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To be or not…

February 5, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

Can you believe this last year? It is February and this time last year, Covid-19 had certainly made its impression on medical authorities around the world and politicians were just beginning to know they had a problem – we had a problem – the whole world was going to have many problems. There were plenty of decisions to make, a constant flow of decisions. Strange, isn’t it, that the things we have to do, the approaches we ought to make and the struggle we may have to endure are still to come. 

The biggest problem is: how are we going to survive? A two pronged question: to dodge the Covid bullet; to survive financially. 

Well, and to stay sane. 

It all begins with shopping. If a person did a survey just by going to different grocery stores, where, surely the majority of the shopping is done, the mountains of goods being hauled out tells the stories of how we are living… what we are doing to stay sane. Is there plenty of junk food to deal with the hockey games; are the ingredients there to support the baking hobby? 

Do we have a hundred theories about “when this is all over”? 

Never mind that – this is the here and now, the time to cope when we’ve been coping for a long time. Can we move past how boring it’s become and go back to the extension of our early-Covid projects: the personal memoirs that jammed the self-publishing companies? These might lead to the life stories of our forefathers and mothers. Goodness knows that a film about the early 1990’s might well be seen as much of a “period film” as a Jane Austen movie, so profoundly have things changed in the last 30 years. So, tales your granny told you are history between covers if everyone you thought of already has a copy of your own life. 

There are going to have to be some new hobbies available, that’s for sure. How about city star gazing? Turn off almost all the town or city’s lights for a couple of hours every clear evening and we can all see the stars, learn the constellations – buy a telescope or even good binoculars. The sky is even clearer in the winter than the summer – so, now is the time for this innovation. 

Are there directional arrows on the Trailways so that people can walk a circle and stay safe from others wanting a little fresh air and exercise? Pacing themselves two metres behind those ahead of them, with their cute little dogs and kids who insisted on bringing their iPads and are risking tripping over roots or banging into trees as they go? 

Truth is, that our love affair with the online life is losing its edge as our eye sight suffers and our computer chair is starting to sag. Our ability to “stay indoors” is definitely becoming harder as the lure of computer or board games fades; we knitted, baked, learned all we can stand to know from random online research, dined virtually enough for now; drunk the wine, played dress up because there’s nowhere to go, and taken home plenty of take-out meals from restaurants that deserve our support. 

So, intelligent innovation is required on what else to do and, by the bye, how else to work, to earn some money, keeping in mind that not everyone can work online. 

People are walking the trails; maybe going skating, probably not skiing. Time for a serious re-think about safety and prevention that allows more movement. Even for persons in a house with several rooms and enough space, the enforcements are becoming dangerously onerous but for people stuck in minimal apartments and condos, the urge to say “to hell with it” is strong and so is the risk. 

Canada has 785,000 plus cases, of which 276,000 are in Toronto. This is quite outrageous and unnecessary. Yet, while the restrictions are as they are, the tendency to rebel grows and so will the numbers. The need for new ideas about moving around and working at something fruitful is not strictly the government’s job. Citizens can and should also brain storm and come up with ideas to get things going but still stay safe. 

To open all the businesses with strict caveats is a start. Shop owners are willing to enforce caution and shoppers are happy to comply. Even the library might welcome people in with sensible caution. There is a trail entrance on Hockley Road, and the Island Lake Conservation Area is open. Walking those trails is permitted; caution is obvious. 

There may be a safe and economical way for the cinema to open, although we are assured that it not yet time for the theatre to do so. 

To compensate for the latter, Theatre Orangeville is producing a series of wonderful online shows. Pay a small price for a virtual ticket and everyone can have a “bubble party” and enjoy. You can check that out at www.theatreorangeville.ca 

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