RESTARTING THE ECONOMY

We did our part to try to restart the economy yesterday.  We rebooked optometrist appointments that had evaporated in mid March along with everything else, and headed off to the city for the day.

And by that I mean the whole day.  Our appointments were scheduled for 8:50 Manitoba time.  That’s right.  You do the math.  But, if your eyes are giving you trouble and you need to see what’s up the choice between 7:50 am next Thursday or a more reasonable hour sometime late in July is obvious.  The alarm clock went off at 5:00, we pulled out of the yard at 6:00, and were right on time to don our masks and be properly socially distanced for the next two hours.  Even with losing an hour to Daylight Savings Time, we still had a whole day ahead of us to revive the Canadian economy. 

And believe me, we did our part.

The first order of business was something to eat.  Our first restaurant meal since ... Valentine’s Day.  While we were there for the food it was unmistakable that the atmosphere had shifted since the last time we had been out: staff in masks, every second table unused and the customer traffic sparse.  Thank goodness the scent of food cooking managed to cover the smell of ever-present hand sanitizer and disinfectant.  I sure hope that the people in charge of my investment portfolio thought to diversify into Lysol and Clorox wipes.

Next on the agenda was shopping – everything from building supplies to underwear.  It had been a long long long time since we had set foot in these stores.  And it’s now way harder to do that than it used to be.  They say that they’re ‘open for business’ but the trick is to find which door they have actually opened.  For some you can just walk right in like in the olden days, but most reserve the right to count heads.  In order to regulate their customers they are enforcing an ‘in’ door and an ‘out’ door.  Unknowingly I managed to park as far away from the ‘in’ door as possible at least 89% of the time.  It’s my newest superpower.

Once we made it inside these hallowed doors we were presented with the dreaded bottle of hand sanitizer.  The English language does not have adequate words to express how much I hate this stuff and being told that “This kind is great!  It smells just like watermelon!” does not enhance my experience.  In a way though, it does have a positive effect on my hand hygiene; when forced to apply it I go directly to a washroom and use soap and water to get rid of it. 

Once past the sanitizer barrior it was off to the races.  Well, actually, it’s more like a labyrinth.  Arrows on the floor to show shoppers which way they should be travelling ... signs reminding folks to move single file ... ‘X’s six feet apart to keep us away from each other.  It was as if we all had to relearn how to drive our shopping carts – you know like what it’s like after the first snowfall in the fall?  There were fender-benders and rear-enders going on all over the place.  I’m more of a meandering type shopper.  When I go to Canadian Tire I don’t need to travel the auto parts aisle so I skip whole sections which always seemed to have me going the wrong way on a one way street.  It was more relaxing out in the real traffic as we made our way to the city limits.

Glad to report the day was a success, though.  We both have new glasses on order, I have refreshed my summer clothing choices, we will be able to keep the thieving birds out of our strawberries, and there are a couple of man projects that can be finished off now.  Plus, I have three more plants because the garden centers are closing down for the year.  I’m sure the Canadian economy enjoyed a slight up-tick because of our efforts. 

You’re welcome.