Life in the Time of COVID, Part 3

It’s been another two weeks (seems like two months!) since I wrote the last entry. And things are starting to change—perhaps for the better.

Weather has been cold: we had snow and below-freezing temperatures last week and last night. When I went to the Metro this morning, at 7 for the Seniors’ Hour, it was snowing and cold. Not that it’s been entirely cold. The first weekend of May saw temperatures in the low 20’s, with lots of sun. I took my bike around the Bay, and it felt good. Even got some sunburn on my arms. Then it returned to cold, and, as I said, it is still around the freezing point. Tough that yesterday we talked with both our boys (for Mother’s Day) and both Victoria and London have temperatures in the 20’s. Our time will come.

But we have dilemmas still to deal with. There is the “mask” question. More people are wearing them, even though the science is unclear about benefit(s). And entrepreneurs have begun to produce some pretty nice-looking ones for sale.

Then there are the re-opened rail trails (hurray!!). How to navigate these without breaking the distancing rules, and still get good exercise. Right now it seems too cold to try, but that of course will change soon. When I think about this, it isn’t really a dilemma. I will use the trails and take my chances. And the Driving Park is now re-opened to traffic, and is busier because of this. 

Stores are beginning to re-open as well. We can easily visit garden centres, can actually go inside the hardware stores, and can get curb-side pickup at any store with a street entrance. Quebec has decided to restart elementary schools, and the rest of the country is watching with a mix of hope and fear to see what will happen. 

It is clear that there is not one, but many COVID outbreaks. There are nursing homes, then all the other places. There are big cities, then the rest of the provinces. There is Ontario and Quebec, and then everyone else. There are the poor, and then the rest of us.

And how are we reacting to all of this? We are fervently wishing for this to be over; to get back to some kind of normal, where you can visit and hug, shake hands, pat people on the shoulder, put down the computers to talk directly to people. We are by times bored, at a loss of what to do, and overwhelmed by the sadness of the situation. Humans, including us, were not meant to be this separated. We wonder what the new “normal” will look like, and when it will come. It seems that it will be coming slowly, and in measured steps. Looks like we will be in this for some time yet, perhaps eighteen months.

Anyway, enough for now. More later.