Tony At 10: HELP!! BLOG # 2228; FRI MAR 20,2020

THE COMEBACK:

WHAT’S UP?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

THE MESSAGE:

I received the following email from a dear friend, my sister. It seemed to wake me up some when I realized the terrible plight we are facing was being experienced by close family.

Hi Bro:

I don’t remember how much detail I went into in our phone conversation, but here’s the whole story: We attended the sold out Josh Groban concert at the 2700-seat Walt Disney Theatre in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday evening. Alas.

We travelled by limousine from Orlando to Dunedin on Thursday, to watch the Jays’ games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. Late that same afternoon, it was announced that the Spring Training games had all been cancelled. Hours (if not minutes) later, it was announced that Disney World and Universal Studios had been closed, and that the virus was galloping through Florida and nine jillion other states. Accordingly, we fled, on the advice of the Canadian government, fearing that we would be trapped in the US if flights and borders were shut down.

We flew directly home, bypassing our intended sojourn in Montreal and arriving in Nanaimo at 11 p.m. We went immediately into self-quarantine for 14 days as advised by the BC Ministry of Health. We had been supremely cautious in airports and on aircraft (sanitizing every surface we were likely to touch...only stopping short of swabbing down our adjacent seatmates).

What a gong show! We have spent every waking moment since our return trying to recoup some of the $$$$ we had prepaid, with some success to date. The US has gone bat-shit crazy, and His Craziness the Dishonourable Donald Trump won’t shut up. The only possible light at the end of the tunnel is that he was apparently in contact with some folks who have since tested positive for the virus: dare we hope that he will get it and succumb?

On the upside, we are at home and are enjoying binge-watching TV.

Did I mention that, in an abundance of caution, we stocked up our freezer and pantry before we left, in case things worsened while we were gone (we have chocolate!). We didn’t get any toilet tissue (WTF is that all about??!!), but we had 4 rolls on hand, and dear son Tom dropped off (literally) an additional 12 rolls; even though diarrhea isn’t one of the features of the virus, and the ubiquitous bidets throughout Europe haven’t halted its spread. Go figure. But, we are part lemming, it seems.

Stay well and be safe.

Yours in isolation

Christine

TUNES:

TONY TODAY:

Following this email, I received notice that my granddaughter, Anna, who is teaching in Sweeden, has a roommate who contracted the Covid-19. Further to that tidbit, her younger brother, who is on an international high school exchange in Italy, is in lockdown. He is safe but isolated and restricted from travelling anywhere.

THE QUESTION: