blogcutter

Slowly but uncertainly, the options for going out somewhere interesting are expanding. Beaches and splash pads are mostly open. Some beaches even have water wheelchairs for folks with disabilities. The Ottawa Art gallery has reopened, in a limited way. You have to reserve a time (a two-hour window) online beforehand and they're only open Wednesdays through Sundays. Still, in the 10 AM to noon slot, they give priority to seniors and there were still slots open when I last checked. Given that OC Transpo is free for seniors on Wednesdays, I may book a Wednesday morning slot n the near future, perhaps in a week or two.

As for the National Gallery, it will be reopening July 16 and 17 for members only, and Saturday for the general public. It will only be open Thursdays through Sundays. The Ingenium series of museums will be re-opening during August, starting with the agricultural museum on August 1. Aviation and Space opens August 8 and Science and Technology on August 14. There too, members will be allowed in slightly before the rest (July 20 and 31; August 6 and 7; August 12 and 13). And it seems that they too will only be open on a Wednesday through Sunday or Thursday through Sunday schedule and they want you to pre-book online. I don't know about the War Museum or the Museum of History. The Museum of Nature was planning for a September re-opening last I heard. It will be interesting to see which exhibits are open and which ones remain closed off for now. I guess it will be easier for the "look but don't touch" places like art galleries than for somewhere like the Museum of Science and Technology or the Children's Museum, which have always been very hands-on oriented.

It's progress, although it all seems a bit of a hassle. Having to pre-book means the day you've reserved may turn out to be the kind of stiflingly hot day when you don't feel like going anywhere. I'm also concerned that I might get super-exhausted if the café facilities are all closed and there's no place to sit down and enjoy a coffee or cold drink or snack. It also seems to me it would be better if they could all re-open on a 6 days-a-week schedule (though maybe still with reduced hours each day to facilitate regular cleaning) - if nothing else, it would make things easier for physical distancing.

Last week when the temperatures soared to unbearable levels, we enjoyed our first ice cream cone of the season at Purple Cow. It was a different experience from last year - we had to line up outside as there were two couples or pairs of people ahead of us and we were all masked. But it didn't take too long. Another day we drove to the Shouldice stand on Prince of Wales and got a big basket of strawberries and a smaller basket of tomatoes.

So we enjoy the small pleasures in life where we can get them. I still think we could be allowed to do more. Reopening playground equipment is long overdue. And reopening movie theatres, including the special screenings like Stars and Strollers, would allow people to escape into air-conditioned comfort. It might be necessary to block off some of the seats but when I think of how South Keys, for example, used to regularly hold daytime screenings (even the cheap Tuesday ones) attended by perhaps half a dozen people, it strikes me as ludicrous that we're not reopening them now while the summer heat is upon us, the kids are off school and would-be vacationers have nowhere else to go.