Winter and Lockdown

Tags

CBC PEI, Food, island, Mainstreet, Matt Rainnie, PANDEMIC, Radio, winter

For the last 2 years PEI had avoided Covid19 and the worst of the pandemic, we had some cases but overall it was as if the pandemic had forgotten about the Island. With the New Year 2022, suddenly cases are surging, from a handful to suddenly hundreds of cases, the 2 first death and some 8 hospitalizations. You might say only 8 people in hospital that is nothing, however we only have a total of 20 ICU beds.

What has caused this upsurge? During the Christmas Holiday everybody was travelling around the world or elsewhere in Canada. They had to travel, to see family they don’t really like or because of mental health, which has become a new separate pandemic. It use to be peanut allergy now it’s mental health.

Yesterday the Chief Medical Officer for PEI announced that all restaurants, bars and gyms would close for 2 weeks at midnight. Guess what, the announcement came in the afternoon and last night restaurants and bars were packed to the gills. It would appear that we are dealing with a society full of indulged, selfish, spoiled brats who are unable to think like adults. On the radio, Matt Rainnie who has the popular late afternoon show Mainstreet on CBC, was going on about how times were tough and could people call in to suggest happy songs to get us through these tough times. I sent a message to Matt asking if he was serious, I can think of much worse times in the last 100 years, World Wars, Great depression, Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam war, economic crisis. Now we may get a war in Europe between NATO, Ukraine against Russia, with the possible threat of nuclear war, which would be curtains for all of us.

The weather here is definitely cold -29C today, bone chilling at least it is sunny and the city has started to clean the streets from last Friday’s storm. I also got my booster shot yesterday at the pharmacy, took all of 4 minutes. No reaction so far and things are fine.

I did do a bit of grocery shopping also on Monday, I had a bit of a shock as I entered the store, the display on the right which is all fruits, salads, vegetables, the shelves were completely bare, nothing at all. On the left side the shelves were full of breads, biscuits, cakes, package cheese, deli counter offerings etc. In Winter if the bridge to the mainland is closed for a day or two, suddenly we have shortages in the grocery stores. The bridge was close on Friday/Saturday/Sunday the winds over the Strait were so high at 130Km per hour at one point, no one can cross the 12 Km over the sea far too dangerous. At some point the bridge is 300 feet above the water to allow for large ship to sail under it. Before 1997 when the bridge did not exist, shortages of food on the Island were frequent, but people had farms and gardens so amply supply for meat, eggs, cheese and potatoes not to mention other dry goods. But it was a more simple time.

The old Abegweit ferry of PEI bought by the Chicago Yacht Club and used since 1983 as their Club House at Monroe Harbor in Chicago.

On Monday night we also had a power outage for about 90 minutes, which is rare for us. Luckily this happened after 08:30pm. This is why we always have candles around the house just in case all Winter long. It was dark but only in the old downtown area by the river where we live. There was an aura in the distance in newer parts of the City, across the river in South Port lights were on. We simply went to bed early, the dogs did right away, it’s dark, we sleep. However this darkness was peaceful and relaxing the neighbourhood looked different, quiet.

I heard a good joke the other day, For 5000 years man ate bread, suddenly in just the last 10 years we are all Gluten intolerant. Yep that explains a lot about today’s world.

Just a few more days

Tags

Christmas, covid, Omocron, PANDEMIC, panic, PEI, Potatoes

This past week we have been thrown back to March 2020. PEI was doing very well in terms of cases and the pandemic, few cases and no hospitalizations, people followed the rules with few exceptions. On Wednesday we suddenly had 10 new cases, all related to travel off Island. Thursday another 10 cases and one Omicron, Friday 31 cases and a second Omicron case. This was the highest number of new cases ever, panic sets in, people are in disbelief, Chief Medical Officer gives a public news conference in such cases and tells islanders through Facebook live that this is very serious and ominous, the live comments had to be shut off, the abusive languages of a chorus of Karens and other idiots was beyond the pale. The narrative of their comments was, that the Chief Medical Officer was stealing their Xmas and the poor children would be scarred for life by this trauma. This is what I dislike so much about today’s public debate, the children are always used as a stick. Also this week the on-going ban of PEI Potatoes from USA markets due to a fungus. This is not a trade dispute but about plant safety, the two farms involve happen to belong to Cavendish Corp. a branch of the powerful IRVING corp. Again farmers who are facing ruin are asking for help because the children do not understand what is going on. I find that using the children as an excuse has become the weapon of the cowards who have nothing to say.

Talking of potatoes, the investigation done by soil sample will take until 2023 to have final results. This will have an impact on the economy of the Island but then again maybe an incentive to switch to other cultures.

So in a matter of a few hours, any public activity was cancelled and private gathering is limited to 10 people including the hosts and it has to be the same people not a constant mix of people. Schools are now closed for the Holidays BUT as the Premier said it is not known now if they will reopen on 8 January 2022. It very much depends on what will happen in terms of infection rate. All of this in PEI was caused by one University Student who went to a party at St-Francis Xavier Univ, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The Student Union who organized the party without proper protocols has been fined.

For PEI we have a total of 73 active cases out of a total population of 160,000. That statistically is a lot for us, given our very limited medical infrastructure.

For us, well we already had made our plans for Christmas so it is very low key and quiet. So not much worry, we stay home, we will see about 6 people during the period, we know them all.

We finished the decoration of the tree and Will is putting the final touches to our Christmas food, we have our gifts for our friends done, just a small token, but a long tradition.

So despite it all, life continues…

For all the cry babies out there, there have been much worse times in the past and I offer you this image.

Bubble

Tags

Atlantic Canada, Canada, covid19, life, PANDEMIC, PEI

If you only listened to the CBC from Toronto, you would believe that the whole country is doing poorly with the Covid pandemic. The problem being that CBC at the English Mother House in Toronto has the sad tendency to report all news in a Toronto Centric way, but Toronto is only one city in Canada and not the whole country. We have 6 time zones in an immense geographic area.

The Atlantic provinces New-Brunswick, Nova-Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador is almost never mentioned in the news, Quebec is only mentioned if something derogatory makes the news. In other words the news are skewed in Toronto’s favour. It was not always like that but in decentralizing, the Federal Government allowed the National Broadcaster to leave the Capital Ottawa, the English service went to Toronto and the French service to Montreal.

At the moment with the Pandemic, Ontario is definitely a NO GO area, with 4500 cases per day, the Provincial Government who is responsible for Health Care has made a terrible mess of things by putting the priority on businesses instead of public health, the result, the health service is collapsing and doctors have to decide who will live and who will die, not a good situation.

Here in Atlantic Canada, PEI has a handful of cases, all at home, Newfoundland and Labrador another handful, Nova Scotia a few, the problem is New Brunswick because of its border with Quebec. So the opening of inter-provincial borders expected for next week is not going to happen. The Premiers are playing it safe and prefer to wait until May 3 to see if we can re-open our border to visitors from other Atlantic provinces. We will definitely NOT re-open to any other Canadians from other provinces or the USA.

Either way Will and I are getting our vaccine next week, the Pfizer one.

In the local news yesterday on PEI, the head of the Nurses Union said that 250 nurses had either changed jobs or quit and we were very short staffed. That is a huge number for PEI. Many have gone to work for the Federal Government at the Dept of Veterans Affairs, better pay and better benefits and a lot less stress. The pandemic has created a scenario where nurses are expected to work 7 days a week, we do a lot of testing, sometimes 1000 per day or more and then the inoculation of the population is going great guns. So nursing staff is worked hard and many are tired.

Mental health also appears to be the flavour of the month, we only have 2 psychiatrists on the Island and we need a minimum of 10. Most of the work in this field is done by nurses who do a lot of counselling, but that is not the same thing as having a doctor see you. Also you can easily wait 3 weeks in an emergency situation.

The PEI Government talks a lot about reform but little is being done and it all hinges on salary and benefits which keeps a lot of doctors away.

Mark Rothko, no.12

St-Ambrose’s Day

Tags

Bernini, covid19, life, PANDEMIC, PEI, Popes, Salisbury

St-Ambrose is the Patron Saint of the City of Milan and traditionally this is the Opera Season Opening Day at the famed Teatro alla Scala since 1778. This is a very important gala event with the President of the Italian Republic present with his guest of honour who is another Head of State in the Royal Box. The tickets for such an event are hard to get, many go to the glitterati of Italian aristocracy, captains of industry and le beau monde. This will not happen this year given the second wave of Covid19.

Well we all knew this was coming, that our luck had to run out at some point, as of this morning PEI is under lock down or as it is called here Circuit breaker lock down. All restaurants and bars, gyms, casinos, meeting halls, are closed. It is forbidden to have any private gatherings, this means that you cannot have more than 2 people in your house and they must be part of your family or household. Anyone breaking those rules and anyone present is fined $1000. no exceptions. Retail shops can stay open but there are severe restrictions on how many customers can come in, security guards at the door maintaining order. Church services can proceed with no more than 10 people, no weddings no funerals. These measures are in force until 21 December but I believe this means no Christmas this year. Will and I will simply stay quiet at home and have a nice Christmas meal together. Just a few minutes ago the Chief Medical Officer announced 4 more cases all in their 20’s all connected to the other cases. Now people are encouraged to shop online, work from home and seniors home and hospital will not allow any visitors. Any young person much show proof that they had the Covid test before going to the dentist or being admitted into a medical office.

The good news is that we could start receiving the vaccine by the end of next week, in the meantime everyone must wear a mask at all times.

The latest episode started with one 15 yr old student at a high school in Charlottetown, he had never travelled outside of the Island, so the cause of his infection was a total mystery. Over 3000 people were tested over one weekend, all from his school and contacts, all were negative, so it was an even bigger mystery. Finally the Wendy’s restaurant near the school was linked to him, itL had 3 cases, all employees in their 20’s and a further 4 persons also all in their 20’s were their contacts. So the Government of PEI has decree that anyone in the age group 20 to 29 MUST be tested for Covid19. In PEI the second wave is hitting the under 30 group, a group that did not follow health directives for the most part.

In other news, I was reading this morning that today is the Birthday of artist, sculptor and architect, the man responsible for many stunning monuments in Rome who invented the Baroque style of architecture, Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). He worked for many Popes and left masterpieces for all of us to appreciate.

It is also the 800 Anniversary of the Salisbury Cathedral, built in 1220 as a Roman Catholic Cathedral, since the reformation it’s an Anglican Cathedral. The Prince of Wales and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall came for the thanksgiving service.

new rules

Tags

Canada, covid19, Health, life, mask, Nunavut, PANDEMIC, PEI

Yesterday the Premier of PEI announced at the recommendation of the Chief Medical Officer that everyone in PEI would have to wear a face mask in any indoor situation as of Thursday. We do not have any Covid 19 cases but the Medical authorities and the Government are worried that people have become complacent and are not really following simple guidelines like washing your hands, keeping 6 feet apart and wearing a face mask. Community spread is always a fear and Nunavut the far Northern Territory some 2200 Km north of us had no Covid 19 case in 2020 so far but in a matter of 72 hours suddenly they have 60 cases. The population of Nunavut which is a gigantic territory larger than all of Europe has a very small population of 38,000 people. If it can happen there it certainly can happen in PEI which is very small island with a population of 150k. Also yesterday one case of community spread happened in Darmouth, Nova Scotia. So the risk is there.

I have several masks and I always have one with me and so does Will and we wear them. I just feel more comfortable going inside a mall or shop wearing a mask. It is such a small thing. Yes it fogs up my glasses and I don’t like that but so what, health comes first.

The other problem is trying to make people understand that maybe they do not fell sick or have no symptoms but that does not mean they are not carrying the virus, many just don’t seem to understand that. I suspect they do understand but just can’t be bothered.

We have been lucky on PEI during this pandemic let’s keep it that way.

Another busy day

Tags

Bridge, car detailing, painting, PANDEMIC, puppies, Weather, winter

I cannot say that I stay home and eat Bonbons like another blogger friend of mine in AZ. My days are filled with incidents. Today I had the car detailed inside and out. The shop who did it are on Mount Edward near Sherwood Drive, South end of the city. I first saw their ad on Instagram, they are called SUDS. I wanted to have the car thoroughly cleaned for some time though as it was pointed out to me at the shop, your car is fairly clean, nonetheless they did a beautiful job, it looks brand new.

It was a heavy rain day today but it was all over by 4pm when I returned to pick up the car. Happy I did it.

I am still looking for someone to clean my oriental rugs, found a shop in Halifax who can do it, though this means I would have to travel to Halifax 3 hours away by car. It would take about 8 weeks to clean them and they send them to Toronto some 1500km away for the job. The pandemic is still on and the province next door, New Brunswick has seen many new cases in the last week. It is strongly advised NOT to go to Moncton and avoid anywhere near the Quebec border area. However if I drive to Nova Scotia once I am off the bridge I turn left and avoid all of it. I could technically drive back from Halifax same day though it is a lot of driving for one day.

Winter is coming and already we are starting to have wild storms with high winds, meaning that the bridge is closed during the storm, you really do not want to drive over to the mainland with winds howling at 80 + Km per hour, its white knuckle driving. The ferries stop their crossings in a storm and in Winter. So I will have to think about the logistics of it all.

Tomorrow I have a vernissage of a good friend of ours Don Andrus who has a new show on Grafton Street. Then I have to return to the printer to look at proofs for a printing job and then a meeting in the afternoon with the new Club President.

Every day seems to be loaded with stuff, some of it is mundane, like shopping or taking care of our puppies which demands a lot of time and commitment.

Instagram

Tags

Instagram, Lisbon, Music, PANDEMIC

A month or so ago I thought to leave Facebook and since I have not been much on it except to check up on some people. What I really like now is Instagram, I post lots of photos of food and places and read about other people and look at their pictures. The format I find is cleaner and simpler and focuses on what you are doing at the time and there is none of the other nonsense or worse these exchanges that descend into insults and all manners of crazy people. Instagram has the advantage of letting you select what you want to see easily without all those suggestions about other sites. You can turn it into a Blog if you want and do other things, but I am content with simply posting my photos and letting it be.

Now this weekend and for about 7 days we will be incommunicado, our little Island does not have a complete coverage of the internet and many areas have NO signal. This is a significant problem for many people who happen to live outside of the main towns. About 90,000 people are affected by this daily, meaning that e-learning and school via the internet does not work here. School have been closed since 11 March 2020 and many kids expect to return to school in September and our Provincial Government is still working on a plan. We are off only 30 minutes away by the sea on the North Coast Kensington/ French River area. Even if the weather is not the best I am looking forward to this little escapade.

PEI has been lucky in this Pandemic and we had a long period of 2.5 months with no cases. In the last 10 days we now have 7 more cases from 2 individuals who travelled by plane upon their return infected 5 people. There may be more we will know in the next 48 hours when testing of all contact tracing is done. The Premier did say today that all options are now possible and one can be a mandatory wearing of face masks, the others could be returning to a lockdown. So we are all holding our breath.

Needless to say we are all dealing with depression, anxiety, stress, this situation is so abnormal and has put a strain on our lives. I really don’t know how we will manage the coming months. HOWEVER tonight a friend of ours said, we have all travelled so much in our lives, so true! and lived abroad for 25 years in grand style, not being able to travel now is really not a big deal. So true, yes it would be nice to go back to Europe etc. but we lack for nothing and so we can explore the beaches of PEI which we have to ourselves and imagine that beyond the waves we are looking at Europe.

What I do is listen to music which has the effect of transporting you in time or to a place. I also read just to occupy my mind and there are lots of topics to cover. So in terms of music this piece came to mind when thinking of Portugal. Lisbon the capital of Portugal a beautiful city and so pleasant to visit. I could live in Lisbon it is a very elegant and liveable city and listening to this old tune from decades ago captures the moment. I can relive being in the city. Lisbon Antigua was written in 1937, with music by Raul Portela and Portuguese lyrics by José Galhardo and Amadeu do Vale. Have a listen.

 

Values

Tags

Canada., Covid 19, economy, humanity, life, PANDEMIC

During this pandemic which is unlike anything any one living today have ever experienced, there are many discussions on life and the world and our medical authorities have tried their best with what they have on hand to inform us on how to avoid infection. Some have listened others not so much, then as we in Canada are starting to emerge slowly from the worst of this crisis, some have advocated a quick return to a normal life and a re-opening of businesses others have advocated patience and careful approach to avoid a second wave of this virus. We have to accept that there are many viewpoints on this matter and it is shaped by individual beliefs and life experience.

Re-opening to quickly to satisfy those who wish to return to what is dubbed normalcy out of frustration will create another problem. Are we not all frustrated with this unusual and abnormal situation.

Someone will have to pay the price for re-opening too quickly. Would you be willing to sacrifice your family, your children, parents, friends? It is likely many will pay with their lives having no choice but to work in unsafe conditions to satisfy this requirement and others will be infected without knowing it.

I am fascinated and horrified with the many commenters who justify the death of others by saying that it is justified by the economic benefits it brings because those who die are elderly (over 60) so a natural process. Such false equivalence arguments are often used in journalism and in politics today. A logical fallacy in which an equivalence is drawn between human life and re-starting the economy in order to save businesses and jobs based on flawed or false reasoning. We have all read or heard the arguments.

There are many such voices in Canada in the media, in politics and in the public in general. A very sad comment on our society and the mentality of the callous present amongst us.

We should never have to choose between a human life and/or the economy, there is no equivalence. Those who would have us make a choice are clearly in the wrong. We all need a strong economy so that our society prospers but not at the expense of the people in that society.

 

This and That

Tags

Bronx, covid19, NYC, PANDEMIC, routine, theatre, World

So as part of my daily routine now, believe me you need an established routine when a pandemic is on because though we are not on lockdown there is nowhere to go outside of driving to the beach or around the island or doing grocery shopping and that is not pleasant right now with all the risks around.

In the morning I get up, we take care of the puppies, then have my coffee,  shower and shave every morning even if we are not going to see anyone obviously. We have been in the house now for 9 days simply because we are following the advice of our Chief Medical Officer for PEI, Dr. Heather Morrison, stay home, stay safe. I also take my temperature everyday, I am normal. We phone people or send Emails, SMS etc to keep in touch with them, just to say hello. Do chores around the house, washing clothes, cleaning etc. Keeping busy is important. Also only listen to the news 2 daily, I find there is too much hype, spin and useless drama. Listening to Susan Bonner on CBC readio News at 6 is panic inducing, her tone of voice is full of drama and alarm, she does not know how to simply read the news. You have to wonder if it’s the producers behind the scene, click and bait school of journalism.  Not to mention Carol Off or Rosie Barton and Vassy Kapelos the grade 10 teenagers on the CBC.

I have gone back to listening to Internet Radio from around the World for music etc.

Today is World Theatre Day and when I think back to the wonderful plays we have seen with great actors throughout the years, so many plays in so many cities. Good theatre is joy! Here are three which made an impression on me. While in Dublin we went to The Abbey and saw the powerful play Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching towards the Somme by Frank McGuinness. Another play was The Three Penny Opera by Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill in French and stage in this production in Montreal in 1939 during the Royal Visit of King George VI. In London One man two Guvnors by Richard Beam based on Goldoni’s play The Servant of two masters. So yes good theatre is a treasure to enjoy.

We should think about this treasure because the Covid 19 pandemic is going to reap a terrible price on the arts in general.

Today one year ago we were in Halifax visiting the city.  At this time of the year Wisteria is in bloom. I remember walking on the Corso Trieste in our neighbourhood in Rome and giant Wisteria plants would hang down, some stretching several floors on buildings.

We are not out of the woods yet, only 11 cases in PEI all at home doing ok. Tonight the Premier announced that schools are not re-opening before mid-May if at all. What will happen to the kids school year? He has 3 kids and 2 of them will probably have to do work from home but it will not be easy. His oldest is at University and students are doing all courses online. Many parents are simply not equipped to teach their kids. We all know that the tourist Season is dead, the Lobster and seafood/fishing season will be in severe difficulties now, the export and local markets have vanished. The Prime Minister has announced a very generous financial support plan for companies and people affected.

On the family front, my sister and her husband both work in the Bronx at a big hospital as social workers and they have been told to prepare for a surge (50%) in patients next week. I am very worried for both of them. But one remains hopeful, we tell ourselves this will pass but there is so much uncertainty. It is really out of our hands.

Hoarding

Tags

Canada., Health, life, PANDEMIC, PEI

I do daily trips to the grocery store or superstore as we call them here for household / kitchen needs. Thursday I did my regular shopping and noted nothing in particular in the store despite mounting alarmist news by our Canadian Media, the bait and click gang.

However Friday 13 March was a very bad day with numerous news conferences from the Prime Minister who confirmed his wife Sophie was sick and he was self-isolating himself, to the Quebec Premier announcing draconian measures, at that time Quebec had 17 cases, no deaths, as of tonight they now have 24 cases, all related to people who travelled internationally. Quebec has a population of 8 million people. Ontario announced it was closing schools for 2 weeks and Quebec followed suit. Ontario had 101 cases, no deaths. Ontario has a population of 14 million. The National Capital Ottawa, a city of 1 million people has 5 cases. In total Canada has 195 cases now and one elderly person with pre-existing conditions died 8 days ago in Vancouver.

So far the Canadian Government has refused to close the borders, the Minister responsible explained that when you do that people are a lot less honest about telling you where they were or travelled to.  In PEI like other provinces anyone returning from abroad will have to self-isolate for 14 days. So far it is happening and people report to the Health authorities.

So given all this shower of bad news, Friday night was shopping at the zoo for most people. In PEI like elsewhere the coveted toilet paper has become a fetish, bottled water is also a very big thing. Aisles are cleared of such items.

So today, Saturday  at the grocery store, please note that all our supplies, food and otherwise come from the mainland by truck over the sea bridge, except for meat and potatoes. The grocery store was well stocked and re-stocked from Friday’s onslaught. I did notice that everything is available in meats, fruits or vegetables, milk, eggs etc. What I could not find was the Lysol towelettes with bleach, large bottles of bleach, 28 rolls or larger packages of toilet paper and large packages of paper towels, the 12 roll size. Otherwise everything else was stocked and appeared un-touched.

Available were smaller size toilet paper packages under 8 rolls, all liquid cleaning products, soap hard, gel or liquid. Kleenex in quantity, small bottles of bleach for regular house chores. So why are those products available but not the other. What kind of priority is that, bigger is better?  Now there was a couple in their 50’s man and wife discussing the value of buying the really big bottle of bleach. Wife was ambivalent, husband really wanted it, wife finally says; oh well we will try to find a use for it all, it does not go bad. So they bought it but obviously they would never buy it otherwise. Some old lady in her 80’s bought 40 rolls of toilet paper and nothing else. Watching her I wondered what was she thinking, especially if she lives alone.

We are told to wash our hands constantly, soap and water not hand sanitizers. The hand soap was plentiful and appeared to be ignored by the shopping public, how strange. Hand Sanitizers on the other hand are gone, supply exhausted and since this come by truck I can see it will take another 15 days before a new shipment arrives given the demand.

People appear to believe that sanitizer gels, because of the alcohol content is a superior magic cleaner. I also noted that many people despite the clear health instructions given to us by various medical professionals and the Health department is not really followed or understood. People prefer the pundits who predict the end of the world, that is more fun or sexy, despite the fact that journalists have been misunderstanding the information received, if one listens to the questions asked at press conferences with health professionals.

In the meantime here in Charlottetown and across the Island all public events big or small are cancelled. Everyone is hoping that in 6 weeks by the end of April the whole thing will have blown over, I am not so sure.