Dec 9

Dec 9 Time To Catch Up

Wow…it’s been quite awhile since I’ve either had the time or realistically the inclincation to sit down and write something. Frankly, I guess I have not felt very motivated to do so. I think you can call it Covid 19 fatigue. Anyways, so how are things?

We are in the 2nd week (I think) of the mandated City lockdown which is the second serious lockdown we’ve seen here since the beginning of this pandemic. We had a pretty good summer and it certainly looked like things were getting better. But if you followed what was going in other parts of the world what we are seeing here is not surprising. They are calling it the 2nd wave.

Enough of that. Since the beginning of the year I’ve been doing a number of things to keep busy. In an earlier post I wrote about a product called Slinger and how I was involved with them. Around the same time I begin working at THE MERCHANT OF TENNIS in a very casual, part-time role. My role varied from doing some analysis to actually working in the store. During the summer they were very busy as tennis benefited from the pandemic - because tennis was deemed a socially safe sport. Every day new consumers would come into the store looking to take up tennis. I was working anywhere from 2-3 days a week. I also took on a 3 month consulting position with Mint Green - they are the distributors of a number of interesting brands including Dunlop Racket Sports along with KSwiss. It was a great experience as I had a opportunity to work with some fun and very smart people. I drove down to their head office in Montreal twice and in the short time I was involved, I assisted them in a number of key areas.

I could have stayed on full time but I had made a promise to a group that I have a lot of respect for. I have known the principals of THE MERCHANT OF TENNIS going back over 30+ years and I also felt that my role was not as a sales rep (which I began as) but as a partner. Companies that approach their customers with that attitude will always prevail. Back to that promise - I had told Pam who is the President of the company that in the fall of this year I would be available full time to take on a new role - the Manager of their Bayview location. I have always tried to keep my promises so I’m just finishing up my first full month in this role.

It’s a strange time to start working retail. First of all we had had to wear masks and curtail the number of people allowed in the store since we were allowed to re-open. And now we are shut down for in-store shopping and can only offer what is called curb-side pickup. We have a very good online business so many shoppers instead of having the product delivered will opt for in-store pickup. So, we’re busy transfering inventory back and forth and doing many of the normal day to day functions - except we can’t let people shop. Very strange times. I enjoy helping consumers and I think I’m pretty good at it. Still learning how to use the various systems we have but every day it get a little better and easier. The people are very good - we have a world class stringer and the people like Liz and Susan are fun and very good at what they do. It can be tiring and you sure go up and down the stairs a lot but I’m appreciative for the owners to take me on.

What else? The weather has turned so we’re in what I call the hibernation period. Basically we’re stuck indoors for the next four months.

This will be the first Christmas that we’re all going to be here for quite a number of years. We have not been to our condo in Tampa this year and I don’t imagine we will get there in the near future. The border is closed to cars but you can fly to the USA. The only problem is when you return you have to self quaratine for 14 days so a 1 week holiday could really be 3 weeks. Doesn’t make sense and now that I’m working it’s really not feasible.

It’s coming up to my 1 year anniversary to leaving Wilson. I can’t lie - it still feels strange. I mean I don’t think about it all the time or dwell on it. You really do have to move on but it’s hard sometimes to understand it. Maybe things are not meant to be understood. The parent company just let go a number of management for another big brand (Salomon) so it’s become apparent that having Canadian managment is not really in the cards - oh well.

The kid (Ms. Sarah) has been taking driving lessons for a few months and I’ve been letting her drive my car whenever possible. She had her driving test scheduled for this past week but it was cancelled because she is in a Covid zone (bad) and the test was going to take place in a zone that isn’t shut down. They took a look at her address and cancelled it. Sarah was very disappointed and unfortunately this is a small example of how Covid has changed the way we operate. Her problem is not life changing - all you have to do is walk the streets and see how many shops/restaurants have not opened yet and may never open. It’s tragic and very sad.

Before the cold weather set in and the shut down began we managed to visit an outdoor patio on College Street at a new restaurant called Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen & Pizza Bar. The reviews had been very good and if the word pizza appears you know I might want to try it.

Simply put is was fantastic. Not cheap but very good quality food. The pizza was excellent and my wife had a pasta dish that she said was very good. We have a special birthday coming up so we might order food in for takeout.

I have tried to stay out of the mess south of the border called the US election. It’s hard to believe how such a great country could end up in such a mess. Whatever your political bent this has been a real sh*&t show. The apparent winner has been selected but the previous occupant of that seat doesn’t want to leave. Every day the news media puts out new and old stories and its frankly getting tiring. I hope they figure this thing out as they have more serious issues in front of them. The virus is out of control and too many people are impacted.

Well, thats a pretty good catch up. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this lockdown will not last too long but I’m afraid that the 28 days will go longer. The numbers of the virus are not getting better and we’re months and months away from a vaccine for all. So, that’s it for now….