(BELL MELODY) (PLAYFUL MUSIC) Captions by Kristin Williams. Edited by Ingrid Lauder. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2019 (BELL TOLLS) (CURIOUS MUSIC) Winter is the busiest time in the funeral industry because of the cold. And so it's important that we're ready to go. (CURIOUS MUSIC) Francis has bought a leaf sucker. He no longer blows; he sucks. (LEAF BLOWER WHIRRS) Hey. It's a new machine. Yeah. Man, it has changed my life. I used to battle with Tawhiritmatea. And now he can do what he wants. (CURIOUS MUSIC) I bought the leaf sucker without my wife knowing. Now, just so that everyone knows, you know, I'm not always this bad, but there are some things you have to do ` you have to do. This new leaf sucker is the way to go. It's not only a leaf sucker; it is a litter sucker. So it sucks up litter as well. The one thing the leaf sucker doesn't get is chewing gum. This leaf sucker did surprise me, but it was only a matter of time. And not only is the funeral home tidy but the community in Onehunga. The neighbours and potentially the council will be all happy with everything. (TINKLY MUSIC) All right, Fiona, that's you. (CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS) Today Scottie's taking the staff photos for the new business cards and the website. (CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS) (LAUGHS) Probably once a year I'll trigger it off and say, 'Right, we need new photos.' Only because, you know, some of us get smaller, fatter (CHUCKLES) and the team changes every time. (CLEARS THROAT) I want her to show some teeth, like, some of that gold. Oh God. I've got new staff. Fatafehi, she started in reception work and now she's slowly moving on to a funeral assistant. Fehi's strengths is she is someone I really love cos she's a clean freak and she does lots of cleaning. We also have Takapari Murray. Tak is my brother. Hi. Fiona? No. Hard night? No. All good? Yeah. OK. His strengths, um,... is the gym. Can I just think about that for a minute? I have 12 in my family ` six girls and six boys. Tak is just younger than me. I'm number nine; he's number 10. Um, just wondering why we're sleeping? OK. So Francis hadn't said anything else for you to do? No. OK. But it's OK to have a sleep? Is it hard working with my younger brother? (EXHALES) Yes. Yes. Do you want to go see what he needs for you to do upstairs? (SIGHS) (FOOT REST THUDS) I think it's because my expectations of him are too great. (HUFFS) Dear, how did you go? I went like that. Did you put any lipstick on? No, what for? Is that me? God. Have you ever seen me with lipstick? Rude. You could have done it up or something. Shut your face. I hate taking photos, but Francis, he loves it. Why? Because he's a lot skinnier now. It is Mr Tipene, everyone. Francis has lost an extreme amount of weight. I don't ever remember seeing him that small. Teeth. (CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS) Oh wow. Can you show a little bit more teeth? That's it. I've had the gastric sleeve surgery. I did it first of all to help me lose weight, and second of all to help me with my obstructive sleep apnoea which I have. Can you see yourself? A new you. Yeah. You should be a Jenny Craig campaign. No. So I've got a new tummy. Well, I've got a smaller tummy. Um, I've got a new leaf sucker or Turbo Vac. I've got new teeth. I've got a new car. And... But I'm still me. (ELEGANT STRING MUSIC) (SOMBRE MUSIC) Today in our care we have the late Mr Pukeroa Monty Busby. We'll come to the top, take his vest and this one here as well. Mr Busby passed away due to pneumonia, but he had some underlying issues as well ` heart disease mainly. Mr Busby was 77 years old. And I've got his, um, tarau here, which Fehi ironed for you, Matua. From what I've been told by the whanau, Mr Busby was a bit of a character. He looks... not peaceful; he looks cheeky. Two, three, that's it. Oh, that's his Wanderers vest, eh? We're preparing him this afternoon to take him over to the Wanderers Pub over in Mangere. Uh, he was a member there, uh, part of their social club and a great pool player. We have said we're going to arrive at the Wanderers by 2 o'clock. And we don't want to let them down, cos they've been waiting for their mate. WOMAN: Hoki mai runga ki... OK, stop there. One, two, three, up. ...whanau, haramai nga e. Haere mai. Haere mai ra. MAN: Ki mai nei nga atua o te po, ka tuhi, ka rarapa, ka uira. Katoa te mahuru... It's very common for Maori to share ourselves with different people. I mean, sometimes with tangihanga we take our tupapaku to different maraes. # Whakaaria mai... # The same thing here in terms of Monty, you know, that's his marae there over at the Wanderers and so he's taken there, spent a lot of time there. # Amene. # I've gotta leave early, so they're going to continue with their karakia, cos I need to get back to the funeral home to set up the mattresses as Monty will be staying the night in our chapel with his whanau. Are they sleeping in here? Yeah. This row out and this row out, eh? We don't often have whanau sleep in our chapel, but in this case, his home was a bit small for him, so we offered it up. Um, we'll just close these now and, um, all ready for the whanau, eh? Cool. * (POIGNANT MUSIC) Mr Busby has spent the night here in our chapel. For us, it's very natural to sleep with our dead. In Maoridom and in the Maori world view, it's important for us never to leave the tupapaku on their own, to always be near or have someone with them. The time has come when we're going to close Mr Busby's lid. (GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC PLAYS) # Tama ngakau marie, # Tama a te Atua, # tenei tonu... # Mr Busby's best friend, Peter, wants to drive Mr Busby on his final journey back north to his funeral. And so I think it's quite appropriate that they do. I mean, Peter would know exactly what sort of music to play for Monty and what speeds and what to yarn about. So I think it would be a great journey together. # Arohaina mai. # Amene. # (CURIOUS MUSIC) Dear, I've finished with the computer. How do you lock it? Um... Ctrl, Alt, Delete. So I'm out in Henderson and I just want to inspect the building and the premises, rubbish and tidiness. There's always something out of place, and there's usually always dust. Today I couldn't find anything. Did Auntie Caroline come in and clean, e hoa? No, she hasn't been in. Mmm. This is beautiful. One of the things I know with regards to Francis is there are certain things that need to be replenished all the time and tissues are probably at the top of that list. Oh, the timing is just` I was going to just blow up about tissues and he walks in with all these tissues. Yes, yes, of course. Of course he would. Oh man, I just want to growl, but I can't growl, because it's so beautiful. I'm about to eat with Scottie and so I'm going to partake and have some salad with him. Is this really what you eat, e hoa? (CHUCKLES) Yes. Why? You don't like that sort of thing? No, no, I just... Or is it too hard for you? No, it's neat. I'm just saying... This salad needs a prayer and it needs mayo. There's mayonnaise there. It's not good for you. Uh, I'm doing you a favour. I know. I appreciate that. It's just who eats salad without mayonnaise? Scottie and I used to have chips, like, deep fried chips, sausage rolls, pies... Give it here. Please. I'll just have a little bit. Thank you. I don't think you should. Just a little bit. (LAUGHS) Scottie, eh, tell me there's no mayo. See, that's all I wanted. Just for a flavour. It's gross. I've lost 20-odd kilos, but I haven't really been measuring, because it's kind of something that I... I don't really want to know. I want it to go away and never come back. (LAUGHS) No more mince-and-cheese pies. No. No. I'm envious because, I mean, I just, you know, had to have an operation, and he's put in the hard work. What do you have for lunch? Ah, it just depends what everyone's eating. Mince is my favourite cos it's easy. Um, if we go to KFC, I'll have mashed potato and gravy. Ah, if I'm with my niece Kura, I'll eat her baby food. Sad. I miss food. I'll get it back, but just now the tummy's not yet ready for it in there. Ah, but I do miss food so much. I miss chocolate. Well, they were saying that dark chocolate's quite healthy, eh? Ugh. Gross. But it's gross. You're right. Gross. (GENTLE MUSIC) Today we're at the Waikumete Cemetery. We're going to remove a name plaque because we have a disinterment happening this coming Sunday morning. A disinterment is when we are instructed by a family to uplift the remains of their loved one from a grave and relocate or reinter somewhere else. Mr Edwards was a World War I veteran from the medical corps. His family want to disinter him to bring him nearer to them down the line. They believe that he's lonely up here and that in Auckland there are no other family members. All it takes it this, this, and this. Simple, yet somehow brilliant. Because like all classics, when it's right, you know it's right. VOICEOVER: Kinder Chocolate is made especially for kids with a yummy milky centre, kid-sized portions and a taste that kids love. Kinder Chocolate. Made for kids. * (SLOW, EMOTIVE PIANO MUSIC) It's early hours of the morning before dawn, and we've arrived at the Waikumete Cemetery to get ready to disinter Mr Edwards. (SLOW PIANO MUSIC CONTINUES) E te Matua, anei no ra matou, to whanau kua tae mai ki runga i a koe i tenei rangi. Anei no ra matou kua tai mai i runga no i te aroha kia whakahoki atu i a koe ki te kainga ki o matou tipuna, ki o tupuna, o mokopuna e tatari ana ki a koe kia hoki mai. Kaua e papouri mai, e te Matua, i te tama, kua ma tonu` kua tae mai i runga no i te aroha. I runga i te ingoa o to Tama, Ihu Karaiti, Amene. Amene. Kia ora. Ka pai. Kia ora. Mr Edwards was buried 59 years ago. If Mr Edwards was alive today, he'd be 131 years old. (SLOW EMOTIVE MUSIC) The whanau don't want to be part of the disinterment process, so they're going to head off up the road for a little cup of tea and some breakfast. And Scottie and I and the Waikumete Cemetery staff will be there to awhi one another. I've attended all kinds of disinterments, from young babies through to old elderly kaumatua and kuia. Um, disinterments that happened where a person was buried, and then a week later we needed to disinter the body because it was the wrong grave or the family have changed their mind. And so they happen for all sorts of reasons. (PIANO MUSIC) What I'm expecting to find... is not a lot, really. Waikumete Cemetery is a very wet cemetery, and where Mr Edwards is interred presently, it's at the bottom of the cemetery, so, naturally, the water would be coming downhill, so it would make sense that a lot of his body would not be there, especially his kohiwi ` bones. But the casket, you'd imagine there would be a lot of that left over as caskets in those days were built out of solid wood. Oh, some of the lid's still there. As I suspected, the casket ` the solid wood casket ` is intact. The lid has fallen into the casket, which is very normal. And so now it's just a matter of the cemetery staff just sifting through the earth to see what we can find. (POIGNANT STRING MUSIC) Mr Edwards was in his grave for 59 years, and they were able to recover a part of his skull, which is just so beautiful. The family actually get to take a real physical piece of his tinana back with them. (MISCHIEVOUS MUSIC) Pump those legs. Pump those legs. And five, four, three, two, one, relax. I go to the gym every second day. I hate the gym. That hasn't changed. How's that? Your legs feeling better? Um... Is it your legs or what? No, still not warm. Still not warm? No. OK. Cos I'm hungry too. Oh, are you hungry? Yeah. Whose fault's that? His because we didn't get time to have lunch. (CHUCKLES) What? We had lunch. What? Salad? OK. Yeah. Takapari's training me at the moment, and we've got our little fitness regime and programme that we do together. Is that as fast as you can? Yep. Is that as fast as you can? Oh, yeah. Takapuri is a trainer. I think the dude should stick to just staying in the funeral industry or modelling or something that doesn't require our paths to cross in such a way. He... He's annoying. This is 220kg. Really? Oh man. Tak loves his body. You know, there's like, some guys would say, 'Does this look all right?' but Tak walks around like he knows it looks all right. The big massive cardboard cutout biceps, you know, and kind of prances around. Mr Stud Muffin, you know, skux guy. And you're kind of like, 'Bro, put it away.' (GRUNTS) One. I don't like lifting weights, but I do like the results. (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) So, yeah, on the last one... My friend, he's skinnier. And he's looking amazing. He looks great. He does. But in terms of looking skinny and actually being fit ` two different parallels. I'll kick his butt any day. This is the last one, so we're going to empty the tank on this one. Yep. And three, two, one. Let's go. Let's go. Let's finish it off strong, team. Nice and strong. Scottie can last longer with his endurance at the gym with running and rowing and stuff. I... I'm sort of quicker but then, you know, run out of fire. Just keep moving. Three, two, one. Yeah. Nice work. Nice work. Nice work. Scottie wins the competition, and I don't care. How many did you do on that last one? Nine. Ooh! I did seven. Who lost? So you're shouting the protein shake? Happily to. (CHUCKLES) I know I have to shout us all a protein shake, and I don't care. I just wanted it to be finished.