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Deliverance in a time of crisis
Every two months, our local community association puts out a newsletter. The newsletters are then distributed to a network of people in the community, who deliver them door to door. We are responsible for delivering them along our street.
This can be an interesting experience during a pandemic, as we recently discovered.
Normally we wait for a day that's bright, sunny and warm to deliver the papers. But with physical distancing restrictions in place, that's no longer the ideal time to make deliveries. So we delivered them on a day when it was warm enough, but drizzling slightly. We put on our early spring outdoor wear, including lightweight gloves, to deliver them. Unlike on a nicer day, few people were out front doing yard work. Most, however, were at home and there were signs of occupancy.
Many people had decorated their front windows with rainbows, eggs and Easter bunnies. Some windows had little messages of hope. A couple of homes had balloons wound about the lampposts. One home had a giant Christmas bear with its arms extended, folding slowly inward at regular intervals as if giving everyone who passed a biiig hug, Teletubby style. Some had parcels on their front steps - one from Lee Valley, the others in generic boxes. In one case, I didn't see a mailbox or slot at all. We no longer have door to door mail delivery in our area and I guess these folks were not getting an old-style newspaper either.
I wonder if we'll ever get back to the days when the milkman and bread man, along with the postman, will once more be a fixture in every neighbourhood. Or maybe the milk drone, bread drone and mail drone? It would be nice to see the return of something akin to the Sears and Eaton's catalogues too. I doubt if we'll get back to ordering things C.O.D. any time soon but an expansion of delivery services once all this is over would be welcome indeed.
It might even help to reduce our carbon footprint.
This can be an interesting experience during a pandemic, as we recently discovered.
Normally we wait for a day that's bright, sunny and warm to deliver the papers. But with physical distancing restrictions in place, that's no longer the ideal time to make deliveries. So we delivered them on a day when it was warm enough, but drizzling slightly. We put on our early spring outdoor wear, including lightweight gloves, to deliver them. Unlike on a nicer day, few people were out front doing yard work. Most, however, were at home and there were signs of occupancy.
Many people had decorated their front windows with rainbows, eggs and Easter bunnies. Some windows had little messages of hope. A couple of homes had balloons wound about the lampposts. One home had a giant Christmas bear with its arms extended, folding slowly inward at regular intervals as if giving everyone who passed a biiig hug, Teletubby style. Some had parcels on their front steps - one from Lee Valley, the others in generic boxes. In one case, I didn't see a mailbox or slot at all. We no longer have door to door mail delivery in our area and I guess these folks were not getting an old-style newspaper either.
I wonder if we'll ever get back to the days when the milkman and bread man, along with the postman, will once more be a fixture in every neighbourhood. Or maybe the milk drone, bread drone and mail drone? It would be nice to see the return of something akin to the Sears and Eaton's catalogues too. I doubt if we'll get back to ordering things C.O.D. any time soon but an expansion of delivery services once all this is over would be welcome indeed.
It might even help to reduce our carbon footprint.