Friday May 1st 2020
Opening day at Lake Huron Resort!
Well it was supposed to be opening day, and what a great day it could have been. But it is not to be, because of the COVID-19 pandemic that is ravaging the world as we know it. Oh I know there are a whole group of wack jobs that would like you to believe it is just a big conspiracy, oh wouldn’t that be nice, but fake news or not there have been a lot of lives lost by this virus, and even more turned upside down. So here in Canada where we do believe it is a pandemic, and in Ontario we are still on a stay at home order, is it helping? All indications are that it is, would we like it to be over, hell yes, but it’s not. So only essential services are allowed to be open at this time, and there is all kinds of debate as to what and who are essential services, and whether we are in agreement or not unless you can plead your case to the people in charge you just need to abide by the rules.
Campgrounds at this time are classified as non-essential, and even now the Ontario Campground Owners association is trying to plead their case to open the gates of Ontario’s campgrounds. The problem as I see it, even if they allow the parks to open, it’s not going to be what we have been accustomed to, as everyone will need to “social distance” which means no playgrounds for the kids, no public washrooms or showers, no pool, no beach, and no sitting around the campfire with friends. So you can come and enjoy your site and trailer, all common areas would be off limits to start at least, the bands and dances won’t happen, hell even walking your dog would likely be infringing on the rules, the camp store will be online with a pickup window, the gates will be closed to everyone other than people listed on the contract if they all reside at the same address, in simple terms no guests, no children or grandchildren, I mean it’s going to be really different.
We will even have to have a gate that we close every night at a given hour, and will have to be manned to control entrance, a huge change form the normal, I guess it will just become part of the new normal. As park staff we will need to wear masks, gloves will become common place, we just ordered four litre jugs of hand sanitizer, and spray bottles of disinfectant. On the lighter side it will give a whole new meaning to tan lines … just saying.
Our scheduled opening has been pushed back two weeks, and at that time we hope to see some relaxing of the stay at home guidelines, but it will be driven by the results of the social contact spreading of the virus, if we have it more under control then the more likelihood of a reduction on restrictions. It even appears that seasonal parks such as ours will be more likely to be allowed to open that transient (short term) parks, as the interaction is much greater as people have more registrations and such. At the present time only people with no permanent home are being accommodated in any seasonal parks (full timers such as us), the thing that everyone has to remember is we don’t set the rules, we are given the guidelines and then we must follow them, Ontario just hired seventy (70) enforcement officers, to help businesses understand and implement the rules and then of course fine those that don’t adhere to them, all part of “the new normal” that will now become our way of life.
We were so very much looking forward to greeting everyone and welcoming them back to the park, now that is still a couple of weeks away, and will be done from behind a mask and 2 metres (6 feet) away. Hand shakes could now be a thing of the past, and hugging may be gone forever (much to BJ’s delight). No the world has changed, we have seen and still are seeing some of the worst in some people, and then on the other hand we are seeing some of the best in others as well, I have always appreciated the front line workers and do even more now, I think the people that still have not got the recognition that they deserve are the minimum wage workers that have keep us going by stocking shelves and cashing us out, preparing our takeaway food, it hasn’t been the high priced help and the CEO’s that has done anything and don’t get me started on why the politicians here in Canada took a raise in the middle of this mess, they were overpaid for the little that they contributed before and now they have just taken a step even further down, but they are just normal politicians, pretty much useless. No the hero’s of this pandemic are all the essential service people.
My heart goes out to all the small business people that will loose everything they have worked so hard to create, their businesses, their livelihoods, their clients and staff, the true level of devastation is yet to be seen. I hope that everyone takes a look at who was there for you in the middle of this mess, and we need to support our local businesses now more than ever, remember China, looking after themselves, by gobbling up needed supplies in January while down playing the true devastation of this virus they failed to contain. And remember our American neighbours denying our first line workers their PPE when we needed it the most. No if there was ever a time to buy Canadian it’s now more than ever, as we need to start producing products for Canadians, not buying from China just because of price, we will need the employment here now more than ever. And it’s time to start following the money, when you buy anything, where is the money going? If it’s a beer, is it a local brewery, or a multinational conglomerates from someplace off shore, if it’s a coffee is it a local mom and pop or a company owed offshore with the profits going to Brazil, is it a Walmart or a Canadian owned Home Hardware? It’s time to support Canadian by knowing what your buying, where it was made, and where the money is going … at least that’s the way I see it.
The Buchanan's Rolling Down The Road 