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Stormy weather
Aug. 24th, 2020 01:52 pmToday was another grocery shopping day. We bravely got up for seniors' shopping hour, despite having only slept in fits and starts, what with two or three waves of thunderstorms last night.
Remarkably, there was no apparent property damage when we got up and our garbage and recycling bins that we put out yesterday were still sitting calmly by the curb, waiting to be emptied. We didn't lose power overnight either. On the political front, the news was not so good - I'm crossing my fingers that maybe when the next election rolls around, folks who would normally vote Conservative but do not hold particularly conservative social values will consider moving towards the Liberals. Unfortunately I don't feel the NDP have a particularly good leader at the moment. Perhaps the best we can hope for is that the parties will work together on some of the critical issues that transcend party affiliation.
Grocery stores don't seem to be as busy these days and the shelves are a little better stocked. Flour was no problem today. But I still couldn't get tapioca (which we use mainly as a thickening agent in pies), the cauli-crumble we like or full-sheet paper towels. The lettuce still didn't look great, but I got some that looked OK; on the plus side, a number of the things we needed were on special. I stocked up on canned beans, soups, crackers, coffee and orange juice. I also found some Ontario nectarines, which were excellent.
They've started charging for plastic bags again, but they still aren't allowed to help you load your own re-usable bags and they still ask that there be only one shopper to a household. Add to that the fact that we're now trying to do two weeks' worth of shopping at a time and it generally means that since I'm on my own at the cash, the cashier is usually ringing things in faster than I can load everything on to the conveyor belt, let alone pack it (and they often have two employees on a checkout lane: one to ring things in and the other to pack them). It's great that they're so efficient and I did manage to pack a few things myself.
Anyway, after getting the grocery shopping done, we thought we'd detour up to the Shouldice stand on Prince of Wales for strawberries and corn on the cob... except it was too early for them to be open. We did go back a little later, though and managed to get what we wanted. Then I baked cake, then it was time to watch physically distanced Coronation Street...
So life goes on. We're not really hurting from the "new normal", it's just that everything is so much more convoluted and time-consuming than before. And some of the things we'd like to be doing are still not possible, even at this stage of re-opening. But it could be worse...
Remarkably, there was no apparent property damage when we got up and our garbage and recycling bins that we put out yesterday were still sitting calmly by the curb, waiting to be emptied. We didn't lose power overnight either. On the political front, the news was not so good - I'm crossing my fingers that maybe when the next election rolls around, folks who would normally vote Conservative but do not hold particularly conservative social values will consider moving towards the Liberals. Unfortunately I don't feel the NDP have a particularly good leader at the moment. Perhaps the best we can hope for is that the parties will work together on some of the critical issues that transcend party affiliation.
Grocery stores don't seem to be as busy these days and the shelves are a little better stocked. Flour was no problem today. But I still couldn't get tapioca (which we use mainly as a thickening agent in pies), the cauli-crumble we like or full-sheet paper towels. The lettuce still didn't look great, but I got some that looked OK; on the plus side, a number of the things we needed were on special. I stocked up on canned beans, soups, crackers, coffee and orange juice. I also found some Ontario nectarines, which were excellent.
They've started charging for plastic bags again, but they still aren't allowed to help you load your own re-usable bags and they still ask that there be only one shopper to a household. Add to that the fact that we're now trying to do two weeks' worth of shopping at a time and it generally means that since I'm on my own at the cash, the cashier is usually ringing things in faster than I can load everything on to the conveyor belt, let alone pack it (and they often have two employees on a checkout lane: one to ring things in and the other to pack them). It's great that they're so efficient and I did manage to pack a few things myself.
Anyway, after getting the grocery shopping done, we thought we'd detour up to the Shouldice stand on Prince of Wales for strawberries and corn on the cob... except it was too early for them to be open. We did go back a little later, though and managed to get what we wanted. Then I baked cake, then it was time to watch physically distanced Coronation Street...
So life goes on. We're not really hurting from the "new normal", it's just that everything is so much more convoluted and time-consuming than before. And some of the things we'd like to be doing are still not possible, even at this stage of re-opening. But it could be worse...
