.
Only because surely we'll
learn a lesson from all of this.
My name is Emil Paris, born in France.
Sometimes I feel nicer because in one way
I am lucky compared to other people,
but some time I feel sad at the same time.
Not to be able to see my friend,
I feel also fearful for my family,
here and in France.
When I do painting,
I don't think about anything else.
So I concentrate on what I’m doing.
We don't know where
the virus is coming from, you see.
So we cannot say
with certainty what is going to happen.
My name is Maria Vrettou.
And I found myself during the COVID.
I had to give up my volunteering,
which I was doing. I was very busy.
And it was a good thing because I slowed down.
I was too busy.
And my husband was very ill.
So I had to look after him.
I think what COVIDs done is
made people slow down.
It taught us to be more still.
To look at ourselves,
to see what we really want out of life
life before we are just racing around
not thinking about anything just doing too much.
Also, it taught us to be closer to family.
I write every morning after breakfast,
a list of 10 things I'm grateful for.
I trust life and I go along thinking
that things will be better.
But we have to wake up
because we've done too much harm.
Every morning I say this is the best day of my life.
And it always is. It always is.