71-year-old Craig has been an SA Housing Authority public housing tenant at Elizabeth East for eight years. Craig talks to us about his home and two of his great passions in life – helping out with Meals on Wheels and dancing.
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Craig: I was living at Tiddy Widdy Beach on Yorke Peninsula – I had a stroke – and after trying to live back there afterwards – no real medical support out that way – I had to bite the bullet and come back to Adelaide. So I stayed at my sister’s place for a while. I applied to the Housing Trust with a letter from my doctor about the stroke – the medical, what I needed. I had to come and have a look at the place, and then if I liked it, I had to go back to the Housing Trust, cross off one of the areas I had put in – I had put in Elizabeth East - that helps their records and things like that. I did that and then paid the deposit and got the key.
Interviewer: That’s great. And you’ve been here for eight years?
Craig: Eight years.
Interviewer: And you’re sort of close to the Elizabeth City Centre and other facilities around the place?Craig: Yes. I used to have a doctor just over at The Parks, but they closed that one and she moved on, so I go to Munno Para West I think they call it.
Interviewer: How is your health these days?
Craig: Actually quite good. I haven’t had any come back on the stroke. They’ve put me on what they call ‘maintenance’. Actually I was glad I had the stroke because they found out my aorta was blowing. They didn’t want to crack the ribs open so they came up through the groin to put the stent there. Because it was so high up they couldn’t stitch it, so every year I’ve got to have a scan to make sure that sits in the right spot.
Interviewer: As a kid you lived in public housing as well, didn’t you, with your mum and dad?
Craig: Yes, that was at a place called at the time Barton Vale, which turned into Enfield. I was there until I was about 18 and then moved on.
Interviewer: Now there’s two pretty important parts of your life that you’ve got involved with since you’ve been here. First of all it’s Meals on Wheels – how did you get involved in Meals on Wheels?
Craig: Being selfish! It was at the start of the pandemic, and I’m talking about being in lockdown, and I’m a person who has to get out at least once a day. So I thought about what I could do, so I said ‘apply for Meals on Wheels as a driver’ – because you’ve gotta deliver the meals as an essential thing, and ever since then I’ve loved it. Every three years you’ve gotta re-sign so I’ve re-signed for another three years. I thoroughly enjoy it.
Interviewer: And you do that a couple of times a week?
Craig: One week Monday and Friday – the following week Wednesday and Friday.
Interviewer: And is nice to connect with the older people in the area too when you deliver their meals to them?
Craig: When I say deliver – I drive. I don’t actually get to see the customers all the time. We stop and talk to them for a bit because it’s the only contact they get. But we have a certain amount of time to deliver hot meals, so if we take five minutes on each customer, someone at the end is not going to get a hot meal. It’s a good group of people at Playford. We have a bit of a joke and a laugh and a talk when we’re there. I get called in now and then for shifts – it’s really fantastic.
Interviewer: And of course the other big part of your life is ballroom dancing.
Craig: Not ballroom dancing, just dancing. In 60-40 we actually hold the partners. We have some expert dancers that do ballroom, but me, I just move around and my partner follows.
Interviewer: You played a lot of sport when you were younger – is the dancing the sort of follow on from you days of playing sport?
Craig: No, not really. I like to be active – I’m way over-weight. It’s just something where you meet people and go out instead of sitting home all the time. At the time I was single – instead of sitting home all the time I found out where the dances were and I used to go three or four times a week. You’d meet different people, and that’s where I met my partner.
Interviewer: That’s Yvonne?
Craig: Yvonne. We’ve been together three years now. It’s very good.
Interviewer: And you’re enjoying living in this area – you get to know your neighbours?
Craig: Yeah, the neighbours next door – they’ve gone away for a couple of weeks so I keep an eye on their place. The older people next door to me – I sort of keep an eye on them because they’re up in their 90s. You get to know people.
The End