This is part 2 – make sure to read part 1 first!
We arrived home from our winter in the sunny south on March 18. Today is Day Seven of our self isolation. Is it difficult? No, but it is very boring.
On Day 1, we spent most of the morning reaching out to service providers to re-connect our internet and cable services. It was apparent that something unusual was going on out there: we had a ninety minute wait before we could speak to a service technician. Between unpacking, laundry, running out to the wifi hot spot in the car to communicate, consulting with our children and problem solving about how to get groceries, the day flew by. We were promised internet service no later than the next day and got cable re-connected by noon. At noon, we were able to turn on the TV and watch the news. We learned that most restaurants were closed to all but takeout food. Bars, wineries, and local breweries were also closed.
The Province of Ontario has announced a state of emergency. The United States and Canada have agreed to halt all non-essential travel between countries.
On Day 2, I learned to order groceries on line. It was not a difficult process but the learning curve, for me, was steep and took an hour and a half to complete. The Express Pick Up time was two days later, and after finding that my children were also self isolating, we decided we could drive to the grocery store ourselves, stay in the car while the staff person loads the bags, and leave without talking or making any personal contact at all. We felt like we had come up with an ingenious solution while maintaining self isolation.
Day 3 brought us the news from our friends, Al & Marion who spend their winters in Australia, that their return flights had been cancelled. Both Quantas, and Virgin Air were halting all international flights until June, at the earliest. Other news from abroad was horrible. Italy and Spain were still reporting dire conditions and skyrocketing numbers of cases and deaths. California, Washington and New York have become US hotspots for coronavirus.
On Day 4 we ventured out in our car, a great big seven passenger Buick Enclave Avenir, to pick up our groceries. We arrived at the appointed pick up time and according to our plan, the grocery store staff person loaded our goods into the back of the car. We both stared straight ahead through the front window and made no attempt to communicate with him. He completed his task, we remotely closed the back door and returned home.
