Dining Out and The Second Wave

Twice now I have been outdoors sitting on a restaurant patio having my non-alcoholic Heineken Beer. The first time was just my wife, two sons, and myself about the same week they opened the patios in our region. It was a joyous occasion just to be outside on a pleasant day enjoying the sunshine and catching some rays. We walked in with our masks on and as soon as we were given a table the physical distance between our table and the ones beside us was noticeable so we took our masks off.

The waitress came to our table wearing a mask and I have to say we should have all put our masks back on when we spoke with her and gave her our food and drink order. I guess the fact none of us were coughing or feeling unwell and we were outside made us think at least we could not give anything to her but then again being a waiter in her shoes would I have thought the same of strangers I was about to serve? So for that I cannot blame her for staying a safe distance from us.

I notice not one other table were wearing masks either and I bet quite a few did not even bring a mask with them as where we were wearing one was not mandatory. Encouraged but not enforced.

Now the second time we went out we were joined by four others who were like us the Dad, Mom and two sons who were in their 30's and approaching 40. We talked on the phone earlier in the week and we decided to meet up on this patio a few days later on what turned out to be a sweltering day.

I worked with the two sons at the Brampton Keg and had not seen each other pretty much since 2015. We knew the parents and we had a great visit. The funny thing was that their Dad and myself have had health issues that make us high risk when it comes to catching the Covid-19. So although each of us have been doing things with our own family,  other than that seeing others up to then has been pretty much out of the question. We wore our masks going in and going out of the restaurant but while we were eating and talking all the time we did not.

Talking to one of them I said you know I was having second thoughts about seeing you guys because I began to listen to the fear that we hear of everyday about this virus. A virus we do not know when will  end. Even though we hear reports of progress on a vaccine,  they are all in early stages and the hope that each lab talks about is creating I think more angst in the public because now everyone thinks it will not be long before one surfaces. I will believe it when I see it.

In Guelph here where we live today we have 14 active cases with 4 new ones reported yesterday. We have no hospital cases. The chances of getting the virus are slim. So knowing that put me at ease. At what point do we not go out though? Let me ask you if you only had 14 active cases in a population of over 120,000 would you still venture out or let fear over come you and stay in? With still physically distancing, washing your hands, wearing a mask, and being with people you know and trust in a social bubble would you still stay in and self isolate?

If you answered yes to that question then get ready because this pandemic is not going away. If you are waiting for a vaccine before they have any made enough for you to get vaccinated it might be two years away yet.

Here is what I think about it all. First of all my step father died of the coronavirus in a senior's home and despite the fact he was 89 this virus did not have to take him a week before his 90th birthday. I know of 5 others who have had it and badly. One thought he was going in a body bag. So catch this virus and no matter what a certain president says it is not the sniffles. So we all know someone who knows someone else who got this and how it affected them. No joke.

For your sanity though, unless you absolutely cannot risk it and your condition is not good at all we all need to get out while the summer is here because you know what is coming. The second wave.

In September when they attempt to get the kids in school at some point during the week if there is any transmission going on at all this coronavirus is going to spread. It is a known fact from other countries that high school students spread this quite easily. Asymptomatic of course. Then they come home and infect their family members. Watch for vulnerable teachers and other school staff as well. The worst case scenario is if a lot get sick and the schools have to close again. They say the Spanish Flu it affected the young worse than the adults. So the truth is the schools have not reopened since March so our kids have been protected but now we are sending them back in September. We do not know what can happen. Hopefully not much.

But if the schools have to close again and parents work schedules are all messed up again we are back to square one or more appropriately phase 1. Because at that point probably bars and restaurants will close, gyms, gatherings will get smaller again etc. etc. Most importantly day cares will close so at least one parent will have to leave her job or work from home. Economically a second wave could really put the nail on that for a long long time.

Well now with BC showing increasing infections, Alberta the same having the most since May we are already heading in the wrong direction before all this begins in September. Quebec and Ontario are still struggling. Now the curve rather than staying flattened is turning up again.

September and October are the two months to watch right now for me. If we get by those good before the flu season hits we will make it all the while keeping our borders closed too. School starts then two weeks later symptoms appear after incubating.

This is going to be interesting and right now for the time being I have to say I ate out on a patio twice but the likelihood of me eating out again is highly unlikely anytime soon.

Let's hope we are ready if we get hit again. Meanwhile if you can,  go out and order some Nachos while you still can.

Okay Here We Go in Ontario

Today is phase 3 in many parts of Ontario with the exception of the Niagara, Windsor Essex, Hamilton, and the Greater Toronto region which remains in phase 2 for the time being.

Here in Guelph we are part of phase 3 which means indoor dining, groups up to a 100 outdoors and 50 indoors are acceptable, plus probably the most important and difficult reopening to manage bars can reopen.

The bars where the young people congregate, drink a few, let their guard down and begin shouting at one another. In a couple of weeks to the beginning of  August people will be going to bars to watch the Blue Jays ( who by the way look like will be allowed to play their home games here ), the defending World Champion Toronto Raptors, and the Toronto Maple Leafs. All expected to go deep in the season and playoffs, well I don't know about the hockey and baseball, but definitely the Raptors. The fact our numbers are very good is how Toronto and Edmonton became hub cities for the  NHL. Congrats to us.

Players coming in under strict testing and quarantine I am not worried about. It is the cheerers in the bars watching the big screen television that concerns  me. I do not see how physically distancing can be enforced nor how this virus will not spread without wearing a mask in such an environment.

So look for spikes in cases. It is inevitable. In Quebec specifically Montreal they have had a bit of a spike due to the bar patrons. As soon as they opened everyone had to get tested who had visited a number of bars probably on Crescent Street. It is happening everywhere. In Tokyo and Seoul and the States as well although it has become a political issue there so we will put them aside.

So get ready and don't panic if you see the numbers spike. We have to do what we have always done and that is physically distancing, wear a mask, and wash your hands especially if you have been in a bar.

Canada had over 400 new infections yesterday with Alberta showing over a 100 noting Calgary as a hot spot. Saskatchewan had the most ever new infections in one day at 45.

Some doctors think we should have opened the schools first then opened up the bars and indoor dining. Wouldn't have made a spot of difference, only sunk businesses into bankruptcy.

Hey maybe we should all listen to Donald Trump and his advice on how to kill this coronavirus. Remember this?

Why Not in North America?

A few weeks ago I was speaking of raising the minimum wage to $20 an hour. Then maybe employers would not have to compete with the CERB to get people back to work. In other words GIVE PEOPLE INCENTIVE TO WORK FOR YOU.

It shouldn't be the other way around. The employer should be giving the incentives to the employee and saying this is why you should work for me. You will work for me and be happy. I will give you full time hours and ensure that you will be able to have a work/life balance.

I will charge higher prices for our burgers but other people will be afforded a higher pay as well so they can afford to buy a burger at our premises. You will also see the gap between rich and poor become smaller.

Now I have some real life examples for you where your hard working tax dollars will be put to good use as well rather than pay Trudeau and his cronies a lot of money so they can get speaking engagements for their relatives.

My sister came and visited us one time for a few weeks from Iceland. Her vacation was paid for but you will never guess by whom? The Government! You see every Icelander gets a minimum 5 weeks vacation per year but you know how here in this low paying joke of a country we live in the employer gives us 4% vacation pay per year on our measly part time minimum wage job and when you add it up it will not even pay your electricity bill. Well this particular year when she came she arrived in July. She changed jobs in May and told her employer when her vacation time was coming up soon. Her employer said fine. Why you asked was because the government pays your vacation pay. You see everyone in Iceland is entitled to vacation and if you choose not to take it your weeks are added on to the next year. And so it goes. Meanwhile I am sure her pay was more than we had as waiters because she worked full time at no less than the above salary. Probably earned more on her vacation than most do working at crappy low paying jobs. If they can afford to go anywhere. Oh yes Iceland works on the average more hours than we do a week. Why not? I would too for a decent affordable living with holidays to boot!

Dentist are free till you are 16. Everyone belongs to a union there but unlike here my wife will tell you they actually get along. Great medical healthcare as well. You can see by the way they handled the coronavirus.

Healthcare systems are phenomenal in Europe as well. In Switzerland when I worked there I had strep throat. Everyone has a number so they see a doctor and you give them the number. You go to a pharmacy and you give them the same  number. The doctor has already booked the follow up appointment with you a week later. None of this good bye and hope everything works out and give us a call if it doesn't heal properly. No money was exchanged.

Yes you pay higher taxes but look at what you get! I have seen it elsewhere but no leader here  has the balls to put this forward. Employers will yell $20 an hour!! So if everyone is making a minimum of $20 what difference does it make? Yes everything will cost more but maybe then people will maybe save more rather than use their credit card to buy things they will never be able to save up to buy. Buy things they only need and if you want to make more income there is hope. Here a manager at Burger King would make less per hour overall than someone behind the cash. So what is the incentive there? Pay shit and you have no loyalty. Give part time hours you lose staff weekly. It is up to us to change our thinking. But you know we cannot do this cause it's everyone for himself. Greed here is rampant in North America. No one gives a crap for their workers because owning a business here is like buying yourself a job. Except for the Walmarts of the world who pay awful and are the cause of the problem. Most business owners cannot even pay themselves a salary. Anyway that is my rant and I am sticking to it. It is a complete joke and waste of time to bring up.

Taxes will increase substantially and the  UBI will come because that is the easy thing to do. It is too late but I should have said to the wife let's move to Iceland. Hindsight is always 20/20.

The One Thing That Could End it for Trump

Through all the pandemic woes that is happening to the south of us in the United States the race between Biden and Trump still in my opinion is neck and neck. With all the deaths and infections in the States you would think this would be a slam dunk for Biden in November.

Yet it still appears to me that the Trump voters are still digging in their heels and Wall Street is oblivious to everything and keeps going up despite any dire predictions that come daily through the media about shutting things down again as the rate of infections keep going up. I guess as long as the Fed keeps propping up the economy with more stimulus at least it gives the impression that nothing is wrong at all.

The one thing where the people who support the Republicans might draw the line though is if the Trump team insists on schools reopening and the Red State governors follow through on Trump's wishes. I think that is where the line in the sand will be drawn.

If schools do not open safely and the child is put in any risk at all especially in the highly infected areas such as Arizona, California, Florida, and the list is growing bigger by the day then you will see a backlash like no other directed at Trump.

First of all schools must have an on line learning option available. I doubt the governor of Florida has even thought about that. Just get the schools open! The minister of Education, Betsy Devos sounds like on line education is not even an option. Why because she has no plan. She is quite useless in fact. So should not be a Minister of Anything.  The Center of Disease Control is told their guidelines are too tough by Trump and VP Pence. They had to back track a bit so their message becomes muted.

This is a disaster waiting to happen. If the parent is given the option of sending their kids to school where the rate of infections are rampant or keeping them at home for their own safety the choice is clear. As someone pointed out we closed the schools in March when there was less infections so why send them back now when there are more?  Also the teachers will not want to go ahead with in class learning either. The risk to them will be high as witnessed by three Arizona summer school teachers who all got Covid and one died.

This will shut down Trump's economy again which he so desperately wants to be running a top gear come election time. It will not happen. Day cares will shut down again which are crucial to getting the economy going again so both parents can go out and work. At this rate it will not happen.

Quite simply as noted in the video below physical distancing of 2 meters is not possible in a class full of students. So there has to be some on line learning at home done anyway. Day cares require the same physical distancing so they cannot have the same number of children. Here is a common sense photo of why schools may have to learn from home.

Here is a video outlining the challenges ahead and how this reopening is putting politics ahead of safety. If Trump forces schools to reopen and it is a disaster voters will have had enough to pick Biden especially if some young kids start dying.

Here is an Article by Conrad Black a Noted Conservative Explaining How I Feel as this Pandemic Drags On

Before providing you with the link it would be wrong to not give the Canadian and provincial  governments some credit on how they immediately provided relief to those (us included ) with the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit once we were told to stay home. Thank you for that and we all understand why you had to put the country in a huge deficit in order to do that.

But now since a few weeks we have pretty much flattened the curve and yet still we find ourselves very timid in reopening. Ontario had 122 new cases today and Quebec had 100 which pretty much makes up all of Canada. Like for instance Manitoba had 0 cases today. PEI had 1 new case. Anyway in all of Canada when all the numbers are in today out of a population of 37 million we will have under 400 new cases.

The CEO of the Ontario Medical Association today said that here in Ontario he thinks we are moving into Phase 3 too quickly and that we should get the infection rate lower. He is worried about the availability of hospital beds that may be threatened if indoor dining and bars are starting up again. I see a doctor who is frequently on the television giving some push back on moving on to phase 3 too soon. But then I saw a doctor who said realistically that there will be clusters of cases here and there and we should expect that so that is where the contact tracing and testing come into play to snuff them out. It should be expected and I agree.

I think this app the Feds and Ontario were pushing had some problems so that could be a concern now as that was supposed to debut last week but I haven't heard anything since they had a few glitches to sort out. There is a lot they are not telling us. Maybe the last shipment of PPEs masks and that were defective from China again? I do not think they are coming straight with us.

If they decide to reopen and there is a little surge I believe they will shut it down here again and go back to phase 2. If they do that you can fold up the economy and pay us all to stay home and the ones that are paying taxes thank you for putting food on our table because unless this provincial and federal government has a plan we are done for. We were heading down that road before the pandemic and it looks like we will continue on that path.

In the article he mentions that why not let countries who have done a lot better than us fly into Canada instead of making them do a two week quarantine when they arrive. So there goes the tourism industry. Yet we can be so proud of hosting NHL hockey teams coming here from hugely infected cities from the States to play here. My wife could not go to see her sister's wedding in Iceland ( doing much better ) or be able to visit her aging parents because we couldn't lift 2 week quarantine for them to travel here. We can go there but they cannot come here because who is coming on a two week vacation to spend all the time in quarantine.

But immediate family members can go back and forth over a supposedly closed border with the States ( the worst by far ) to visit their relatives. What gives? It is bullshit!

We now have infection case in Newfoundland from someone coming back from States and the one from PEI is from the States as well. What closed border?

This Ontario reopening plan boggles the mind. Indoor gatherings of no more than 50 so movie theaters with like 10 cinemas can only have 50 people in total amongst them all watch a movie at the same time. Like why open at all?
                                                          Here is the Article

You Will Be Surprised at Who is the Best Country to Handle the Coronavirus

The video below on the link is dated back to May 30th but even today they have had only 370 cases and still no deaths. Yes that is right zero deaths.

In so doing they pretty much took a big hit economically but only after a couple of months the kids were back to school and everything reopened. All but their hotels because they are just waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.

Everyone is wearing a mask but there is not too much physical distancing as you will notice by the traffic. This country borders with China where it all began but they were so fast getting on top of this they were already putting measures in place before the World Health Organization even declared it a pandemic.

The two big things is they were ready with the government quickly putting into effect lockdowns and the citizens all got on board. None of this civil rights stuff but as you will see it is not a democratic country like we have over here where people think for themselves only and screw the other one.

We could have done better here in Canada. We had advanced warning. There was no plan. Basically we are still shut down because we are still not ready to open. Not enough PPEs or maybe we want to get it to zero new cases before we reopen fully.

This country medically wise has a lot less than we do but they kicked it's butt!

Anyway have a look at this video and get your answer.


Click to Find Out 

Osoyoos British Columbia

So lately I have been pretty heavy duty on my posts so let's lighten it up today. Enough about returning to work, phase 3, UBI, and all that other stuff.

Back in 1990 I spent a summer working in the Okanagan Valley in a small town called Oliver located in the hot southern part of British Columbia. I remember it was so hot everyday that all I did was pay $3 to get in the public pool everyday just to cool off.

Instead of everyone heading down over the border just a 20 minute drive from where I was to get into the U.S. more Americans would be heading north to the Okanagan to get their sunshine and park their RVs. The closest town to the border was a place called Osoyoos. Located just 2.2 miles from the U.S. and adjacent to the First Nations Reserve the name means the "narrowing of the waters" in the local language called Syilx'tsn. 

Definitely a place to retire over 43% of the population are over the age of 65. Situated on Osoyoos Lake it's elevation marks the lowest point in the valley at 967 feet or 276 meters. The average summer time temperature is 17.0 C or 62.6 F making it the warmest place in Canada. Temperatures can exceed 35.0 C at least 17 days during the summer. It is like a dessert because where I was in Oliver it never rained all summer and Osoyoos was the same. Air conditioning was a must.

I have looked for it on google but have yet to find it but from what I heard when I was there they even grew bananas in Osoyoos it was that hot and dry. The one thing I can say that made the heat tolerable was unlike here in Southwestern Ontario their humidity is quite low. That also made the nights bearable for sleeping as well.

Tourism and agriculture are the two main industries in Osoyoos. Irrigation made tree fruit growing possible in this dry arid climate with  cherries, apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums, pears and apples all being grown.

For the tourist you have the warmest freshwater lake in Canada being Osoyoos Lake with the temperature averaging 24.0 C or 75.0 F with many beaches to go with it and also some golf courses for the avid golfer to choose from.

With mild winters too wouldn't this be an idyllic place to retire? Only just over five thousand people in total I could handle this place no problem. Golf, beaches, fresh fruit stands everywhere and also I forgot the wines of the Okanagan right there you cannot beat it. The only problem is it is too far away from Ontario. 

When we moved from Vancouver to London Ontario way back in 2000 the wife and I camped there for 3 days. It was pretty nice. Below on the Osoyoos website they have a video cam of an osprey nest live. An osprey is a hawk with a big wing span. You can check other things going on just click
Osoyoos.

Osprey Web Cam

Either a Universal Basic Income or Raise the Minimum Wage, Which One?

An Exhaustive Pros and Cons Look at a Universal Basic Income

Okay I have talked about this before on this blog about UBI. This has been an idea that has been tossed about for a longer time than I thought before looking into and reading this informative editorial look from the Globe and Mail newspaper, Canada's leading newspaper in my opinion.

As I was talking about and using the example of part time work and low income paying jobs in yesterday's post having a small business owner restaurant having trouble getting anyone to work for them over collecting the CERB, it brings home how bad things are out there. They are getting worse and it is just the pandemic that has finally highlighted it.

According to Statscan in 2018 if you worked 30 hours a week that is full time hours. In many businesses they do not want to work you for 30 hours or else they may have to add benefits or any perk you may be entitled to for working full time with them.

Now like I said yesterday it is not the small business owner's fault he cannot employ you for 30 hours a week. There may not be enough work and so the operator has to spread the hours among his hired staff or else they would leave. The small business owner usually is working under tight margins all the time or business is seasonal or variable depending on such things as weather for outdoor events etc.. It is mind bending how difficult it is to predict business next week let alone forecast a year in advance for a lot of operators.

With that in mind we could not possibly think of raising the minimum wage although that would be the easiest thing to do. Throw in a pandemic and for most it would be impossible to survive suffering another expense on their crippled revenue especially when looking ahead getting back to normal may take years not weeks or months.

Now in 2018 part time workers numbered 20% which is  working less than 30 hours a week. That number will no doubt rise as predicted when unemployment will remain in the double digits well into next year. Employers are looking even at their full time staff and streamlining operations asking people to be furloughed or take an early retirement. Some will not be able to survive if this is the case. Meaning that many people were living paycheck  to paycheck before the pandemic. Now the companies don't care about your monthly payments do they? The federal deficit has gone over a trillion dollars so which way do you think your taxes will go. Inflation is skewed so it doesn't look too bad each month. It is 2% target but every month there is always a caveat like the price of shoes dropped 5% but gas went up 8% so if you left out the gas our inflation is right on. I don't know about you but I never go shopping for shoes on a weekly basis but I fill up the car of gas weekly and I do eat! The new normal is now the employer knows the employee can now work from home during this pandemic. So they say stay at home but oh by the way you do not need gas for your car now so you have to take a pay cut. I have heard of that happening. With the workload getting heavier who has time for anything like looking for a balance in life. Isn't your mental health and physical well being important too.

Back in the 70's they said the advent of the computer will free up people's time. Did it?

These are different times right now. There has to be huge changes that need to take place or we are heading for an Armageddon. The direction we go now will make our country more livable and sustainable if we make the right courageous moves.

The only thing that scares me about change are the politicians need to come together on this one. They have a habit of not doing it. Until they do something many people will call for action in increasing numbers.

Read the article and see what you think about UBI.

Go Back to Work or Collect the CERB?

What a mess we are in right now. Here is a restaurant looking for anyone to work. One of many competing against the CERB.

I am sure it is the same for other low paying jobs such as working behind the counter at a local donut or retail store. Hey why work if you earn more at home?

For those of you unfamiliar with the CERB, the acronym for Canadian Emergency Response Benefit, this was introduced by the government to help people get by until the reopening of the economy. It was an emergency lifeline to give to those who suddenly were without work as their places were ordered to close.

Originally it was for only 16 weeks or 4 months until it was hopefully going to lapse and people would all be returning to a fully opened economy. It paid $2,000 a month or $500 a week when you break it all down weekly. Not hard math to do. Also to note that this was not gift money as next year you will pay tax on this amount probably about 15%. So $8,000 x 15% is $1,200 taxes owed. So now don't forget to have some money aside to pay for that next year when you file.

So that really works out to $1700 a month income, or $425 a week.

Well things didn't quite work out as planned as we are taking this long time to get the economy reopened again. So they extended the CERB two more months through September. That is another $4,000 extension.

This is the problem. As noted in the article you have read many are choosing to stay at home and collect the CERB rather than go back to work. This is a problem for small business owners as they can only do so much on their own. They have to turn down work.

There were approximately  8.1 million who took the CERB which by far was an amazing number of people. The unemployment figures were out today and there were close to a million jobs created. The rate went down from 13 something to 12 something per cent. Still a lot of people who are on the CERB who have jobs that have disappeared or work in places that have not yet opened.

Any bets when the CERB runs out they will have to extend it or find a replacement?

Now this question always comes to my mind and that is how anyone can live on $2000 a month and say they make more staying at home than going back to work. I am not talking about a couple of hundred people here but millions.

Is the problem that business owners have businesses that  cannot guarantee hours to their employees so their earnings per week are not worth it so they would rather stay home? How come people have multiple jobs in order to pay the bills?

This may be cruel but I believe some people open businesses that should not be in business. If the small business owner does not have enough income to pay at least two people full time hours then they shouldn't be hiring anyone. They should just be doing it themselves. Sorry I said it.

If people need to work a couple of low paying jobs to get by then why would the business owner expect loyalty? Here is a made up conversation.

Employer: Hey can you work Monday?

Employee: No I am at my other job and I cannot afford to lose that to work one night here. Hey how about giving me at least 32 hours a week and I will lose my other job. How about that?

Employer: Oh I cannot afford to hire you more than what I give you now.

Employee: Okay then I have to work at my other job too and they need me Monday. Sorry.

The restaurant owner above lost a $2000 catering job. I feel bad for that but stay home and collect $2000 and from what I see it was probably like one catering job she had available. I think the choice  is obvious.

Why people are staying at home and collecting this miniscule benefit of $2000 a month is because the lack of hours they get at their current or old job is not enough to make $500 a week. If they have two to three jobs maybe during this pandemic one employer is still closed, another closed for good and the other has called you back to work at 15 hours a week. A whopping $225 a week.

So ah let me see yes I will pass for now. Full time hours at wow 40 hours a week better grab it or someone else will.

That is the problem here.

Of course the other way to avoid this is go learn something and become certified in something where you can make great money. Then maybe you wouldn't have to worry about the CERB, right?

Pretty Much Sums Up Trump's Logic

pic.twitter.com/Sg5lT8A2G5

— 🦦Marie-Caroline🦥 (@NoWay7790) July 9, 2020

The Difference Between 1953 and 2020

Currently I am reading a 1200 page book on Richard Nixon who was the only president to be forced to resign because he was soon going to be impeached over the infamous Watergate scandal. It is an exhaustive biography written by Conrad Black who is the newspaper mogul who spent some time in an American jail after being convicted of fraud.

He owned a lot of newspapers at one time so putting his time to good use he wrote this book while he spent the time in jail. It is a great book that really is a great history lesson to anyone who is interested in 20th century history of which I am.

Anyway let me get to the point of this post quickly. While Nixon was serving as vice-president under Dwight D. Eisenhower who was inaugurated as the 34th president in January of 1953 the United States began to rebuild after a brutal World War 2 with a massive road construction plan that would make car travel easy to go from one state to the next and from coast to coast. America and it's love affair with the car was rising. Cars became more reliable to drive over longer distances. The advent of the drive-in theatre and remember those A & W car drive-ins when you would park the car and yell in the speaker beside with your order and a girl on roller skates would deliver the meal to you? Yabba Dabba Doo!! Flintstones remember?

Then motels opened up so now you can check in at the office and they told you which unit was yours and you would drive right up to it and park in that parking space reserved for you the occupant. No elevators, no hassle, just unload the suitcases and there was your room right there. Maybe located right on the beach or beside the local attraction you were going to. Yes those were fun days and Eisenhower knew that the American public would love it and spend their money in the country. Then of course relatively speaking taking into account salaries were a lot lower then but so was the gas. Those were different days and the economy grew leaps and bounds making America a huge economic power. That was the automobile industry. Eisenhower spent a lot of money but it worked and not a cent was wasted.

Move forward to 2020 right now. We have a debt that equals that or more than our debt was after the Second World War here in Canada. Not much better in the US but will leave them out of this because I want to talk about Canada in particular.

Our premier Ford of Ontario announced a 2.6 Billion Dollar investment in roads and infrastructure. He wants to widen our already huge super highways.

Now Doug Ford means well but he is living in the 1950's. Not once did I hear anything about green technology. The electric cars once he was elected the rebate for buying one was terminated. He has given no incentive for home owners, who seem to have an endless amount of credit, to make any effort to make their houses clean energy efficient. No talk of solar panels, wind energy, or any other useful clean energy that could  save the homeowner in the long run lots of money on energy bills as well as help clean the environment.

Instead it is the same old same old. If the premiers and the Prime Minister haven't noticed by now the office towers in Toronto because of the pandemic are going to remain empty. People who have now been working at home for the past 4 months have adapted nicely. So what do you think is going to happen. Companies will just continue along this path and save on rent, parking , commute ( oh yeah that is what the highways were for), insurance, sick pay if someone catches the virus and oh yes no one will be able to spread it to others if they are working from home either.

People will no longer have to work in the city because it is close to work anymore. So there will be an exodus to the suburbs and beyond. So why concentrate on widening the highways? If people are encouraged to work from home then why live where the housing is astronomical? All people will need is WiFi. Then of course working from home they will probably be able to claim expenses like phone and internet to name a few.

Meetings will be done over Zoom now. No masks needed.

We have an opportunity to shape the future but as long as we have old thinking we will find ourselves like we were before the pandemic. A resource based country who relies on oil. That's it. In 5- 10 years from now we will look back and say we made a paradigm shift that put us ahead of others or we will be languishing far behind still trying to build pipelines that have been in the works for years to sell oil to others who will not even need it anymore because their technology and innovation kept up with the new green world. All you have to do is look at the countries who already are moving ahead.

What about encouraging people by making a bicycle lane network throughout the city like Amsterdam so people can feel safe riding their bikes. You can put people to work at that just as easy as the endless widening of the highways which all they do while in construction is make traffic even more unbearable and pollution even greater as their engines are sitting in idle.

I think this is our one chance. Our youth want the world to be a cleaner place. If you keep thinking old you will keep the old and lose the young.

Look at the trends. It is right in front of us. Think out of the box. The year is 2020 not 1953. The drive in A & Ws  are long gone.

Someone has to wake up before it is too late!

Edmonton Eskimos Name Change

Edmonton Eskimos

I have long been a Canadian Football League fan and in a league which really has no imagination to naming team names, as an example having Ottawa and Saskatchewan each being called the Roughriders, the Eskimos was always one of my favorite team names.

Now if you read the article link above the clincher for me is the Edmonton Football team has actually gone out and asked the Inuit people if they took offense to the club being called the Eskimos. Most didn't care but back in 2015 an Inuit spokesperson thought it disturbing that Eskimo would refer to the colonization of their people in the name of reconciliation that the moniker "eskimo" would be used at all. I paraphrased this badly so you have to read the article for what exactly the Inuit spokesperson stated.

 I haven't been living under a rock. Some sports teams in the States such as the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians will soon have a name change. The hockey team Chicago Black Hawks will not change their name but give money to help indigenous people showing support. I understand that has been a long simmering issue for these teams so just change the name.

But the thing with Edmonton  was not until a big sponsor of the football team threatens to pull out that they really have to change the name to pretty much save the team. Teams barely scrape by and a loss of a sponsor can be a catastrophe.

So if this big company sponsor thought the name of the team was what some people call a slur why did it sponsor them in the first place? Because today everything is on the table.

Perhaps I have been ignorant all my life but never once did I watch the Edmonton Eskimos play the past 55 years and thought to myself,  the "eskimo" name is how we control the Inuit people and we have this power over them because we colonized and have power over them etc. In fact I thought the name was given because come playoff time it was so blinking cold there that only an eskimo could survive in those freezing conditions.

Here is what I think. If you have to change the name to save a sponsor go right ahead. It would not have mattered if they were ever called the Eskimos 55 years ago. I  watched the game because of the game not because of any logos or names. If  from what I can see the disinterested Inuit people want the name changed go ahead and change it.

I am sure Normie Kwong when he played for the Edmonton Eskimos couldn't care either what the team name meant. He was the first Chinese CFL player. His story is about pulling through all the racism he faces and winning. Quite inspirational.



    

Patio Dining in a Nutshell by Stephanie Dickison

Here is a great article detailing how the patios are opening up in Toronto during the early going

 Just click on sentence above to read.

If I Were a Waiter Looking for Work Right Now During a Pandemic and Afterwards

Right now being a waiter is not a coveted job to have. If you happen to be working you have to wear a mask to serve guests who are not required to wear one. The reason I say "if you happen to be working" is a lot have yet to be called back to work as indoor dining remains closed as bars.

Add in additional cleaning duties such as sanitizing the seats, serving areas, smaller sections, and perhaps even less hours due to guests feeling  kind of leery about heading back to indoor dining the waiter has to think now about where the best place to work be in a pandemic world when he or she does return.

Here are a few points below as to what kind of dining restaurant I would be looking to work in during these times.

1. I would choose to look for work in establishments that had a bunch of money still left once things open up again. These might be hard to find as many will not even reach first base. For the ones barely hanging on they may start to bend the safety rules a bit. Maybe even have waiters doing tasks they did not do before like deep cleaning after closing. The worst may even have you cleaning the men's and ladies restrooms. Then have you tipping out higher on your sales to cover cleaning products. I see that happening rather than have the people return only to see that added charge on their bill. So check to see how they are working as to safety equipment or PPEs. If they paid a lot of attention to these details they will probably be safe to work in.

2. Look for a bigger establishment such as a hotel where you already have a captive guest where each shift you can work without any fear of being cut in 2-3 hours and sent home or being called off a shift. I see where restauranteurs will rely more on reservations than walk ins to guarantee that everyone who comes to eat has a table waiting for them especially with the tables alternately being used for social distancing.

3. With an establishment that has multiple outlets such as a big banquet capacity you can make up for shortened hours in a restaurant and do a wedding or other function to make up for it. There might be no need to have to look for a second job if you can be flexible in this manner. Do not forget in a hotel setting you would still have in room dining if the indoor dining had to be locked down again.

4. Do not serve in restaurants where the guests come in are wearing a baseball cap or have holes in their jeans. These people probably have no money and never wore a mask. Working in places like this may be hazardous to your health. Unfortunately this probably eliminates 95% of the restaurants out there.

5. Look at where the rich eat or the 5%. They will not take a chance and eat in an unkept environment. They will only eat where all the staff wear a mask or shield. Why they will do that is because they do not want to catch the virus. They will follow science no matter how uncomfortable it is. They will tip well.

6. Try to find a place like I just mentioned who will hire you and you will get some guaranteed hours and is big enough for you to grow there. The days of job hopping are over and employers now have to find some dedicated service staff who know what they are doing and want to grow.

7. Last thing I would add is now more than ever be proud to work in such an amazing career. If you take this way seriously it can lead you places. Here is your chance to step in and work in a great place and get some great experience. More than ever if you want to separate yourself from everyone else you must  work at places that will make you grow and expand your knowledge. Take courses through your work. Learn.

This pandemic will end one day so sow the seeds now for an exciting future later because that is what awaits you.

Phase 3 in Ontario

For those of you who do not know we live in Ontario. Ontario and the rest of Canada can be quite proud in saying that we have successfully flattened the curve. That being said here in Ontario we are still in phase 2 where we can have restaurant patios open but not as of yet bars, indoor dining, gyms, indoor swimming pools, and gatherings of more than ten. There are probably a few others as well that I may have overlooked.

In Ontario today we had 138 new infections. That out of a total of 14 million people who live in Ontario which if you do the math is not a very high percentage. In fact out of all the reporting centers in the province there are only about eight that report any cases at all. There were about 21,000 tests yesterday which works out to about 0.6% positive test results. So what we have been doing has been working.

Everyone is doing a real good job in this hot dry spell that we are having doing the social distancing and wearing the mask. We ate on a patio the other day and the waitress asked for a phone number in case someone might have had it so they can contact trace everyone who was there around the same time. Where I live in Guelph Ontario masks are mandatory when you enter a place of business or use transportation. Everyone is complying with the rules.

The Ontario Medical Officer has been very slow in getting to phase 3. I know they would all like the case count to go to zero but that is just wishful thinking. They have to soon move on to the next phase. Not to be an alarmist but once we open up some more our cases may spike a bit but sooner rather than later they have to get going and dive into the pool.

The shutdown for some of these businesses has brought in zero income. Some takeout businesses for restaurants without patios but hardly enough. It has been since March 13th when the writ came down to lock it down. Yes some admittedly got help when their landlord signed onto the the Canadian Rent Subsidy Program which lowered the rent to 25% of what they had to cover but that was only for 3 months. In other words April May and June. Now July 1st is gone. What about that rent? There was a survey out the past week saying up to 78% small businesses will not be able to make rent.

We drove through downtown Guelph and there was a lot of small businesses just boarded up. Gone.

Restaurants will disappear soon as well. Nail salons ( forgot to mention those ) , gyms, a lot of retail stores will close with head offices now streamlining the ones worth keeping open and closing the others. Malls will be half full.

Now studies show if people are in a closed area like indoor dining the two meter rule will not really matter because studies show airborne droplets can be sent further than the rule because the air circulation can spread the droplets far. Now if diners are sitting for a minimum of an hour they have a more than likely chance of contracting the virus. Bars will be worse. The young crowd will risk it then catch it unknowingly in a lot of cases and spread it to their close contacts. All we can hope for is for every person in Ontario to be careful and just keep doing what we are doing. In South Korea they killed it then the bars opened and voila! Infections spread up again even outside the main city center of Seoul.

But we have to get on with it sooner or later or there will not be many of your favorite restaurants, nail salons, and gyms kicking around. But then my prediction is these places will have started so far behind and now with the added headache , albeit necessary, of enforcing social distancing and buying PPE equipment and sanitizers what is the profit remaining? Will it be worth it?

Look for a lot of small  businesses that have not yet closed because of the government handout keeping them alive like a ventilator to be extinguishing their dreams this summer. It may just not be worth it. Then you have the jobless but that is for another post.

Oh yes and the movie theatres too!

To Where I am Today

To finish off my saga of the last three years I went from September to April 2020 without any transfusions but slowly the hemoglobin was not holding firm. It went slip, sliding away till it began hanging around 78 and I had to return to getting blood transfusions. I went for four in a row every other week.

I was finally given the official diagnosis by my oncologist as hemolytic anemia then when I talked to my family doctor she said I was missing one word autoimmune. So I have what is known as Autoimmune hemolytic anemia . You can click on it to know more. The oncologist added it was a non-hodgkin's lymphoma which is cancer but I prefer just to say I have an autoimmune disease. One thing for sure is I was told it is very rare which explains why it took all this time to diagnose.

So now that I know what I have it is a bit of a relief really. I looked up what I can do to help my cause because apparently there is no cure so I have to manage this for the rest of my life.

Well since I have been walking briskly each morning about a mile and a half, drinking lots of fluids, eating more granola cereal and fruit I think that has helped. I have to continue this on throughout the year not just when the weather is hot but during the cold winter as well. Also I am taking a Liver Support vitamin and Vitamin C along with my Folic Acid which helps build Red Blood Cells. I am not taking anything else other than the Iron Chelation tablets so I can get rid of my iron. It still rankles me I cannot seem to budge on that. The last reading was 7550 and it is supposed to be less than 25 if you can believe it.

My hemoglobin remains in the 80's but holding steady. It has been 6 weeks since the last transfusion so maybe I can get on a roll again. I would like to avoid the cyclosporine again because it weakens my immune system which causes me to get things like pneumonia. Especially with a pandemic always present I need all the immunity I can get if I ever get it.

My hope is that I can beat these T-cell fighters over time and be back to where I once was. The doctors cannot really do much else. It really will come down to my self discipline and how I live each day to stay ahead of the game.

Throughout this journey as I think back I can recall a few falls I had during the bad days. Really bad I  couldn't lay down and sleep so I had to try to sit  in the living room. You know now I am better than I was. The past is a blur really. Truthfully my whole life seems like a blur sometimes. So many things that passed that I cannot remember. Maybe that is good because most of the things I remember were great. We cannot live in the past and the good part is we can cherry pick the things we want to remember and forget the rest.

In writing about my experiences with being in hospitals and going through stuff I can now look back and remember most of it. So now it is logged I can forget about it and move on. Thanks for reading and from now I will talk about a wide range of stuff.

Note I have a new look on the blog with everything being accessible through links if you care to check them out. It is just fun and entertaining if you have the time.

Hope you  all had a great Canada Day and Happy 4th of July to the USA today!

Chemotherapy

So to continue on with my experiences, which I promise will be wrapping up very shortly, the oncologist decided that something had to be done after nearly dying a couple of times due to my low hemoglobin. My excessively high bilirubin levels in my liver was scary as well. With my spleen gone there was a load on my liver more than before. The hope was that whatever was killing my good blood cells could be extinguished by some chemotherapy.

Every third week starting off first in Kitchener for about 3 hours I would get 4 different IVs injecting the chemo. Intermittently  I would still have the blood transfusions while all this was going on. The doctors gave me pills to take if I was beginning to feel sick. The first night I took one but I realized I just needed to go to the bathroom. I never took one after that night. In fact I would be going to the local hospital after the first treatment. Then just drive home myself and continue on with my day.

One of the doses did cause me to have awful constipation so after that one time I made sure to take the suggested tablet so that I could do my business in comfort. Once I did that it was no problem. The other side effect was I lost my hair but it soon grew back once it was over.

The chemotherapy sessions ended and I can remember the day I stopped getting blood transfusions. It was March 7th of 2019. Each week I went for bloodwork the hemoglobin was holding steady. My white blood cells were low but other than that having no transfusions was great.

Another reason they were low was I was taking an immunosuppressant called cyclosporine which suppresses your immune system which was giving out these rogue Killer T-cells that was attacking my good cells as well as bad cells. So even though it may have been helping hemoglobin I was prone to getting sick. Lo and behold that September I caught pneumonia. My hemoglobin dropped shortly thereafter and I was back to getting blood transfusions again. So rather than continue on the cyclosporine I backed off and just concentrated on taking the iron chelation dissolvable tablets to try to get my iron down.

After the pneumonia bout I stayed away from blood transfusions. My hemoglobin high water mark was 110. My family doctor gave me some optimism by saying sometimes it takes a while for everything to work properly but give it some time. It appears whatever you had the chemo got it all.

My oncologist was less optimistic as she stated that she would not be surprised if there was still some T-cells that were still hanging around. Naturally I felt pretty optimistic as things seemed to be heading in the right direction.

I  passed an incident free winter but noticed my hemoglobin started slipping slowly as the months turned into Spring. Then the end of April arrived and the transfusions started again. I check my blood weekly but when I get the transfusion I check it again the following week. Well here we go again I thought. My family doctor now was less optimistic saying instead of heading in the right direction now she was just hoping that my hemoglobin would just hold steady in the 70's. That would mean transfusions all the time.

Tomorrow I will finish up this saga and then we can talk about something else. Enjoy the heat and Happy 4th of July to our neighbours down South.