Pandemic Chapter 3

 December 8

USA just passed 15 million COVID-19 cases and things continue to spiral there as President Trump, still fighting his loss in the November election, has done little to stem the damage and many of his followers continue to ignore health warnings. Locally, even within my family, I read outrageous attacks on our health minister and Dr. Henry as a lying tyrants. Very disturbing! The government imposed new restrictions which will be in effect until at least January 8, 2021 which include, limiting travel to essential trips only, no visitors in homes except the residents, no going out for dinner or drinks with anyone except people who live in your household as well as a few other things. For us, we have always considered our immediate household to include our two daughters, son-in-law and grandson. Part of this is because we continue to do babysitting for our grandson, so are in their house, and this activity is allowed to continue. People are getting very upset with how Christmas will be effected. No family dinners, many Christmas activities cancelled, no time with friends for the foreseeable future, etc. 

My brother was in the Lower Mainland for two months, and we did manage to spend time with him on three occasions. While I strongly believe in following the rules and protecting each other from this pandemic, I hate to admit that for these times we stretched things. I guess we can all find reasons to make exceptions for ourselves and I want to be careful not to let that be a pattern, but we had not seen him for 10 years and who knows when we may see him again. He spent his time working online and recently went to Barbados in order to spend the next several months working online from the Caribbean, after quarantining for two weeks.

The virus feels like it is getting closer. While we know of a few people personally who contacted the virus, and some of those died, we have now had a family member, a nephew’s daughter, get the virus, and our SIL had a very close friend die within a few days of getting the virus. We no longer go in and place if we don’t have to, and if we do, it is always with a face mask on. On the bright side, I have a feeling face masks may be the new stocking stuffer standard present.

I believe we are truly starting a new chapter. While restrictions will continue probably for months yet, the first vaccines were are being rolled out this week. Britain approved a vaccine and started inoculating today. Canada expects the vaccine to get Health Canada approval at any time, and the first people, probably health care workers and seniors over 80 years old could start getting needles before Christmas, with regular shipments coming thereafter. Could this be the start of beating the coronavirus? One can only hope so. It is good though to have hopeful news rather than doom and gloom each night.

December 9 - Today the first vaccine from Pfizer was approved in record time. There was clearly and very upbeat feel to the nightly news despite continued concern for the high numbers of new infections. Hopefully a historical day!

January 11, 2021

The next phase is now fully in swing. For over a month now vaccines have been sent out and inoculations have begun. First priority are front line health care workers, residents of senior care homes, indigenous people on reserves, drug dealers and murderers in prison, ... oh and some hospital board executives. My mom, who is now 101.5 years old, with advanced dementia, got her shot last week. I felt guilty hesitating when I was called to approve her receiving the vaccine, thinking that perhaps some younger, more cognitive person might benefit more. However, I would not want to be the reason she passes away or that she suffered. 

Health restrictions imposed in December are extended to February. This includes staying home except for essential travel, no visiting inside with anyone outside of your family residence (with some exceptions for care givers and singles), no dining out with anyone outside of your residence, no contact sports, no ballet dancing (rats!), and no travel outside of your health region. Masks are mandatory in every establishment. Some socializing may be ok outside, (no one seems to really have a handle on this), but social distancing and mask wearing is required.  We are constantly reminded that we are all in this together and if we all follow the health guidelines, which include fines of $2,300 for hosting gatherings that include non-household members, we can keep the curve from climbing and overloading the hospitals. Despite these measures, now common in many provinces and countries, covid-19 continues to spread. Yesterday we hit 90 million cases world-wide. The goal is to vaccinate all of Canada, although you may decline, by the end of September. Being over 65 and with other conditions, we hope we will still get it in time for our scheduled trip to Africa in August. Despite very clear messages from the government that Canadians should restrict their travel to essential business only, many politicians, including members of health boards and others who have put out messages stating people should not travel, were caught having gone on Christmas vacation to the Caribbean, Hawaii, India and the U.S., or attending to personal matters not qualified as essential travel. Naturally the public was very angry and forced the imposition of repercussions on politicians. Issued statements apologizing and saying they made a mistake sound hollow, given their orders to others and the fact that a vacation trip is not a spur of the moment decision that happens before you have had time to think about it. I feel these people have lost their credibility and right to be taken seriously.

My brother is still in Barbados working from "home" and intends to stay there until March. He is actually safer there from the virus than being in Toronto, and he is fully prepared to take the tests and do the quarantining required on his return. 

Due to health restrictions, the Christmas season was very different. Most Christmas events were canceled. We did get out one night to look at the top decorated houses in Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge, but in two cars. Christmas eve we spent home with our one daughter instead of with the six of us, going to a Christmas Eve service and then opening presents. Christmas Day usually involves going to church in the morning, enjoying goodies with coffee with our small family, and then going for dinner and an evening of games with the extended family (over 25 people). This year we stayed with our small, 6 person immediate family, had breakfast, watched the Christmas service online, opened gifts, parted ways for a few hours to prepare food or just have a nap, and then gather again for turkey dinner and games after the grandson is in bed. Much quieter but OK.

New Year's Eve was also quiet. We did a Zoom (an internet multi-participant video chat), with the friends we would normally get together with for a NYE party. However, by 11PM we were down to only us and the host family. Pretty sad showing. We used to make fun of seniors who couldn't make it to midnight on NYE. We did hang in there until 12:05AM and then signed off pretty quickly. I think I did not even have a glass of wine until very late that night. New Year's Day, another day where we would normally gather with the extended family for pizza and games, was just another day. We did have a Zoom meeting with the family, including my brother in Barbados, my nephew and his family in Lynden, Washington, and one of his daughters who was visiting her boyfriend's family in Iowa, (no practicing essential travel restrictions in this family). My brother and a nephew organized trivia contests. One was for TV and movies, including questions on identifying musical scores. We managed to answer three questions relating to the movie "Its A Wonderful Life", but that was all. Who listens to musical scores? The other game was for songs, going all the way back to the 80's! I think I stopped listening to music in the 70's. These guys think songs from the 1990's are classic oldies. Where was Buddy Holly, Elvis, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, etc.? After answering every question with a question mark, we baled even before the answers were reviewed. To be fair, the family cousins didn't think us older folks would be joining so didn't include songs from before they were born. 

December and January have been quite dismal, weather wise, and the canceled trip to Bonaire in a week from now would have been welcome relief. Also, we really look forward to visiting with family and friends again, even if at first it needs to be outdoors with safe distancing in the Spring.       

February 20, 2021

The year began with promise. Two vaccines were approved and with government assurances of having purchased millions of doses, it felt the end was in sight. But, just like a bratty sibling that holds out something you want, only to pull it away at the last second, it feels we are experiencing the same thing. Just as the first shipments of vaccines were to start arriving, the drug companies announced that there would be a 4 week delay due to the need to refit factories for the increased demand. While the U.S. had their own source, Canada was at the mercy of the companies in Belgium and got the shaft. While the government claims it could have everyone inoculated by September, there is little faith that they will accomplish this. On top of that, some privileged hospital board members managed to get them and their friends at the top of the vaccine list because they supposedly had extra doses that had to be used up quickly, despite over 99% of the population available to get the shot. Other stories of abuse also have come out from time to time. 

In B.C., the plan is to vaccinate based on age, from the oldest to the youngest. Based on their projections, if we don't get screwed by the drug companies again, us 65+ agers could expect to get our first dose in May or June. However, as long as so many people do not have the vaccine, and poorer countries fall farther and farther behind in getting vaccinated, international travel remains doubtful for quite some time. We have not yet canceled our trip to Zambia and Botswana at the end of August, but I believe that will be a certainty. Another year of staying home. At night we watch shows like House Hunters International and dream of warm climates, sandy beaches and exotic wildlife. 

There are several more vaccines being tested but Canada seems particularly slow at approving of them. Even when other countries have reviewed the test data and approved of a vaccine, Canada always needs weeks and weeks more to get extra data. Meanwhile, more and more people get sick and die. Now add to this the new threat, "variants". A virus is not enough. Now that we are close to attacking the virus, we have nightly reports of how the virus is mutating, creating new variants which help spread the virus more quickly. It appears the current vaccines would be effective against these strains, but that is not completely certain. We are now being told that even if you get vaccinated, you may need to continue the current practice of isolating, etc. Put it all together and one can get very discouraged. We take a step forward and a half a step back. We are in this for some time yet. Another lonely year. 

Amid all this, my mother died on January 26 at the age of 101. We have not visited her, except talking on a phone from outside her care home once, since January, 2020. Due to her severe dementia, it has been a long time since she even recognizes us or has any kind of conversation, so talking on the phone to her was not very meaningful. After 10 years, my brother decided to come from Toronto to visit her and reconnect with family. He works from home due the pandemic, so arranged to continue that, only from Surrey instead. He was able to see her for two through the glass visits before leaving for Barbados, where he continued his working from home, much to the chagrin of his employer. Working from home online is way nicer in Barbados than Toronto in the winter. (He did follow quarantine rules.)  Despite her age and mental state, mom was always healthy physically. However, things deteriorated quickly and she was confined to bed, where her body slowly shut down. We were allowed to visit her in person, although only one person could go into her room at a time, fully dressed in gown, facemask, gloves and even goggles. I am not sure how her mind was working but she was aware of anything, I am sure she must have wondered who these alien beings were. The family visited her daily for about a week before she passed away. Visiting during a pandemic is difficult, and there was feeling of guilt getting together with siblings to provide comfort and plan funeral arrangements but we took the chance. I think we are now past the transmission period and no one got sick, so that is a relief. The funeral itself was also awkward. My mom outlived all of her friends so I had thought even without the pandemic that the funeral would be very small and quiet. However, suddenly grandchildren that had not made much of an effort to visit mom for these past 10 years wanted to be involved, to get closure. The regulations were to limit attendees to 10 people, including pastor and others involved in the funeral. With only 7 siblings and spouses here, that worked out well, but there were threats that some grandchildren might try to hang around near the graveside ceremony. That added extra stress to the situation. We arranged to have the service livestreamed so locals and family in Alberta and the Netherlands could see it as well. We were advised by the funeral home that if anyone other than the 10 people allowed at the grave were anywhere on the cemetery grounds, the funeral would be stopped immediately. The word was passed around and there were no incidents. Some of the family visited the gravesite on their own the next day, which was OK. 

The daily infection numbers have peaked and are now coming down, although the threat that any slackening of covid practices could cause a fast rise in numbers means we continue on. The number of deaths is going down too. However, just this morning my brother-in-law's older brother passed away from covid-related respiratory issues. Apart from the vaccine, my hope now is for Spring and warmer weather where perhaps we can once again see people outdoors at a safe distance.  

First, I have to admit that I broke protocol myself when we got together with my siblings regarding mom's funeral. Apart from that, we have limited our personal visits to our kids who have been in our bubble from day 1. We have rationalized that because we are care givers to our grandchildren when our kids need help, and that seems to be OK. Are we stretching the "rules"? Who knows. But it is interesting to see how others have stretched the rules to the point of breaking, each one rationalizing that what they are doing is OK. Most of my family have found ways of seeing other people well beyond what the health officials have laid out, each feeling fully justified. One limits her contacts to one or two people, as allowed, but those people change regularly, not allowed. I heard the other day that one went for lunch with their spouse, which is allowed, but saw friends at the restaurant and joined their table, definitely not allowed. The restaurant staff did not say anything so that must have been OK. I don't think my family is a group of rebels, so it is easy to see how difficult it must be for governments to put control over the situation when this behaviour must be rampant.        

March 13, 2021

We are now into the next phase of this pandemic. Canada has now approved 3 vaccines, and more are in the works. The rollout of the vaccines has begun, each province setting their own schedule. In BC, after seniors care facilities, we are now being scheduled by age, starting with those over 90 years old, then in 5 year increments after that. Of course, despite requests not to, many people who did not qualify for the next round were calling in, wanting to ask questions, make a case for why they should be the exception, or simply because they are too stupid to follow instructions, thereby overloading the system. There were also major delays in the promised initial deliveries of the vaccines from Belgium, so here in Canada we are well behind the USA in the speed of the rollout. The initial projection was that my age group would be vaccinated by perhaps July. As new vaccines get approved and the number of deliveries are rising, this now appears to be May.

Despite the beginning of vaccinations, daily numbers of infections have risen and there is a strong message to not let down one’s guard. World-wide, 2.6 million people have died from Covid-19. However, our Dr. Bonnie Henry has put out the suggestion that summer may look more normal than last year. While that gets me excited, it is followed by warnings a that travel will likely continue to be restricted to essential travel only for probably the rest of the year. The border with the US is still closed and not expected to open any time soon. Why does nobody care that I have a trip to Africa planned for August? Zambia has not received any vaccinations to date, and more than half of their population will likely not be vaccinated this year.

I feel however that I am ready to do my part. Covid-19 and the vaccinations continue to dominate the nightly news. A few days ago I counted 22 close-up shots of people getting shots. Those same videos are shown night after night. I now believe I am fully trained to be a poker if this will help things move along faster. 

While I have no complaints, and despite my aging body falling apart; I can’t walk because I developed plantar’s fasciitis due to my worn out runners, my third tooth in just over a year broke off and I need two crowns, and my new meds are causing me a lot of heartburn; I do find I am looking forward to visits with friends again. Things looked up a few days ago when Dr. Henry announced that they were loosening the current restrictions which limit visits to basically same household residents and child care providers, to allowing an increase to 10 people in a group, if visiting outside and still practicing social distancing, etc. Within a few hours we had plans to see some friends for takeout dinner, until we saw that the additional people could not change, but would have to be the same people for the next while, and could not come inside. That killed our visit. Today I got a message from a family member to see if we were open to visiting now. I expect that many people will not follow the order, but will freely visit many different people, feeling that as long as they restrict their size to 10 people at any one time, they are complying. I guess we will just have to continue to be the oddballs that keep our current family unit closed. 

I do believe though that after a full year under this pandemic, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. As long as people don’t go crazy with letting their guard down, further loosening of restrictions should start coming soon. Maybe in a month or so we could even go to church. I would have to first scrape off the layer of dust over my dress shoes.

April 7, 2021

Well, the nasty deed was done! I canceled our trip to Africa this August and rescheduled it for a year from now. At first glance, that seemed safe, but with each passing day, the future seems more uncertain. A week before Easter new rules came in saying that indoor religious gatherings would be allowed for the Easter period at least, following certain rules. Within days, covid infection numbers increased and that plan was scrapped, a few days beforehand. Outdoor gatherings were allowed if people stayed in their cars, wore masked, social distanced, and did not sing or chant. (no problem there) We chose to continue watching church at home but it did not feel very "Easter-y". We are currently under a three week restricted health edict which continues to promote staying home, gathering only with the household, not traveling except for essential services, no indoor dining or drinking, no open gyms, etc. Not much different than before except restaurants being restricted to take-out or patio dining. However, people are getting frustrated. First, by all those who seem to just ignore the rules and gather together, whether it is young people or a group of defiant churches, and openly traveling outside of their health regions despite all the warnings. Of course, the government put on extra ferry runs for the long weekend even though there should be fewer people going away. Not happening. The other issue is the flip flopping and changing of rules that have caused many to lose confidence in how things are being handled. Despite the rules and the steady but slow rollout of the vaccines, numbers continue to climb. Then, when there is hope for a better summer because a vaccine is here, new reports of aggressive variants suggest that even after a vaccine, isolating and distancing needs to continue. Who knows now when travel will open up, even a little. Meanwhile, in the USA, where even after the ouster of Donald Trump, many states continue to flaunt health recommendations and numbers skyrocket, they are vaccinating their people at a rate astronomically faster than Canada. And, I think the government is out to get me, although house confinement may be causing paranoia. The general vaccines in BC are being rolled out by age, from oldest down. For a while the eligible age groups went down a year per day. Then things seemed to get hung up at about the 73 year olds and 4 days later we are still only at 71. But, more and more people are suggesting scrapping the age method and targeting the high risk groups, from ferry workers and taxi drivers, to young people who don't follow the rules (now that real seniors have had their shot), just as we are approaching my age group. Come on!

Personally, I see a rift as some family members continue to poo haw the whole pandemic and diss the vaccines, while others are diligent in dealing with the pandemic. It is difficult to see how that can all be ignored once we are able to come together again. 

Personally, I am now almost four weeks into my plantar's fasciitis, and had a setback when I went for a longer walk than I should have. I am unable to walk and real length without suffering a lot of pain in my heal afterwards. I realize now that walking over 10,000 steps every day was more than a personal challenge. It gave some structure and meaning to my day, a goal to be met for a successful day. Now I sit at home longing to go for even a 5,000 step walk. And the days should be getting warmer. On top of that, since the pandemic started, my mouth is falling apart.

The light at the end of the tunnel is still there, but seems farther away and less bright that even a month ago.

 

Christmas Movie Script

 A Corridor-marked Christmas

By Gerry Meyer

  INTRO

Having spent a little while reconnecting with my brother, who is a writer for a daily TV show, I thought perhaps I could use my creative juices to write a movie script. I understand that networks have writers to tweak and fill in the fluff so rather than writing a detailed script, I thought I would write a skeleton script, based on my years of research on the subject. I will present it in diary form from the perspective of the star of the movie.

 Christmas I Go-go

 DEAR DIARY:

 December 1

Let me introduce myself. I am Jane, a 28 year old very smart woman who has been very successful in the business world, but is still looking for that break to help move me to my goal, to be the best executive woman in the world. Several years ago I was engaged to be married but the my fiancé ____ (died/ran off with my best friend/discovered he was gay).  I was deeply hurt, and have not dated since, despite my ____ (my dad/best friend/everyone in the office) pushing me to “put myself out there again”. Instead, I have put all my energy into my job. Since my mom died, I have not been into Christmas but this year I finally agreed to spend some time with my family for the holidays. I live in a fancy apartment in New York City.

 

Today I was called into my boss’s office and told that she was putting me in charge of a huge account the company hoped to land.  If successful, there likely would be a huge promotion for me. I was to focus all my efforts on this and have a report submitted by Christmas Eve. As everyone knows, executives like to spend Christmas Day with their family, reviewing important reports and preparing for important meetings scheduled for December 27 or 28, when Corporate America seems to do all its major restructuring and other business deals. I accepted the challenge, after all, I was going to visit my family  at an extremely exclusive lodge in ______ (Vermont/Hamptons/Midwest/Portland (because Vancouver can be substituted for it)).  I could get my report done and submit it from our Christmas location.

 

December 2

Today I literally ran into this guy _____ (on the sidewalk/ on the phone at work). He’s the first man I have seen since my meeting with the boss. His name was Chadwick and he was a jerk. Anyway, I assigned most of my Christmas shopping to my secretary, because most companies don’t mind if their staff use company time to do personal shopping.

 

December 14

My work is going really well. Tomorrow I will fly to ____ (Vermont/Hamptons/Midwest/Portland). I will spend a little time catching up with people and work on my report.

 

December 15

I arrived at the ultra-luxury lodge. Everyone seemed loaded. There I met the bold, in your face, obnoxious but sappy young girl, Mary. Mary is here with her dad but she has no mom. I thought I would connect with her a bit. I was here because of pressure from my dad and sister, but I would rather be back at the office getting my work done. Christmas didn’t mean much to me anyway.

 

December 16

Despite my busy work schedule, I was able to get out and shop a little in the town for those last few items. I got the best hot chocolate I ever had, complete with candy cane stir stick. It was surprising to see that hot chocolate was the most popular drink in small town America. It was consumed on the street, at Christmas festivals and while decorating the tree. Everyone in town is very friendly, and totally into Christmas. I was also pushed into signing up for the cookie making contest. The buzz around town is the season highlight, the lighting of the town Christmas tree in the town square in a few days. I’m not sure if I will have time for that. I also helped Mary with her part in the town children’s Christmas pageant which is coming up in a few days.

 

December 17

Surprise, despite my busy schedule, I found more time and visited the gingerbread contest. I helped Mary decorate her house. There I met her dad, Chadwick. We recognized each other immediately and were cool to each other. Someone brought us all a coffee. It is so fortunate that everyone in town takes their coffee exactly the same way. Afterwards, Chadwick and I walked the town while Mary went to rehearsal. He may not be as bad as I first thought, but of course, I am not interested in a relationship. Despite him being a workaholic, he seemed to have a lot of free time to join me around town.

 

December 18

Mary and I have developed almost a mother-daughter relationship. I completely overlooked her forward nature. I also saw a different side to Chad. He is not such a bad guy, although he is a little down on Christmas. My sister said I should go after him but I was not ready yet to date. Despite the fact that the lodge was completely decked out in Christmas lights, ornaments, etc. Chad decided I needed to have my own Christmas tree so we went to the local tree lot. Mary immediately found a perfect tree, with perfect form, no holes in it, you know the kind they have at tree lots. Inexplicably, we got the tree back to the lodge and in no time at all, had the eight foot tree completely decorated, complete with that special tree ornament that reminded me of special Christmases as a child.

 

December 19

My boss read my preliminary report and was quite excited. She asked me to come back early, leaving on Christmas Day or Boxing Day so I am up and ready for the big meeting. I met up with young Mary and later went to the Christmas Cookie contest. We won. I agreed to go sightseeing with her and her dad tomorrow, reluctantly. We also had a lame snowball fight where we each got hit with a little snow puff and ran around a bit. So fun.

 

December 20

I spent the day with Chad and Mary, although Mary would often run off for who knows what reason, leaving me alone with Chad. We laughed and talked about our past Christmas experiences and reluctance to date again(actually, we didn’t laugh about that). He asked me to join Mary and him at the tree-lighting. I got some work done and then joined them. The whole town was there, all excited. The major was in charge. Even though I had only been in town for a few days, and knew a handful of people, he overlooked all the long time residents and naturally asked me to do the honour of pushing the button. We all shouted out the countdown from 5 to 0, and then I pushed the button. The tree lights went on. So exciting!!! We all oohed and then it was over. 

Afterwards Chaddy and I shared some hot chocolate. We found ourselves alone under a mistletoe. We looked at each other awkwardly and just as our lips were 2 inches apart and getting closer, some unaware oaf barged in, looked at us but failed to see what was happening, and said: “I hope I am not intruding but there is something unimportant that could wait but I should tell you about right now anyway.” The moment ended and we spent the next few days pretending there was nothing going on. I am madly in love with Chaddy boy, but I can’t show it. I learned later that Chad felt the same but backed off because I was so focused on my career and was leaving right after Christmas.

 

December 21

I met up with Chad again today. We had hot chocolate together. We are growing closer and I might consider dating him, but of course it can’t work because our jobs are sending us in different directions. Chad’s father was pushing him very hard to take over the family business and move to Switzerland. He needed to decide in the next few days so he could be in Switzerland by December 26, ready to get things started before the new year, and he was struggling because his heart was not in it. His real love was building things like wooden Christmas ornaments. I told him about my job opportunity and having to go home on Christmas, or Boxing Day at the latest. He looked a little down about that. He said he was going to talk to his dad on December 23 with his decision regarding moving to Switzerland.

 

December 22

Making travel plans to return to my home in New York did not seem to be a problem, despite the busy travel season. However, we heard on the radio that a massive snow storm was heading our way. It could be the biggest storm to hit this region in many, many years and could cause havoc with flights, etc.

 

December 23 – Christmas pageant

I was beginning to have doubts about how much I wanted to return to New York and pursue my job opportunity. I was beginning to see that there was more to life than being a successful businessperson and I would like to work on more charitable work.

Today was the night of the children’s Christmas pageant, and I promised Mary I would be there. I was running very late, making the last minute touches on my report. On top of that, the first snowflakes of the massive storm started as well. I did manage to make the show at the last minute. Mary was a star. Afterwards, I went back stage to congratulate her. There, while waiting in the wings, I heard part of a conversation that suggested that Chad had accepted his dad’s offer and was leaving for Switzerland in a few days. I had not told Chad about my reassessing whether to go back to New York. Rather than talk to him about it, I immediately went home to pack my bags.

 

December 24

The snow storm hit. All airports were closed. Roads leading in and out of town were impassible. This was a little surprising, since there was only about one inch of snow on the ground and on the roof tops, and all roads, sidewalks and driveways in town were perfectly clear. I was stuck and there was now less than 10 minutes left in the movie. I decided that it was time to pursue what my passion really was for once. I went into town to look for Chad and tell him I wasn’t leaving and that I loved him. I couldn’t find him until I went back home, only to run into him coming to my house. Chad said he turned his father down and was pursuing his ornament making business, after he completed his annual toy distribution to underprivileged kids in the community. I told him I too was staying and loved him. He said he loved me too. After, all, we had known each other for several days now. We had a long kiss. At the point, my story was over and the movie started rolling the credits. Who knows how we spent Christmas Day or how we handled stress together or if we continued to make rash decisions based on unconfirmed rumours. What is important is we had that big Christmas kiss!

The End

 

Note that this script is good for approximately 250 movies, with slight variations of location, occupation and sequence of events. After this, something must be changed to prove that the producer has an ounce of creativity. The important thing is that the love interests must meet each other in the first scene of the movie, must have a failed attempt at a kiss, have a major misunderstanding 10 minutes before the end which threatens to destroy the love story, and the movie should not continue more than a minute after the big kiss.

Pandemic Chapter 2

 September 30, 2020

Who knew seven months ago when I first thought of blogging my experience with the coronavirus pandemic, that I would still be at it now, with no end in sight. I call this Chapter 2 because in my creative mind, the first blog was getting long and I thought I might refer to it as Chapter 1. How many chapters will there be? Who knows, but I do not want to start using the fingers on my second hand.

We are now into what is being suggested is the second wave, although no one is sure about that. Worldwide, the death toll now exceeds 1 million, with the USA having over 200,000, but President Trump is quite sure they have it all under control. In B.C., schools reopened after Labour Day and that alone was expected to increase the infection numbers. While numbers are increasing, with daily totals of over 100, and sometimes closer to 150, compared to single digits just a few months ago, I do not think you can directly link that to the schools. The biggest increases, both here and around the world is with young people in the 20 to 40 year old range. They seem to be oblivious to the pandemic, partying at close quarters without any masks, despite not only warnings, but heavy fines for disobeying regulations. They have the attitude that even if they catch the virus, it has not been particularly deadly for their age group. That said, many who have caught the virus attest to the severe side effects, and possible long term health issues they face. Our own dentist was recently featured on the news program, W5. He was one of the early people to catch the virus at a dental convention in Vancouver in February. He spent months in the hospital on a respirator, and the risk of dying was very real and close. He survived and recently returned to work part time. I saw him the day before the W5 airing. He was a very fit, active individual. Now he was very thin had to endure speech therapy, physio to regain strength to his limbs, etc. 

After a summer of people opening up their "bubble" to see more friends and family, preferably in outdoor settings, our Dr. Henry is now asking people to take a step back and close their bubble, limiting it to very small groups. 

Face masks have been an issue. While the BC government has been reluctant to mandate masks, other jurisdictions have mandated the wearing of cloth face masks in public settings where social distancing can not be reasonably attained. Dr. Henry said early on that masks were only one tool in our prevention kit, and not a highly effect one compared to social distancing, and frequently washing hands. As time progressed, it has suddenly become a very important tool, particularly as scientists feels the virus spreads mostly through airborne particles. We used to sterilize all our groceries before putting them away. This now seems irrelevant. The Superstore grocery chain mandated the wearing of masks for all its customers, and said they would wipe down and sterilize all buggies before use. Despite that, there are still always customers without masks and there is no enforcement. A few may be people who would be exempt because they have health issues that prevent the wearing of masks, but it is so hard to not judge young men with smug faces, muscle shirts and tattoos everywhere walking around without masks. I have failed miserably. I do judge them. Today, perhaps 5 to 10 people I see are maskless in Superstore, an improvement from the past. However, there are very few if any sterilized buggies any more and no one manning the sanitation station. In some places, like the local mall, there are very few masks despite the daily pleas on news reports.

News reports suggest most of us are stressed and our mental health is a major concern the longer the pandemic goes on. If you were to ask me, I would probably say, perhaps with a little guilt, that I am not stressed. I am ok staying home most of the time. We shop only as needed, which I like, we see our kids and grandchild very regularly, and we have a few friends we see every week or two. Over the summer we expanded this a little. However, I just rescheduled out January trip to Bonaire to 2022, and every night we watch househunter shows and lament the fact that we really want to be on a sandy beach somewhere. It is also difficult to manage how we interact with family in particular. As the weather becomes cool and outdoor visits end, it is difficult to cope with not wanting to compromise our health by seeing some family members, particularly if they have not fully bought into the pandemic guidelines. Obviously we would love to visit with them, but feel compelled not too, and at the same time do not want to offend them. With more and more connections expanding between people because of teachers or kids being in school or at work, it is become more important to limit contact. It will take some time to work out. Meanwhile, my only hope is that this is truly the second wave, and that there is no third wave. In Quebec they are asking people to all stay home with no outside contact for 28 days, in the hope that this would eliminate much of the virus. Their numbers each day are out of control right now.

One other note. We are facing a provincial election in October despite the government having a mandate until 2021. They want to take advantage of their popularity right now because of their handling of the pandemic so they can gain a majority. This might have been the first time I would have voted for an NDP government because they have done well these past 7 months, but this disgusts me. They lost my vote. This is not the time! In the south, The USA  will have an election in November. Donald Trump says no one has ever done as good a job as he has, (no credit to his caucus), and their economy is the best it has ever been. Their handling of the pandemic has been the best in the world, (lets forget about the 200,000 dead because for some reason, he said there would have been 2 million dead if he wasn't in charge). His opponent, Joe Biden said Donald is the worst president the US has ever had? Who do you believe? I think I know.

October 20

Thanksgiving has come and gone and much like it looks like Christmas will be, it was a small affair. We turned down an invitation for a large family dinner, as did most of the family and we had dinner with our usual little bubble of ourselves, our daughters and son-in-law, and grandson. One addition was my brother who was spending a month here from Toronto, experimenting with teleworking, since he has not been in his studio office, (he works for a TV show), since before the pandemic started. He hopes to explore going somewhere warm after this, probably in the Caribbean, and work from "home" there. We had a good time together but without the usual events of Thanksgiving, it did feel different.

We are now less than a week away for the provincial election day. Like a large percentage of the voters, we chose to go to the advance polls rather than face the crowds on election day, with the pandemic's second wave in full swing. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to count the ballots and get a final result. I have never seen an election like this. Unlike some other areas, our riding had not one candidate lawn signs anywhere. In fact, we had no idea who our candidates are. Joanie looked online to see what riding we were in and who was running. The boundary lines are a little strange, so we had the riding wrong. When we go to the polling station, we found the riding was not the one we thought, but it didn't matter. The only name on the ballot was the incumbent, the Liberal party candidate. There were blank lines to fill in the rest. Even their own candidates were not ready for an election. Despite voting, I still don't know who the other candidates are. Never seen anything like it. And after this fiasco, we get to witness the disastrous election in the USA in early November. 

I listened with interest to a prominent doctor from Sweden on the radio this morning. Sweden did not shut down their economy when the pandemic hit, and even to this day rejects the notion of wearing face masks. Supposedly their strategy was to let people catch the virus and get antibodies so they could battle the virus and get rid of it. It was questioned whether this was actual strategy or a reaction to being unprepared for a pandemic. Sweden is often used as an example by those who are more concerned with economics that battling the pandemic. Results have shown that Sweden to date has the highest death rate per capital due to corona, even though the vast majority are seniors. So lives were sacrificed. However, compared to other Nordic countries, their economy is worse than those that did shut down for a time. I heard that even though businesses tried to operate, it was impossible to get supplies, or ship goods when neighbouring countries were shut down, so they did not benefit and people died in the meantime.

Dr. Bonnie Henry declared that our province is in full second wave now. How long that lasts is anyone's guess. It has gotten easier though. Not only is there Sunday night, Monday night and Thursday night football (the usual games I watch), but outbreaks on some teams has caused games to be rescheduled and already there was a game on Tuesday. I miss the CFL but NFL is a good distraction. Plus, we are never tempted to go to the mall to just shop around. I'm good with that. 

November 17

We are now over half way through a two week emergency measure to try and slow down a spike in new covid infections. Every day the province is setting a new record for new cases here as well as across the country. The USA is another matter as it spirals out of control due to the recently defeated president Trump who refuses to acknowledge not only the measures the rest of the world has recognized for fighting this pandemic, but he even won't recognize the election results which must be rigged because he lost. What a disaster! I am staying out of that country! 

For this two week period, people are asked to stay home as much as possible, not visit with anyone outside of their home residents or small bubble, travel only for essential business, and not go outside of the health region you live in. The usual hand sanitizing and mask wearing also applies. Driving past the local mall on Saturday, it seemed everyone was ignoring Dr. Henry. The roads were jammed, parking lots were full. My own sister went to Vancouver Island for the weekend, ignoring the travel restrictions. Next week we will see if numbers start to decline, or if more measures will be put in place. My brother from Toronto has been staying in the lower mainland working online and hopes to continue that by going to the Caribbean for the rest of the winter. He got a hotel in Barbados where he must quarantine for 2 weeks on arrival. He may leave his room for short periods of time every day, where others are not around, and his meals will be sent to his room. He can enjoy the weather on his balcony. After that, he is free to go wherever and may even travel to other islands without need to quarantine. Not a bad way to work under the circumstances.

However, all is not bad. This past week two drug companies announced that they have developed vaccines which have tested effective over 90% of their test patients, and new hope exists that by Spring 2021, we may have vaccines in place to combat this virus. That will change everything. Already, I got an email saying that Southern Africa is now open for safaris again. One can only hope that is a reality!

While some people, a few family members included, still seem to poo-ha the pandemic and write it off as a hoax or nothing more than a flu, the dead bodies piling up around the world and the millions of sick people overrunning hospitals would suggest otherwise. Even Donald Trump said the pandemic was a hoax created to undermine his presidency, (as though the entire world revolved around him), and would be over after the election, while weeks later the death toll in the US continues to climb.

There is such a longing to return to normal, but no one knows what the new normal will be. For now, I would personally settle for seeing friends again without restriction and traveling where every I please without having to quarantine. It is pretty clear that Christmas will not involve family gatherings or community Christmas events. Humbug!

Reflections on a Pandemic

April 7, 2020
I thought that I might begin a personal blog, reflecting on life as I have experienced it, through the coronavirus, now labeled COVID-19. The virus began in late 2019 in China but our first significant exposure to it was in Sydney, Australia on February 3, 2020. Prior to our trip to Australia, we were worried because of the massive wildfires raging throughout Australia all winter. There was massive destruction of homes, habitat, lives of people, and by some estimates the death of over a billion animals. (My brother-in-law wanted to know who counted them. He is not an animal lover.) And course the incredibly difficult work of the firefighters to try to bring this under control was a topic of daily news. Air pollution in centres such as Melbourne and Sydney, both on our agenda, was a major concern as well. Even prior to that, most of 2019 included stories of demonstrations and rioting on the streets of Hong Kong for a variety of reasons, the main one being a push back to the control of the city being exerted by China. We had long layovers for our flights to and from Australia, so this would effect our safety and whether a short visit to the city during a seven hour layover would be questionable.

By the time we arrived in Hong Kong on January 26, the virus was spreading and more than half of all Asians at the airport wore protective face masks. The fires in Australia were easing a little, and we saw only a few minor fires in Tasmania. After a week in Australia, monsoon rains arrived, causing some flooding, but also ending a long drought and putting just about all the fires under control. Then on February 3, two days before we were to board a cruise out of Sydney for a two week South Seas cruise to New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu, the first news arrived. Effective immediately cruise lines would no longer board any guests who had been in China or Hong Kong less than 15 days from the date of boarding. We had left Hong Kong 10 days ago. This was the first major international step taken to combat the virus. We scrambled to get any news we could, which was not a lot, but it became clear very quickly that we would not be getting on our cruise. I have to admit to a feeling of anger and high disappointment. We were in Sydney, with no accommodations or travel plans beyond February 4, because we expected to be on our cruise. We had plans to continue our vacation in Caves Beach where family lived, and Cairns following the cruise, and all hotels and flights were booked. Countless hours were spent over the next few days seeing what would happen in terms of refunds, re-booking hotels and flights, etc. We even went to a travel agent to see about doing a 7 day cruise to the South Seas islands out of Brisbane in a week's time, but the only cruise available departed 14 days after our departure date from Hong Kong, so we would not be eligible. We actually missed this cutoff by 10 minutes. We left Hong Kong at 10 minutes past midnight on January 27, and even though we boarded the plane before midnight on January 26, we would not be considered to have left before January 27. In the end, we cut our trip short by two weeks, moved all our post cruise plans up two weeks and did get refunded all the fees we incurred. When we arrived in Hong Kong on February 15 on our way home, we definitely had no desire to leave the airport during our seven hour layover. Now, almost all Asians, and even many other nationalities were wearing face masks. The airport shops were vacant of everyone except the clerks standing around with nothing to do. Flights from China were regularly being cancelled and we were extremely happy to be back on home turf. In hindsight, missing our cruise was very disappointing, but was perhaps a blessing after seeing the horror stories of some cruises where the virus spread to passengers, people were quarantined in their rooms and ships had difficulties find ports willing to accept them.

My head spins when I think of how fast things changed in the coming weeks. By March, there was no other news. Every evening news cast was filled with updates on the number of new infected cases and deaths, country by country, and daily health reports and health sanctions issued. In about a week we went from a ban on gatherings of over 250 people to gatherings of 50 people and then no more than groups of 5. International travel was cut off, borders were shut for all but essential travel, restaurants, bars, schools and many businesses closed their doors and people were advised to self-isolate, (one of many new terms created by the now pandemic), avoiding all physical contact outside of the household unit, and social distancing, a new term meaning to not come within 2 meters of another person. Grocery stores limited how many people could be in the store at a time, and line-ups went around the building to get in. Inside, people avoided come close to each other and had to use one line-up to pay for their purchases, spacing themselves out 2 meters in the line. You could not unload your buggy until the person in front of you had paid and loaded up their purchases.

Church services were closed and conducted online by mid March. For me, practicing self-isolating was not a huge adjustment as I spent most of my week at home anyway. Much of this corresponded with the start of Spring Break, so our two daughters, who both work in schools were home, although one of them had her Spring Break vacation canceled, or as I like to look at it, relocated. A day after our grandson's birthday, my son-in-law became very ill with flu-like symptoms. In accordance with health care instructions, he needed to quarantine himself to prevent the spread, especially since we had no way of knowing if it was a virus or not. He moved into my daughter's place, away from his wife and son, and my eldest daughter moved in with us for a few weeks. So she still got to go away, although this was not what she had in mind. We did get several jigsaw puzzles done though.

Since we stopped socializing with anyone outside of the immediate family, and my daughters did likewise, we were able to still stay in contact and visit my daughter and grandson, and Joanie still could babysit from time to time. This could change at any time if any one of us had contact outside the group. We still hope to do Easter dinner in a few days. Who knows how long we can do that.

April 8
One of the reasons for doing this blog at this time is that I believe we are in a very historical time. This is certainly not the first major virus in history, as all one needs to do is think of the Black Plague and the devastating loss of life it caused. Even in my own life, there have been previous pandemics and major viruses such as SARS, Zika and N1H1, but none had the impact of this one in our lifetime. At this point, only Antarctica has been spared and the daily increase in cases and deaths is staggering. It hit closer to home as well in that as of now, I have known three people who have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and been hospitalized, including the father of a close friend of mine who recently passed within  few days of displaying symptoms. I am not a fatalist but the reality can not be denied that despite all our best efforts, anyone can become infected and could die, often within a few days. That is sobering! It effects everything. We no longer go to the grocery store, leaving it to our children to do our shopping as we are considered "seniors with health issues", heart issues for me and diabetes for Joanie, so more vulnerable than others. Prior to this I only considered myself a senior when boarding a ferry midweek. (Meanwhile my almost 101 year old mother carries on.) The only time I get out of the house is for almost daily walks. However, even that is not normal. When I see someone approaching a block away, I already begin making plans to avoid them if possible, whether that means crossing the street, evaluating whether they would honour my 6 foot bubble or making sure I can get at least 6 feet away from them myself without getting hemmed up against a hedge or something. Some younger folks and children riding their bikes on sidewalks don't get it, and often do not keep their distance. I find myself getting annoyed, as both I and they are at risk.

It now seems that most of our discussions with friends and family involve COVID-19, what is going on, how we are coping, speculating on how long this could go on, etc. The nightly news is almost entirely COVID-19 stories now. Last week we dropped in at my sister's house for her 70th birthday, which could not be celebrated, as well as her 50th anniversary party in May which has also been canceled. Fortunately it was a dry day, sort of, if you ignored the odd snow flakes, so we brought our own chairs and coffee, and sat, at least 6 feet apart in the back yard. That has been our only physical contact with family. We have not seen our friends in weeks and who knows how much longer that will go on. All future plans are uncertain. A planned road trip to the Oregon Coast in May with a visitor from Netherlands was canceled. My sister and brother-in-law's anniversary celebration was canceled. Their trip to Mexico was canceled. We have a European train trip through Europe starting at the end of August all mapped out and arranged, but we have no idea whether it will happen. A trip to Bonaire in January 2021 seems to stand a better chance of happening, but even that can not be assured. I find I prefer not to look ahead too much since it can result in a lot of fretting about what ifs. I prefer to focus on the next few weeks. Our isolation will continue, Church will consist of viewing the weekly message online on Sunday mornings, where we still begin with our pattern of toast and boiled eggs, even on Easter. Beyond that, who knows.

I also believe one needs to maintain one's sanity by keeping in touch with friends and family, keeping well stocked on wine, and keeping a sense of humour. My favourite online message describes how COVID-19 has affected things and how people cope with the isolation. The woman says she saw her neighbour out in the back yard talking to her cat as though she thought the cat understood. She went inside and told her dog, and they laughed and laughed about this.

Some of the things that have surprised me in a way are:

1. The run on toilet paper, tissues and cleaning products. The cleaning products I understand although I don't know how much Mr. Clean people expect to use. For weeks, the toilet paper and cleaning product isles of the grocery store have been completely bare. Lowly scum have hoarded a lot of this and tried to resell at grossly marked up prices. While everyone condemns this, I see little done to go after these people. But, considering that none of the virus symptoms include diarrhea, why do people need cases and cases of toilet paper? People are amazingly stupid and irrational. I miss my dog. We will be OK with toilet paper, but with my allergies (?) and morning sneezing and nose blowing (even my grandson shakes his head and says "Oh, Opa" when I honk.), I will soon need to do more than just cough into my sleeves. I may need to wear long sleeve shirts right into summer. 
2. Sports - All sports activities have been put on hold. There is no hockey, baseball, basketball, football or anything else happening and teams are not even allowed to get together to practice. Yet every day the newspaper has page after page of sports, mostly speculating on when the season may start/resume, what a shortened season or playoff may look like, how so and so from the Canucks is doing with the current situation, etc. The same things over and over. There is no sports. Move on! Come back when we have sports again. One of the football writers I follow on Twitter has resorted to commenting on Donald Trump's latest goof ups instead.
3. There is a world-wide shortage of what we now call PPE, personal protection equipment, (never heard this term before last month although I am sure it was used in the health profession), including massive shortages of face masks. Up until this week, we were told that people not tested positive for the virus should not wear masks and to leave them for the front line health workers. There have not been masks available in most drug stores for some time. So why is it that so many Asians, (I am not trying to be racist but the vast majority I see are in fact Asian), have access and wear them regularly. Where did they get them? Now, when it may be too late, we are being advised that perhaps wearing masks may be a good idea.
4. I have heard horror stories from people stuck on cruise ships in these last few weeks after most countries closed borders and grounded international travel. If being quarantined in a small cabin for days or weeks was not enough, many experienced hours of waiting in buses, airports, etc., being shuttled around and not being fed or given water for hours. Friends of our told of their cruise which was aborted in France. Americans were let off the ship first and spent in some cases 10 - 12 hours waiting on a bus, on the tarmac, without food or toilet facilities (some had to go find bushes to relieve themselves), before they finally departed for the airport. They got no food or drink on the long flight to the USA. All of this not that long after the airlines had travellers' rights imposed on them. If animals were treated this way, there would be a huge outcry.
5. The new end to a conversation is no longer "good bye", but "stay safe". 

The one or two positives I can see from all this is the recognition and gratitude expressed for front line healthcare workers who put themselves in danger managing this virus, and seeing political parties both federally and provincially working together to do what needs to be done, without a lot of political rhetoric.

Lets see what the next week brings, but in the meantime, stay safe.

April 18, 2020

Well, we are almost a week past Easter. Our toilet paper supply continues to be under control, helped along by the fact that no one other than Joanie and I have been in the house for several weeks. We are under strict family orders to not go into any grocery stores, actually stores in general, and our kids do our shopping. A supply of kleenex boxes arrived last week in the nick of time as they are an important part of my ongoing allergies. Joanie of course has difficulty with rules, so on a walk a few days ago did insist on quickly popping into a local grocer store. The sign on the door said only one adult per household was allowed inside, but while I waited outside, several groups came and all went in. I social distanced from her the rest of the walk and she sanitized herself and my credit card as soon as we got home.

Easter was different but probably less so than for many families, as we continue to see our kids and grandson, and will continue as long as they continue to work from home and not have contact with anyone outside of our family unit. We got together for breakfast and then watched the church Easter message on TV. Just not the same. Watching a music video and hearing a message on TV is not the same as worshiping with friends and family. When is the last time I sang out loud and is that reason enough to continue the isolation protocol?

We still get daily updates from Adrian Dix, the health minister, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, the BC chief medical adviser. Dr. Henry has become a celebrity. She is an attractive woman with a gentle spirit who speaks frankly but calmly, and promotes kindness. She seems to have an unlimited wardrobe and while I never noticed, others took notice of her array of shoes, made by a local shoe maker. You can now buy Dr. Henry shoes. Lock-downs continue, with borders closed, international travel all but shut down, all nonessential services terminated, and more enforcement of the require to social distance, staying at least 6 feet away from others. News of the continuing death toll and new virus cases throughout the world dominate the news while some European countries are beginning to look at easing some of their restrictions, despite continuing epidemics. The new buzz word(s) is "planking the curve". That means that as the charts graph the number of new cases and deaths, the increase begins to slow down to the point where things level off. There is little expectation that there will be a rapid decline, or that the virus may not decline and then return in the late fall or winter. Yesterday, we received the first glimmer of hope from Dr. Henry. The curve was beginning to plank. The increase in new cases was slowing down and yesterday there were no deaths in BC. The danger now is that people overreact and loosen their adherence to the instructions given, and the virus may thrive again. Time will tell.

One of the side lines of this pandemic is haircuts. I went to get a haircut several weeks ago and there was a sign on the door saying the place was closed but would open again on April 1. The next day, services such as hair salons, manicurists, etc. were required to close until further notice. I ended up allowing my daughter to perform her first haircut other than the buzz cut my son-in-law gets. She did quite well. Even Dr. Henry had to admit that she did not use her hair stylist, but trimmed her hair herself.

Life continues on reasonably normally for us. Joanie continues to find household chores that are essential to get done, even though no one comes over. In the afternoon we go for a good walk in the neighbourhood. We are currently on our fourth jigsaw puzzle which has been a nice time filler. I do miss not seeing any sports, as all sports is over until who knows how long. For the first time, we did do a visit with some friends because the weather the last few weeks has been incredible. We brought our own coffee and chairs, and sat at least six feet apart in their back yard. We did not go in their house. It was very nice to visit face to face with someone other than our kids. This will be the new norm for a while.

With the news of the "planking", thoughts turned to travel. We have continued to fret about what to do about a train trip planned for Europe in September. I have booked airfare and over twenty different accommodations across Europe. Dr. Henry suggested that international travel is likely on hold for the balance of the year. I guess I will wait until the end of May to make a final decision, but the chances of going away this summer/fall are dwindling down to nothing. Interestingly enough, on a walk a few days ago, Joanie asked me if I had a choice between rescheduling the Europe trip, or going to Africa instead, what would I choose. I said Africa in a heartbeat. Surprisingly she agreed! It just so happens that I have done all sorts of research and narrowed down a few places I would like to go to in Africa, so might this trip happen sooner that I thought possible?

Schools are closed since Spring Break and teachers are doing their best to help students learn online. This can be a challenge when you are teaching Grade Ones, but after a few weeks, it is not going too badly. There is now talk that schools may resume classes before the end of the current year, but will be quite different than before. Businesses too have turned to working form home where possible, and this is very noticeable on the roads, with much less traffic, and on the internet where our reception is much slower. We have seen amazing space shots of cities known for their excessive smog now showing clear skies. In Venice, dolphins now swim in canals they have not been in for centuries. The Earth is amazing at how it can recover and thrive when allowed to. Perhaps a built in design by its Maker?

Up to now, politics has been relatively quiet, as all parties work to deal with the crisis. The cracks have now started. Globally, China is being accused of keeping the virus and its deadly effects quiet for at least a week or more before announcing it. They also may have covered up some of their numbers to downplay it effect on the Chinese people. The WHO, World Health Organization, which is a UN lead group designed to provide worldwide guidance on health issues, is accused of knowing about China's cover up, and playing along with it. Nationally, the opposition is beginning to criticize the government's slow response time when the virus was initially identified. The knives are coming out. We will be hearing about this long after we have all planked.

We are all looking forward to when life returns to normal, but it is becoming increasingly clear that normal make not look the same as it did before the virus. For now, let us concentrate on what the next few weeks brings. The USA is under internal pressure to drop many restrictions due to the economic impact, and we will see how this effects the spread of the virus there. How many lives are Americans prepared to sacrifice for the good of the pockets of the rich?

April 21, 2020
Announcements continue to indicate that it may be a long time before we reach any semblance of normality. All gatherings of over 50 people or more have been ruled out for this summer, meaning anything I may look forward to will not happen. Okay, I am thinking mainly about the start of the football season, but even trips to the lake on a hot day are probably out. Social distancing at Rolley Lake is unimaginable. I guess we will just have to spend more time sitting at a distance from our friends in their yards or our new grass park out front, drinking wine, if we can convince our kids to make extra runs to the liquor store.

I am not sure why we are hearing reports of people being bored with all their free time. I am as busy as ever, in fact, busier. Not only is there the daily crossword puzzle and Sudoku to do, we have now added jigsaw puzzles to the list. I still haven't even finished all the puzzles from the newspaper two Sundays ago! If that isn't enough, try living with a cleaning fanatic. The windows and screens have all been washed even though it is only mid April, and the balcony scrubbed and cleaned. Today I was nearing the end of our weekly bathroom and bedroom cleaning, after all, it is Tuesday, and I found my precious wife in our office room, piling books on the floor. She was taking all the books, photos, etc. off of our shelves to dust behind. She has this ability to find extra work just when you think you are nearly finished.

April 29, 2020
The evening news seems to be our biggest source of entertainment, if you can call it that. President Trump of the USA is an amazing man. Who else can make outlandish statements like the COVID-19 virus is nothing more than a flu, and the US will eradicate it in a few weeks, or suggest to his medical advisor that perhaps they could look into having people ingest disinfectants to kill the virus, and then blatantly deny he said these things when he is proven to be speaking nonsense later. He says so many outrageous things and then says any opposition is just "false news". And still, he has a huge following. This man says he is the greatest president ever, and everything he does is the best ever. No one has ever done anything better than he has, and every issue turns into a political statement praising himself. Still he has the support of a great many Christians who think he is a God-fearing man. How is this possible? The man worships himself!!!

I have gotten very good at washing my hands the required 20 seconds or more. While some suggest singing songs like Happy Birthday twice while washing, I am an accountant. Why sing when you can simply rely on the numbers. I count to 20. Straight forward.

Gas prices have plummeted due to the surplus of supply and drop in worldwide demand due to people staying home during this pandemic. We do very little driving. I last filled up my empty tank for $35! That's at 76 cents per litre in Abbotsford. I see these low prices and just want to stop and fill up, but my tank is now always full. If we are down to half a tank or so, I may top up just because I don't know how long these prices will last. Gas was priced at from $1.35 to $1.54 per litre back in January.

As we are now two months into the pandemic restrictions, you can see people getting antsy, and finding ways to justify bending the rules. By next week, a number of states in the US will reopen businesses, despite the continuing rise in new cases and deaths. All a tribute to how well Pres. Trump is doing I suppose. We could be a few weeks away from some loosening of restrictions, but many will remain in some form for quite a while here at home. We too have begun to do a few visits, although only on dry days where we can sit outside. We bring our own cups and stay at least six feet, two meters, apart. We do not go into anyone's house or touch anything that has not be wiped with sani-cloths. The visits are shorter because when our coffee is gone and we have to go to the bathroom, its time to head home. In the last two weeks we visited with three friends and a family member, in addition to seeing our kids in Pitt Meadows. I now heard reports of others becoming less strict about visits, even though the government continues to urge us to hold the line so we can defeat this virus.

 It seems certain now that our trip to Europe will be cancelled, even though we are still four months away, as Dr. Henry does not sound like she wants to lift travel bans for at least the rest of this year. Here's hoping Bonaire still OK in January.

We walk virtually the same route around the neighbourhood each day. Every few days Joanie insists on changing things up and doing it in reverse. I am not overly happy with this. At this stage, do we really want change? Next thing you know, we will be cleaning bedrooms on a Monday or skipping a week. Ridiculous! Slow and steady wins the race.

May 11, 2020
We are one week away from entering what the government calls phase 2 of the pandemic plan. This means more businesses opening up again as long as they can show that they can maintain "social distancing" and there is daily talk, and confusion, about limited opening up of schools. Some restaurants may be able to open again soon, but borders remain closed, travel remains restricted to essential business travel only and staying home remains the mantra. By next week, people may expand their "bubble" by adding another family that has also been vigilant in not contacting others who could potentially carry the corona virus. This only adds to the confusion. I have heard from more than a few who express the complaint that they are done with the current isolation, and hope to open up their social activities to many others. Young people especially don't seem overly concerned with distancing despite reminders that this practice is not necessarily to keep you safe, but to keep safe vulnerable people you may come in contact with. Our weekly sermons seem to focus very much on how much of a struggle it is at the present time and how hard it is to cope. Sometimes I wish we could focus on some positives instead of the doom and gloom, but then I feel guilty, because this unprecedented situation has been really, really difficult for many people. We have been shielded from this because we are retired, and therefore not stressed about finances, and we continue to see our children and grandchild. Yes, we miss seeing our friends, going out for dinner or perhaps going to Vancouver on a beautiful day for a walk on the seawall, but life has not been that difficult, especially if you are like me and are very comfortable not socializing too much. We have visited a few times for short periods. This could all change soon. If our girls start coming in contact with others by going into the classroom again soon, we may lose our current visiting practices.

What really does hit home though is not having things to look forward too. We just went through a spell of beautiful weather but stayed mostly at home. Today I begin the task of canceling our airfare and many hotels, B&B's etc. for our trip across Europe, which is now clearly not going to happen in August. I am not sure what there is to look forward to this summer. Travel is out. Going to the beaches may not be safe with so many not respecting social distancing is busy areas. Even plans beyond the summer like a trip to Bonaire in January is not a certainty. I guess it is best not to focus too much on long term, except the fact that this will come to an end some day, and just do what we can in the present. 

June 2, 2020

We have now progressed into Phase 2 of the pandemic. In the past week many businesses began to open, and restaurants that can accommodate customers by keeping them two metres away from other customers have begun to reopen as well. There is some renewed optimism as daily new case numbers continued to decline as did deaths. We just had one death in the past three days in BC, which was leading the nation in the battle with the virus. Quebec continued to be a disaster and Ontario too continued to have high numbers. Seniors homes and a few meat packing companies seemed to lead the way in cases. This week marked the opening of schools to allow parents of K through Grade 5 students to send their kids back to school on a voluntary basis. High schools too were open to accommodate students in need of a school presence. This was the cause of concern in our family, with two teaching staff potentially being exposed to students who could be infected. It seemed like a lot of work and risk considering the school year will end in a few weeks. With these latest developments, the government expected the number of cases to increase but hope it will be manageable. Meanwhile, a second wave is expected in the Fall, which threatens our Bonaire trip in January. A meeting with church officials last week indicated that churches should not expect to reopen before the end of the year, and gatherings of over 50 people would continue to be banned for the foreseeable future. International travel was not expected to open soon and inter-provincial travel was also strongly discouraged. As a result, we booked a one week vacation with the whole family in Blind Bay, on Shuswap Lake in July. We also notice more people, including family members beginning to let up on their strict social distancing and limiting of visits with others. For me, this was a concern, as I would not like to see past efforts go for naught. We now have masks we wear at the grocery store and continue to social distance.

Up to last week, Covid-19 was the sole focus of news reports. That changed rapidly. In Minneapolis, a video was released of a police officer arresting an unarmed black man, and resting his knee on the man's neck, while other officers rested on his back, while he cried out that he could not breath. He died. Only after a public outcry did the police officer get charged with murder. A "Black Lives Matter" movement took over the streets of many major cities in the U.S. with daily protests and often escalating to violence, looting, etc. President Trump did little to calm the country, focusing on threatening rioters with shootings rather than focusing on the issue of injustice for blacks in the U.S. This issue spilled over into Canada as well in a smaller scale and suddenly Covid-19 was moved to the end of the newscasts while nightly images of people facing riot police throughout America played out on the screen for most of the broadcasts. Of course, social distancing was impossible when crowds gather to protest, so it will remain to be seen how this issue will also effect future outbreaks of the virus. In New Brunswick recently, the province had all but eliminated the virus through its isolation, lockdown and distancing rules. Then a doctor returned home from abroad and failed to self-quarantine for 1 days as was required. He had the virus. He returned to work and as a result, many people were now infected with more cases coming up each day. This showed how easy the spread can happen. 

I have to confess that I have watched the recent events with mixed emotions. The evidence of the racist way some police forces in the U.S. and individuals treat blacks disgusts me and I lament another black man and his family being destroyed for no good reason, as we have seen numerous times before. I understand why there would be such an uproar and cry for justice. I also agree that racism exists and is much greater than we ever want to admit, and exists in Canada just as well. However, another part of me watches in fascination how the President continues to bungle things, and this issue in particular exposed his own racist flaws and lack of care for human lives over economics and self-promotion. Will the Christian right finally see him for who he is, and not the Christian leader they like to think he is? Will his support base finally break down, or will his fanatic supporters simply brush this aside, as has happened up to now? Images of the President ordering attacks and violence on demonstrators near the White House so he can walk across the street for a photo op with a Bible in front of a church can't be ignored. Even the leader of the church denounced this performance.

June 13, 2020
Things continue to evolve. The news is now dominated by coverage of daily demonstrations across North America, and even other countries, denouncing systemic racism in policing and other institutions. Many videos showing police brutality when executing arrests on either black or First Nations men and women appear regularly and many athletes are speaking out about racism experiences they have had. It seems this movement is taking off and change may happen. The virus is now pushed to the back, though daily reports continue. While Ontario and Quebec experience high daily new cases and deaths, though they are slowing, BC has been very successful. We had only one death in 6 days. More businesses are opening and people are urged to not let down the fight. A second wave is expected in the Fall.

June 27, 2020
Following several weeks of daily demonstrations and calls for eliminating systemic racism, particularly in the police forces throughout North America, things are subsiding, although there seem to be regular accounts of excessive force filmed on police arrests. This must be difficult for the many, many good police who seem to have gone from heroes to villains in a short period of time.
The demonstrations and foolish stubbornness of many Americans, particularly red-neck ones in places like California, Texas, Arizona and Florida have had their effect as predicted. Many claim it is their constitutional right not to wear face masks when asked to, and not to practice social distancing. Many still believe the whole virus issue is a democratic hoax. As a result, new daily infection totals are spiking in all these areas. Despite this, the NHL, in their desperate desire to fill their greedy pockets, continues to explore ways of holding a shortened season and playoff run before summer is over, using hub cities which would host all games with no fans in the stands and players and staff isolated. The forerunners seem to be the hotbeds of the virus, Las Vegas, Florida and Arizona. Vancouver was in the running but was eliminated because the league had the arrogance to ask for exemptions to the isolation rules the rest of us follow. People in B.C. continue to follow the lead of Dr. Bonnie Henry and as a result, we are doing much better than other parts of the country. We just entered Phase 3, which allows more businesses to open, with social distancing rules and special requirements in place, but it could be a long time before things really open up in Phase 4. I learned a few days ago that the likely hood of long term care homes allowing family visits is not in the cards for the foreseeable future. We have not seen my mom since late February. She turned 101 years old on June 25 and we could not go see her. It is a good thing that due to dementia, she is unaware of all of this, but my sister is quite bitter about it. It occurred to me that there is a very good chance that we may never see her again. At 101, how long can she go on?
A few days ago I got my first official haircut since January and saw the dentist. I had to wear a mask the whole time, except when the dentist examined my teeth of course, and the dentist and haircutter (what are barbers called these days?) also wore a mask. Hand sanitizing was in order before and afterwards and I had to wait in the parking lot at the dentist and wait for them to phone me when I could come in. They checked my temperature and I was too hot. Of course! It was 30 degrees in the car sitting in the lot. I had to cool down before I was "healthy" enough to come in.

August 20, 2020

It has now been going on six months since the pandemic began and we seem no closer to an end. The number of new cases reported each day had been going down steadily through June and early July, but as more things open up, including many restaurants, bars, etc., the numbers have been climbing in BC. Young people in particular have been gathering to party in large groups, contrary to the pandemic guidelines, (I would call them rules, but there seems to be very little appetite for the government to enforce them), resulting in a rapid spread in many areas throughout the country. On the positive side, young people seem less likely to experience severe reactions and therefore those infected often require no hospitalizations. The death rate remains low, with no deaths most days. However, with school opening up in September, there is a great deal of stress around to protect children in schools and how to prevent them from bringing home infections to their parents or elders who may be very susceptible.  

Meanwhile, south of the border, the gong show continues. Thousands of new cases are reported daily, especially in Republican states who dismiss the whole virus as a Democrat hoax designed to make President Trump look bad. He needs no help with this. He continues to rave about the great job he is doing even as the death toll in the U.S. nears 170,000. Worldwide, countries that were getting the virus under control are now seeing a second wave of new cases. 

In sports, I got the sad news this week that despite efforts to hold a shortened season, the CFL canceled its 2020 season. The problems include having too many American players who can not cross into Canada due to the ongoing ban on foreigners and the difficulty in isolating players and other personnel. The NHL was able to proceed with a playoff format by playing all games in two hub cities, Edmonton and Toronto, with teams isolated to the arena and adjoining hotel and restaurants. Any player caught outside this "bubble" will immediately be banned from further play, and must quarantine elsewhere. So far it has worked. The NBA plays all its basketball games in DisneyWorld, Florida, where it has secured an isolate area to hold games, accommodate players and officials, etc. Baseball on the other had continued to hold games in teams' home fields, except for Toronto, because players may not cross the border. There have been numerous cases of covid among players, and a number of games had to be canceled because one or another team had too many players infected. We will see how the NFL makes out in September. They too plan a regular season. Meanwhile, college and junior games have canceled the 2020 season.

Things seemed to have settled down on the demonstration front, although 'Black Lives Matter' demonstrations do still occur in places. Parades, concerts, fairs, etc. all are canceled. The local PNE is doing a drive-thru, where you stay in your vehicle and drive through buildings to see shows and buy fair food. A family wedding on September 1 has been restricted to under 50 people, with many family and friends left out.

I have been doing our own grocery shopping for the last month or so. I always wear a face mask and do a thorough hand washing before and after. More and more people wear masks, although it is surprising to see how many seniors, the most vulnerable, continue to go around uncovered. Perhaps 60 % of shoppers wear masks right now. In the local mall, that number drops to perhaps 25%. Amazon has become my shopping buddy. I recently was in the market for a new lens for a hopeful trip to Africa next year. I checked out the local store to see what lens I wanted. I was going to buy it there, but they would have to order it, and it could take two weeks or more. I checked Amazon and found the same lens for $200 less with delivery within two days. Hard to beat!

Travel is the one area that negatively effects me most. I love to travel. Our trip to Europe, which was to have begun a few days ago, was canceled and I got all my money back from the prepaid hotels. Summer travel was restricted to a house we found to rent for a week in Shuswap, and another house we rented on Saturna Island for four nights, just to get away. Very enjoyable. An organized trip to Bonaire and Aruba with friends, set for late January, 2021 is all but over. Part of this is the uncertainty of whether we would be able to fly by then, and whether we would feel safe doing so, and another is the news that we are expecting our second grandchild, due right on the day we would be leaving. I have been having difficulty hitting the 'cancel' button, but it is inevitable. A trip to Zambia and Botswana is full booked, except air travel, for August 2021. This seems far enough away that it has a chance of happening. I would be very, very disappointed if this too was canceled. We are not getting younger or healthier!

What seems really odd to me is the many grocery items which even after so many months, still are not on store shelves. There was the initial mad hoarding epidemic which left all stores with no toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, and most disinfectant cleaning products. Even though diarrhea is not a symptom of Covid-19, most Canadians, and every other nationality it seems, thought protecting their bowel movements for the next year or more was a top priority. There of course never was a shortage of paper products so this was just pure greed, and stupidity. After a few months, toilet paper, paper towels, and most cleaning products are again readily available. Disinfectant towelettes have yet to appear in any grocery store I have visited, even though drug stores seem to be able to get them in the smaller quantity sizes. How can these still be short supply? Some issues have arisen due to blocked shipments from China, the source of the pandemic, but that does not explain many of the missing products. How could there possibly be a run on canned sauerkraut or kale? Kale still isn't back. The pandemic also seems to have created a huge demand for Johnsonville mild Italian sausage. Go figure! There are still sections of empty shelves at the local store.

 Peoples' social bubbles have been growing in recent weeks, and this has made things feel more normal. However, we can not ignore the fact that it also brings greater risk, since you can not be certain of how diligent the people you come in contact with have been. I feel an uneasiness about letting down our guard, but it seems others seem less and less concerned, even while watching the disaster that is the USA each night on the news. There are several labs claiming to be close to having a vaccine ready by the end of the year, but we will wait and see.

Meanwhile, perhaps I should just continue to work on planning and canceling vacations. 

Aussie Land - Queensland Chapter 3

February 10 - Stop Building the Ark

We woke up this morning to some patches of blue sky. Actually, we woke up to the loud clanging of garbage trucks coming around at 6:30AM but the sun was awesome. After breakfast we walked down the road to the path overlooking the beach. While the wind was gone, there were still large breakers. And yes, I even found a few new birds to photograph.  We had a leisurely morning, since our flight from Newcastle to Cairns did not leave until 12:50. A flock of cockatoos came by to bid us adieu.  Newcastle is much like it’s namesake in Great Britain, a coal town. As we drove through, we saw ships lined up at the docks while scoops picked up coal from the piles and put it on conveyor belts to deposit it in the ships, which send it to China. Our flights to Brisbane and then on to Cairns went smoothly, which is always a good thing. We arrived in Cairns at about 6:30PM. We actually gained an hour traveling to Queensland even though we were going north not west.

Cairns was very hot and humid, even in the evening. After checking in at the Holiday Inn, we walked the boardwalk and found an Italian restaurant for spaghetti and risotto.

Tomorrow we look forward to wandering around Cairns and booking a 2 day excursion to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef and do a day trip to Daintree Rainforest. Here’s hoping no more surprises on this trip.

February 11 - Did you know Cans is spelt Cairns?

It was a sunny, hot and muggy day but we’ll take it! When I got up and took my camera to the balcony for what else, but to photograph a bird outside, my camera immediately fogged up. It was hard to use until it “climatized “ . Temperatures reached about 34 degrees, but with humidity, it felt hotter. We had not yet book our plans for the next two days so we went to the front desk to see what might be available. I had already scoped out a snorkel trip which was reasonably priced. When I asked about it, because they had a brochure from the same outfit, the desk clerk/travel agent said no. We would be about 40 years younger than all the other guests and it was a party boat. He only books this one if people insist but would not recommend it. I think we dodged a bullet on this one. We found a snorkel tour and a Daintree trip and booked them. Then we walked the boardwalk along the water to the other end of town. It was very beautiful with beautiful high trees, including banyan trees, and of course I saw quite a few new birds. It was very hot though and the air was thick. Only one solution for this, cold beer and ice water. We ate lunch at an eatery along the water. We concluded that Aussies eat huge meals. Hamburgers are so tall, you hardly can put them in your mouth, and the chicken tacos I ordered were a meal and a half. By dinner time, we still felt our lunch. I did find my favourite tropical drink, a mango smoothie. Excellent!

We spent the rest of the day by the pool. The water was like bath water, just the way I like it! In the evening we went back to the same Italian restaurant but we were learning. Instead of ordering three big meals, we ordered two pizzas (individual size) and split them among the three of us. I was a little perturbed that the pizzas only had two pieces sliced up and the rest was whole. The knife I had could not cut through soft butter, let alone a pizza crust. I called someone over and asked about this. Apparently in Italy you do not cut up pizzas. They come whole and people can slice of whatever size slice they want. We did get sharp knives to even make this possible. We were also entertained by quite the thunder and lightning display, although we only got a few sprinkles.

Cairns is a beautiful, tropical place and we enjoyed it very much. We still have a few days here but they will be fully filled with excursions.

February 12, 2020 Just the Way I like It!

Another beautiful, sunny day in Cairns. We left at 8:30 for our snorkel trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Like many of the snorkel outfits, the company had a large raft anchored over the reef. We though we were going to two snorkel sights but it turned out you go to the raft, called Marine World. The raft was equipped with snorkel equipment, Lycra suits which were recommended for this time of year when there were jellyfish about and a buffet lunch. There was a large designated area for snorkelling and the platform for going into the water was the best and easiest we had ever done. If you wanted to do a guided swim with a naturalist at another end of the reef was extra. There were helicopter rides which were extra. There were scuba dives and scuba diving with an air hose attached to a floating little raft which was extra. The glass bottom boat was included. We decided to stick with the basic snorkelling. Entering the water was great. The water temperature was about 85 Degrees F. Wonderfully warm! At first we were a little disappointed by the coral, but later when the tide dropped and the sun hit the coral better, it was beautiful. We saw many beautiful reef fish and even though many were the same as what we had seen in places like Belize, Costa Rica and Hawaii, they were beautiful. We even saw a few Nemos. No sharks, no dolphins, no whales and no rays. However, we thoroughly enjoyed the day. We were back in Cairns at 5PM and walked back to our hotel in the still hot late afternoon. We encountered several huge trees completely covered in bats. Hundreds of them in each tree. They were the size of flying chihuahuas and made lots of noise. We were tired from our day and decided dinner would be in our hotel. I had crocodile linguine. It was very good. Jo and W decided to go with two entrees, (which are much like starters, and not main courses.). W had an order of scallops and a salad. The scallops were small pieces on three shells. The salad was good but not huge. Her two entrees cost more than my plate of linguine and I think she went to bed hungry. Jo had a lentil soup and Bruschetta which was a little more substantial. Meals here were very expensive with even basic items costing over $20.

February 13

41 Degrees. That’s how hot it got today. It was our last non-travel day in Australia and our planned excursion to Daintree Rainforest was something I was looking forward to. It included a guided walk through the forest and a crocodile river ride down the Daintree River. We avoided excursions that included fluff like ice creameries, zip lines, etc. We wanted to concentrate on seeing nature and wildlife, like the crocodiles, the elusive cassowary, tree kangaroos, snakes and the many rainforest birds. We did see some of these but in a wildlife sanctuary we stopped at. And Jo got to hold a koala for a few seconds. We were picked up at 7:20AM at our hotel in a nice air conditioned bus that included people who had booked with three or more other excursion companies. The bus was still less than half full. I have to say unfortunately that the day was a disappointment. The rainforest was very beautiful and the drive up the coast had many beautiful beaches that you can not swim in because of crocs and jellyfish, but they alone were not the reason to pay big bucks for this excursion. We got a 5 hour lecture on all the trees of the rainforest. Much of the day was spent driving. Any time we got out of the bus it was very hot and humid. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant by the beach. The food was great, I had your usual monsterous hamburger and Jo and W had kangaroo meat. The beach was nice but you could not get in the water. The boardwalk through the forest was led by our driver/guide who continued to explain more tree facts in a very booming voice which ensured that our only chance of seeing any wildlife was if they were deaf. I did see two little birds but they were almost impossible to get a photo of due to the low light. A few of us were fortunate enough to actually see a wild cassowary posing nicely beside the road by a little bridge. I yelled at the driver about this and he stopped, for 5 seconds. We asked if he could back up a few feet so it would be more visible and the rest could see it. Instead he drove off and that was the end of that. If it had been a nice tree...Then we were rushed a little so we could go to a ice cream place. This was requested by a few people who were locals of all things! The ice cream came in very unusual local flavours so we stuck to a mango/passion fruit bar. At least we still had the boating to look forward to. This was the last activity of the day. A few people saw part of the head of a croc hiding under some branches in the river. Most did not see it. That was the highlight of the crocodile river trip. We arrived back at our hotel after 7PM. A full day. We saw some nice forest and scenery but it did not live up to expectations. The shower when we got back sure was nice though. Most of us gleamed from sweat any time we went outside.

For dinner we returned to our Italian restaurant for the third time because the food was good and reasonable.

February 14 Valentines Day?

Travel to Brisbane went smoothly and we were checked in at the Holiday Inn Express by 1:15PM. It was a sunny day with highs of 31 degrees, but there was evidence everywhere of a major storm. A cyclone formed in New Caledonia travelled past Brisbane earlier, causing widespread flooding. It was still pouring in the morning but dry by the time we arrived. We spent the afternoon walking around downtown, along the river and then through the botanical garden. There were a lot of tall, modern buildings and nice river walk. The river was very muddy, probably from the weather. We had dinner in the hotel and watched a movie because Jo and W were walked out. None of us looked forward to the long trip home tomorrow.

February 15 Homeward Bound

This was the day we dreaded, the long trip home. It was sunny and warm in Brisbane, some 20 degrees warmer than Vancouver. Our taxi ride to the airport cost $60 and was perhaps $5 or $6 more per person than the train, but more convenient. Check in was a breeze. There was no one at the checkin area or the baggage drop off so we had personalized service and were done in minutes. The Brisbane airport was quite nice and modern. Our flight on Virgin Australia left right on time and judging by the section of the plane we sat in, was less than 30% full. It was a nine hour flight to Hong Kong, where we had 7.5 hour layover. Due to concerns with viruses and unrest, we did not leave the airport, making for a long night. Time to begin this blog.

We felt very inconspicuous being part of a very small minority, almost all Caucasian who were not wearing masks. It seemed to me the masks, worn by all employees as well, were more a psychological matter, since we saw many people unmask to eat or drink, or just take a break. If the coronavirus could be transmitted by air, these people lost all their protection. The airport was very quiet and the shops were virtually deserted. I saw one large shop with 10 to 12 staff standing around and not one customer in the store. Most shops had no one shopping.                                          

Looking forward (NOT!) to our 11hour 25 minute flight to Vancouver beginning at 1AM. We met a Chinese Canadian from Coquitlam who was returning home after visiting his parents in Beijing. He was so happy to have someone to talk to. He said the city was eerily quiet. People were told to stay in doors. The streets, restaurants, etc.were almost deserted. It took him 30 minutes to drive to the airport, a trip that normally took 2 hours. He had several flights from Beijing to Hong Kong canceled on him at the last minute and the airlines were not helpful in rescheduling. He was so relieved to be coming home.

With the help of a little Adavan, I was actually able to sleep for a few hours on our flight home. Jo and W had even longer stretches of sleep. That really helped make the long flight easier. We had all chosen aisle seats and that worked out well. We each had the seat beside us empty, and though I was in the middle section, there were two seats open there. Despite flying economy, the leg space was quite acceptable. It was good to step on Canadian soil again. We had no issues with airport security and everything went extremely smoothly, except it sure felt cold outside!

We were sad to not experience our cruise and to be home two weeks early, but also grateful that with all that was going on around viruses, and weather issues, God kept us safe and allowed us to have a great trip anyway.