So we all have been under quarantine and had many other restrictions and things happen to us and family and friends during the Covid-19 outbreak .... or as my friend says, "THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP!"

I was hoping you would share some things that have made life harder for you since this big show down ....it can be good or bad or funny or sad or what ever .... Just share your views of all of it here.

Since Covid-19 hit I have been shopping for 2 elderly friends. Both are seriously ill, one in a wheel chair the other ill from Cancer and receiving treatments at home. I would not allow these 2 people the chance of being among people and the virus in their vulnerable states in public places and would often describe to them what I have to do to shop now.


I have to .....

1. Stand in line to enter Grocery Stores, while an attendant wipes down my cart and gives it to me Sterilized. I am asked to use hand sanitizer when entering the store, or have disposable vinyl gloves and a mask on.

2. I may have to wait outside for a while in a line up due to a limit of how many people are shopping in the store at one time .... people leave then people are allowed in.

3. I have to look at the floor and follow lines so I follow a grid in which to shop and not clog aisles and be too close to other shoppers. In each aisle there is also a 2 meter tape line showing us to stay 6 feet apart from the next shopper.

- DON'T TRY AND SNEAK DOWN or up AN AISLE that has arrows showing north or south entrance and exits when trying to snag just ONE can or box of something and you are tired and don't want to follow rules or arrows anymore.

You can get yelled at by store employees or even other shoppers if you go the wrong way down an up aisle. 2 lady's told me they were threatened to be banned or barred from a grocery store by the Manager because they didn't follow the arrows marked on the floor. Talk about SEVERE!


If you're going to sneak the wrong way up or down an aisle ... have a "look out friend" who is guarding your cart somewhere safe and out of the way while you casually walk backwards and whistle to yourself trying to look inconspicuous while hoping to snag that box of mac & cheese you need for some horrible cold pasta dish you want to make.

4. Be prepared to stand in line 2 meters apart while you wait to check out .... there will be line ups. ODDLY there are a huge new group of cashiers in every store I enter these days. I suppose the company's want to get us in and out ASAP so they can serve as many people as they can safely.

The staff are pretty friendly and enjoyable to talk to .... they wipe down the counter and take your money or card transaction while they stand behind a plexiglass shield to protect them from us and vice versa.



Some stores prefer credit or bank card transactions and don't want my stinky dirty money. Don't get me started on bank fees for this .... GRRR.

Once I'm outta the store I pack my purchases into the car return the cart to some places where an employee starts to wipe down the cart and stack it for the next customer. I like that some stores have an employee who will meet you half way out in the parking lot to relieve you of your store shopping cart. This is NICE! and never use to happen before Covid.

When I drive home my friend and I load up a couple of shopping carts of things for our older friends and deliver it to them happily, we have a cuppa tea and some sweet nosh to munch and have a nice visit while retelling our adventure in the Grocery store and what's different now.

I told my one friend in the wheel chair they would hate shopping in grocery stores right now .... well she had the opportunity to see this first hand just last week when her daughter took her to No Frills during (Senior Hours) 7am in the morning.

She laughed as she told me she couldn't follow the arrows .... she is in her late 70's and has been shopping for herself and her family for over 60 years. Her mind is focused on buying what she wants and needs so she looks up at the shelves and try's to see if there is something that might catch her eye and she might be interested in. Now she says she has to look up and down and up and down and watch which aisle she enters or exits and its exhausting.

She said she doesn't like this new world shopping for food.

2020 SUCKS ..... but maybe that's just me.





How about you? What are your shopping experiences like now?

Masks are required in all public places here in Ontario and so I ventured out with a friend to grocery shop for our 2 elderly friends yesterday and did the stoooooopid thing of going to Walmart to pick up some essentials.

I wasn't paying attention and went down the wrong way on a row and said out loud to my friend, "OOPS .... I'm going the wrong way here again!"

At the same time some guy walked past me and said, "If we are being forced to wear these "F'ing" masks in the store then I can walk anywhere I want and any time I want to!"

He seemed a little "miffed" about the mask ordeal. I had to laugh ... but I still tried to stay in the right aisles facing the right direction.

I have lost weight ... I don't know how but perhaps its the beersicles diet I have been on?


I have heard many people complain they were stressed out about the pandemic that they ate more than normal and munched on fattening things to ease their mines .... so they gained weight. My Doctor said he had put on about 20 pounds over the last 5 months because he is stressed and worried about his patients. He said he doesn't want to eat healthy meals when he gets home after working 10 hours ... then eats ice cream while he relaxes with his family. It's how he lives these days.


Covid weight gain or loss is very much a thing ... who knew?

Actually since I am an at-risk elder, with diabetes and mobility problems, I stay safe at home while J. does the shopping. He goes early to shop at Metro for groceries @ Senior time of 7 am, and gets in and out as quick as he can. He knows the face mask and vinyl gloves routine, and sticks to his grocery list.



Now, tomorrow I will be heading out -- first time in a long time since March -- for a delayed diabetic foot care appointment, out of town. Our health care clinic in town lost funding, so has closed its doors for providing foot care -- so it will be a road trip (1/2 hour drive) to get to my appointment, loaded with walker, face masks and vinyl gloves, and slipper-booties on my feet, because my toe nails are so long now, and I have edema-swollen feet so my socks and orthotic shoes do not fit right now.



But I have faith all will work out OK in the end. Cuz I have J. on my side. [I do not drive.]

I'm glad J does all the shopping for you and you don't have to deal with crowds and arrows and one way lanes in the stores S.Pea.


Sorry to hear your local clinic is out of business and you have to travel a bit to get your feet cared for, but you will be happier to have them done soon and stop ripping up the bed sheets like you are a werewolf!


I hope all goes well with your appointment in the new clinic and you like their care and will be able to see them again to keep up your foot care in a timely manner.


Stay safe!

At the start of this Pandemic the Banks were ready to raise most of our annual bank fees but a lot of us got notices by email or mail saying "Don't Worry! We're here for you! We won't raise your fee's ..... YET!"


I was glad of this... unfortunately I didn't realize the banks would be making a killing anyways because a lot of the stores here didn't want my CASH and preferred I use TAP or my bank card ... this was bad because I only get a certain amount of transactions a month for a small fee and then I pay about $1.50 each transaction fee after my limit is used.

THIS gets costly! So the banks win anyways!


Lately stores have been better about the "cash" thing ... which has been good because a few months ago the Banks decided to raise bank fee's anyways.


DUH!

At the start of the Pandemic it was almost impossible to purchase disposable masks anywhere .... you could easily get a hand/home made cloth mask which was good because every one I knew was making them everywhere and supplying them for organizations to donate to people and staff etc.


My friends who we shop for get Meals on Wheels each week come to their door and the Volunteers were passing out cloth hand made masks to our friends to use and to also share to their friends and family's to use. How cool was that? Cloth masks were great because you could wash and reuse them ... no waste for a landfill.


In February when lock down hit I saw a lot of people wearing disposable masks and gloves. This was good ..... what I didn't see were people putting their used discarded masks and gloves in the trash. Or maybe putting them in a small plastic bag in their pocket and discarding them at home.


I saw mostly gloves and a few masks on the streets and in most parking lots and littered outside stores ... it was frustrating and I felt UNSAFE ... feeling there was virus potential laying around on these products under my feet EVERYWHERE!



Who does this? Why do this? Can't you put your gloves or mask in your pocket and discard them at home? Why dump them outside in public?


Did people think some employee from Walmart was going to walk around the parking lot to pick up your trash? NOPE ... not gonna happen.


That stuff blew away in the wind to land in some ditch or on the roadway or lawn of some other business or even on some lawn of a house or apartment building not far away. How horrible!


NOW .... now that we are in full face mask mode I see a ton of masks throw about on parking lots of most stores, despite the many garbage cans around the property's and just outside the store doors. So I don't understand this carelessness of dumping your mask anywhere. Why don't people think about this? They all grumble about having to wear mask but they don't grumble or complain about not enough garbage cans around to toss their used mask when they leave a store.


STUPIDITY .....

Masks .... in February you could not buy a disposable mask. You could not order them anywhere online ... they were not available to anyone because the stockpiles were going to Hospitals, Retirement, Seniors Homes, Medical Offices and places that needed them for Medical care first. Us plebes couldn't get them!



Forget about finding Masks anywhere. Forget about finding Lysol Wipes anywhere, Forget about finding Hand Sanitizer anywhere. These things were GOLD and unobtainable from February till about June .... then you saw disposable masks being sold everywhere for huge mark up prices. You could buy masks at the corner store, at all hardware stores, all stores like Walmart and Giant Tiger or even the local 7-11 had disposable masks. Bizarre ... again huge mark ups on prices were on these masks.


Lysol wipes are readily available now, prices are about the same depending where you shop.


Hand sanitizer is now available everywhere ... cheap and easy to get.



Oddly ... people were smart about hand sanitizers in the beginning of the Pandemic and made their own with vodka rubbing alcohol, aloe vera and essential oils. These smart people passed on recipes and how to make them and shared this knowledge online when the pandemic first hit .... THANK YOU! THANK YOU LOVELY LADIES!




Let's not forget the Toilet Paper Freak out of 2020 .... that will be another post for tomorrow.

Thanks, Mr. Peepers. All went well, and Tracy will be giving me another foot treatment appointment in 2 months in my own town clinic. It will be nice to go to my next appointment closer to home. The organization located in Brockville (main office) has been making plans to open another clinic in Gananoque (my home town) since the previous location closed. Who knows how many hoops health care practitioners must jump in order to satisfy funding requirements from the Ontario government. *sighs*


But all's well that ends well. And Sweet P. can once again be footloose and fancy free.

This amuses me and sort of makes me think people are really messed up .... when the Pandemic hit my first response was to stock up on food, (beer) cleaning supply's, like laundry detergent and household cleaners, masks and gloves and then more foods like meats so I could make stews and soups and spaghetti sauces and chili con carne to throw in the freezer and hold me off for a few months.

I never thought I needed to go out and stock up on 3000 rolls of toilet paper. The videos and news coverage of the 2020 toilet paper race and shop was insane to me. None of the Covid-19 symptoms even mentioned the "runs" they said you could have an upset stomach but they didn't say you would be living on your toilet 24-7 for 3 weeks before you were admitted to the ICU.

NOPE .... I did not hear that.

Sadly people went rushing to stores to buy out aisles of bog roll and there were fist fights in some of these stores. Stores had to put LIMIT's on how many packages of toilet paper you could buy. They had to put limits on other products as well like Lysol Wipes and Hand Sanitizer and don't even get me started on where the heck BORAX laundry detergent went during this pandemic. I couldn't find that product for months and months on end. NOW every store has it in mass.

I think the virus affected peoples brains when it hit .... and some will never get those lost brain cells back ... but then maybe they never had them in the first place?

About Lost Brain Cells




You reminded me about how this pandemic is so much like a zombie flick -- especially when our neighbors feel the need to stockpile toilet paper. Yesterday it felt so odd to be required to wear a face covering just to get my toenails trimmed. And there was caution tape wrapped around every other chair in the waiting room, so J. and I would keep our proper sitting distance.

LOL .... I can imagine you and J not able to sit near each other despite living together and driving to the clinic together and all ... did they imagine you had to sit in the trunk when coming to this appointment so J was safe from his own wife?

Don't get me started on Masks .... but I will.


I have friends with asthma ... they wheeze when they walk around especially in the summer time when its hot and humid and Toronto Canada has had no shortage of days with temps in the high 30's to 40C area this last month.


I shopped with a friend a week ago and heard my friend who was masked almost gasping for air even though we were in an air conditioned store. They were struggling and after 20 mins my friend lost it ... gagged and vomiting as they ran outta the store. I felt so bad, they were trying so hard to be committed to staying safe and keeping others safe but they just couldn't breath well with the mask on .... so out the door they went!


While I plied him with water and a some LYSOL WIPES (lol) to clean up with he was miserable. We sat and talked about how a Doctor recently wrote an article in the news saying NOBODY is exempt from wearing a mask for any reason and this doctor did not accept people with asthma or COPD or who might be overweight or suffering from anxiety or claustrophobia or many other issues .... would not be affected by a mask.


BULL-CRAP .... this mask thing is all new to all of us who aren't Doctor's or health care professionals who wear them all the time. There are many different circumstances for many people that can prevent them from wearing a mask in public.


I can only say.... try and do your best. Take it slow, don't rush your shopping ... try and avoid people in aisles and take the mask down every so often when you are alone in an aisle to give yourself some air.



Be compassionate to your fellow man ... woman ... because everyone is not the same.



We all have to deal with this together but we can be more sympathetic to others who just can't do the mask thing.

Let me mention here, Mr. Peepers, there is quite a lot of difference in the design and quality of masks on the individual user. J. gave me a paper mask and grey cloth mask to compare. The smell of the disposable paper mask was intolerable to me, so I chose the grey cloth mask for my health clinic visits. Meanwhile, J. bought another cloth mask, with a charming black and white houndstooth check pattern which was constructed for a better fit across the bridge of the nose -- which is essential for both J. and I, as we wear glasses. Trying to walk with a mask obstructing your view can prove to be dangerous -- as I personally discovered -- on two accounts for health clinic visits. Today J. has gone to the Dollar Store to purchase a cloth mask similar to his houndstooth check mask for me -- so I will be able to walk in style and comfort, without an unintentional stumble.

The New Reality for Hockey Fans


political cartoon by DeAdder of the Toronto Star

I know what you mean about the differences in masks .... I got some nice cloth ones given to me from my friend who has Meals on Wheels delivered to her home. The people from MOW included them with every order my friend got back in February and March this year .... the lovely people from MOW wanted to know their clients would be safe when receiving their food delivery's each week. So I passed on a couple of cloth ones to my buddy ... he prefers the disposable blue/white ones with the small metal clasp so he can fit it around his nose better, he told me he couldn't breath well with the cloth masks. ODD ... everyone is different though in there tolerances to this new ordeal in our lives.


I'm glad you and J have masks you like and work well with you and your glasses .... there is nothing worse then trying to walk with steamed up glasses and a covering clouding your face as well.

26C feels like 36C ... its RAINING ... its HOOOOOOOOMID .... in the 80% .... we are waiting for a crackdiddly thunder and lightning storm that MIGHT develop this afternoon or evening.



I will be waiting for it! WOO HOOO!

I never thought I'd find a weather report posted within the forum on Covid Chit Chat. Could it be that your rain drops are all purposely wearing masks for your protection during this thunderstorm?

I was drunk ..... that's my story and I'm sticking to it .... BURP!