Page Text: Well, at least now we have a better understanding.
Or, "how I learned to stay in the car".
I didn't take any snazzy pictures, so you'll have to be satisfied with a few words. I'll try to be punchy.
Anyhoodle, a decision was made to make an excursion to a particular butcher/deli kind of place about half way between here and downtown Toronto.
Now, I should say that, our impression is, that Toronto has been somewhat hard hit by the Coronavirus, but I don't have any actual numbers to back up that particular observation, so you'll have to take my word for it.
Suffice to say, in a similar fashion to most any large city, the occurrence of COVID-19 is considerably higher than most any place in suburbia.
Well, unless it's a meat processing plant, but that's a whole other clusterfuck.
I'm referring to the "Family Meat and Deli" on Brown's Line. You can look it up if you give a rat's ass.
But here's the thing.
There was some talk about "needing some meat", both on the part of T.C.'s older sister (she'll be 85 this summer, so we prefer to get her stuff, rather than have her go shopping) as well as a few things that they carry that we like. I'm referring of course to kranjska klobasa .
Our first clue should have been when T.C.'s sister called them a couple days ago, and the word was, "Oh sure, the two of you can come in, or you can order ahead of time."
Didn't register. But that should have been a red flag.
Now that we think on it, there are no deli type of stores that are just allowing folks to "come in".
The one we have here in Burlington was trying that a few weeks back, by only allowing two people in the store at a time, but when I was there, I could see that it clearly wasn't working.
The thing is, once you go into this type of place, you really need to stand in one spot, and not ramble around trying to decide what you want. If it wasn't for the fact that I would have had to touch the guy, I really wanted to clobber this one fellow who simply couldn't seem to figure out what he wanted without wandering up and down the display case.
In the meanwhile, that particular store (J & G Meats) has very astutely realised that having customers in the store simply doesn't work, and have gone to "curb side" shopping. We all know what that is, so no need to explain.
So, back to "Family Meat....". And this is all I know from the report that I got back from T.C.
They haven't a clue.
After she donned her mask and went in, I saw two more people go in, (without masks on, I might add) and it looked like there were already at least two or three in the store. And this is not a big store. About as wide as the average townhouse.
Not that wide.
So, T.C. is trying to keep her distance, getting somewhat hassled by other shoppers, who don't know where to stand, and then? They're calling out numbers!
She bailed.
Apparently, there was only one lady behind the counter, and just how she was supposed to be cleaning anything (including the number thingy) was unclear. (like, impossible) Plus, there was no protection for the cashier, like the sort of screen that mostly all of the retail outlets have installed. Just a disaster waiting to happen.
So now we know. We know why the numbers are so much higher in a city like Toronto compared to say, Burlington.
It's not just the stupid people. I think it also has to do with a sense that, even though there might be a ticket in the offing, the by law officers are so few and far between, that there's no worries about anyone putting up a fuss.
It was a nice day for a drive.
Which is to say, not a nice day to be outdoors. We had snow. It was maybe one or two degrees above zero when we got up. Not sure what to say about May. It pretty much sucks so far. Naturally, I've already switched out the winter tires.
On the other hand, the Marinas aren't opening, which means the boats won't be going in the water any time soon. But in light of the crappy weather, that seems to be an OK thing. Who knew?
Still unclear how the whole sailing thing is going to pan out this summer.
We'll see.
Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.
Keep washing those hands.