Good Friday Update

April 10th 2020

Just a quick update as to what is happening in our little semi frozen piece of the world … As we are on lockdown until April 22nd, things are fairly low keyed here in the coach, it is a sunny afternoon and we are harvesting lots of solar again today, the temperature is cold just over the freezing point and with the wind today we have a fairy severe wind chill today, the boiler is running quite regularly, but we are maintaining a reasonable steady temperature in the coach, although it will be nicer and easier when the wind drops off this afternoon.

So what are we doing to help pass the time you might ask, well we have lots of things on the go, we are starting to learn Spanish, with the “Dou-lingo” app, Miss Laurie has started a water colour painting, and I’m catching up on some paper work, just streaming some music, trying to avoid too many cocktails, and also trying to stay away from all the snack foods, but I’m going to break into a large bag of Cadbury mini eggs later today. It’s strange we really haven’t needed anything that we don’t have yet, the isolation is not a lot different than we had been doing while boondocking or on the trek back to Ontario. It’s just the fact that we can’t go any where that’s so different, I mean we don’t need to go anywhere, it’s just the idea of not being able to that takes some getting used to.

We haven’t been binge watching any thing yet (that may come), today is the first day that we have not even ventured out of the coach, hell its mid afternoon and I’m still in my PJs, but part of that is it’s too cold to want to go out today. We still have the satellite TV, so we catch the Canadian News broadcast on line, than the American News on the satellite, to keep us informed as to the status of the Covid-19 virus pandemic, than we watch some mindless television till bedtime, most shows seem to be starting reruns so we may be switching to streaming shortly.

I think we are starting to realize, the world as we know it is changing, and not just temporary as everyone had been originally hoping … no I’m afraid it will never be the same again, we are going to loose a lot of small businesses that just won’t be able to survive two or three months of mandatory shutdown, and I don’t care what the politicians say this is going to be a long slow process to restart the economies of each and every country. And I’m afraid of what people might start doing as the money runs out, the governments can only do so much, they are too slow for the average guy that lives pay cheque to pay cheque, and the hoarding seems to be still continuing, as well as those who refuse to follow social distancing guidelines. We seen it as we drove back across the States, groups playing basketball, groups playing golf, or just gathering in groups. We are so far behind where we should be on testing on both sides of the border, both countries were just too slow to take action, is the reality. I mean if they were on top of this we should have been tested when we crossed the border, if they were serious, the problem is that the virus is being spread by people that have no symptoms and don’t know they are carrying the virus … just saying

Remember: Be Smart, Stay STRONG, and Be Well

And on the Tenth Day – CANADA Eh!

Wednesday April 8th 2020

Ok! After being away for a little more than five months and with the total chaos that is going on throughout the globe right now, it was especially heart warming to see we were this close to home. Actually if we could get the winter warmth any where in Canada that we can get in the lower 48 states, I don’t know if we would ever leave.

The Trump supporters have their MAGA (Make America Great Again) while here in Canada we are still great eh!

What a strange feeling as we paid our toll to cross the Blue Water Bridge to get to Canada and other than commercial trucks, we were the only vehicle crossing the border, the ban on non essential travel is obviously working. Now don’t get me wrong life will not be normal here in Canada either for a while with this whole Covid-19 pandemic going on. But the one thing I can tell you is that there will be great teamwork throughout all levels of government. Oh don’t think for one minute that we don’t have our share of crazies, the difference here is they aren’t in government, they are not in control of anything, in fact in most cases not even their own lives. Watching a Canadian new broadcast, there is lots of information, we just have news here in Canada, not fake or real news, just the news, and the real Canadian craziness here, if some one in control screws up, they step up and take responsibility and get it corrected and done right. That has to be one of the biggest differences, our politicians aren’t breaking their arms trying to pat themselves on their back while our citizens are dying from this horrible virus, oh they may do that, but only after the job is done, and here we don’t have all that childish name calling and leaders getting their feelings hurt, there has just been co-operation between all political parties as well as federal and provincial government.

Oh life is not normal here by any means. As we passed through customs we were not quizzed on the value of our purchases, no it was all about our travel and our health, and then being read the riot act about our mandatory 14 day isolation period, and how it was now law with penalties for not adhering, and that our neighbours may be nervous enough to tattle if we don’t obey.

It was disheartening last week when Trump blocked the purchase, of much needed PPE (personnel protection equipment) for our health care workers from 3M, but then why should we have expected any thing else, Trump has always said his objectives was all about America and his hope to “Make America Great Again”. Yes it is when times get tough that you get to learn who your true friends are, and as disappointing as that was for us, it wouldn’t stop Canadians from being ready to help our America neighbours to the south again as we have so many times before, some countries may be more short sighted but Canada is not that country. Oh don’t think there won’t be back lash, but it will be done the Canadian way, if we can’t rely on our allies when needed, than we will have to rely on our selves, so when things are back to normal I’m pretty sure a Canadian company will be manufacturing and supplying our health care workers with their required PPE and we won’t be relying on a foreign country … just saying.