Indeed. So, on Saturday, armed with plastic gloves provided by my neighbor, I went grocery shopping. In Vancouver, at least, that is not my favourite occupation in the best of times. I'm not sure why, partially the extremely high cost of everything here. In any event, the closest (although high price) provider opens at 7 A.M., an hour earlier than normal, for seniors during this pandemic. This was good on all sorts of levels. To start with, I could find a parking space within walking distance of the store! Secondly, there were only a handful of people, so social distancing was easy. However, this was my first experience shopping since I got back from Palm Springs. I was so appalled by the prices that I couldn't bring myself to buy staples. For that I went to the Great Canadian Superstore. Plenty of parking there, but by this time it was 9:30. People and their carts were lined up for half a block. However, once again, seniors got priority; I walked right in, and, as always prices were good. (No problems at all with supply, by the way...) Nonetheless, by the time I got home, ditched the gloves, washed my hands, and stowed everything away, I was exhausted!
So, the worst of times and the best of times. Apparently, some people are behaving incredibly badly (I personally have seen no evidence of that, but then I have always lived in rarefied air). On the other hand, I heard this morning on the CBC (my only source of current news; most of you who know me know that I don't have a television....) a company in Ontario made educational supplies. They had 3D printers, however, and within 3 days had gone from doing that to making 100,000 face shields a day, from 10 employees to 80. A company in Alberta that was in the business of painting lines on roads and parking lots started using their spraying equipment to spray sanatiser around buildings. Not to mention the distilleries making hand sanatisers. This is all without government request, much less orders. You've got to love capitalism!!!!
To put things into a bit of perspective, 60,000 people died last year of the flu in the US alone. (That is according to the Economist, which is my other source of news.) Speaking of the Economist, it has been fascinating reading the old ones. I read them in date order, and the reporting on the pandemic is instructive. There is no mention of it until January 15, and at that point, even they were calling it the Wuhan flu. The Economist never gets what you might call hysterical, but you can feel the reporting getting more and more concerned as the weeks roll by.....
They are saying that only 2% of the people who get the virus will die. I wonder what the stats were for the black plague? By the way, did you know that Shakespeare wrote King Lear when he wa in quarantine because of the plague? Put your time to good use, folks!!! Although it does go to explaining how dark that play is....
And speaking of plays - and on happier note - in reading a book review of a new biography of Tolstoy (in the ever-reliable Economist), Tolstoy didn't like Chekov's plays. And neither do I. Smart man, that Tolstoy!!!
Finished the second Inspector Alleyn mysteries by Ngaio Marsh, Enter a Murderer. Already the characters are starting to develop. And I love the - admittedly dated - banter (these were written in the 30's). The anthology had a brief bio of Marsh, and it was interesying to find out that her first love was the theater. Looking back, a lot of her tales have theatrical settings......
.....hope you are all in good spirits. Personally, I am quite happy not to have to be anywhere.....
So, the worst of times and the best of times. Apparently, some people are behaving incredibly badly (I personally have seen no evidence of that, but then I have always lived in rarefied air). On the other hand, I heard this morning on the CBC (my only source of current news; most of you who know me know that I don't have a television....) a company in Ontario made educational supplies. They had 3D printers, however, and within 3 days had gone from doing that to making 100,000 face shields a day, from 10 employees to 80. A company in Alberta that was in the business of painting lines on roads and parking lots started using their spraying equipment to spray sanatiser around buildings. Not to mention the distilleries making hand sanatisers. This is all without government request, much less orders. You've got to love capitalism!!!!
To put things into a bit of perspective, 60,000 people died last year of the flu in the US alone. (That is according to the Economist, which is my other source of news.) Speaking of the Economist, it has been fascinating reading the old ones. I read them in date order, and the reporting on the pandemic is instructive. There is no mention of it until January 15, and at that point, even they were calling it the Wuhan flu. The Economist never gets what you might call hysterical, but you can feel the reporting getting more and more concerned as the weeks roll by.....
They are saying that only 2% of the people who get the virus will die. I wonder what the stats were for the black plague? By the way, did you know that Shakespeare wrote King Lear when he wa in quarantine because of the plague? Put your time to good use, folks!!! Although it does go to explaining how dark that play is....
And speaking of plays - and on happier note - in reading a book review of a new biography of Tolstoy (in the ever-reliable Economist), Tolstoy didn't like Chekov's plays. And neither do I. Smart man, that Tolstoy!!!
Finished the second Inspector Alleyn mysteries by Ngaio Marsh, Enter a Murderer. Already the characters are starting to develop. And I love the - admittedly dated - banter (these were written in the 30's). The anthology had a brief bio of Marsh, and it was interesying to find out that her first love was the theater. Looking back, a lot of her tales have theatrical settings......
.....hope you are all in good spirits. Personally, I am quite happy not to have to be anywhere.....
No comments:
Post a Comment