Apr 12

Apr 12 Have You Seen Any Good Movies Lately!

There are moments where I have lost track of how long we’ve all been cooped up. A good friend told me recently we’re entering our 5th week. I don’t know about you but I am losing track of all time. There are periods where I have no idea what day it is, and many of the days are blending together.

I was watching television last night and my wife left the room and I heard her say “it’s time to get ready for the Zoom family call.” What…..I could have sworn it was supposed to be for the next day. Since I never get anything wrong, I was positive my wife was incorrect, but alas, I got it wrong - again!

I suspect some of this is coming from recently retiring. In the best of times, your days blend together and you don’t face any real sense of urgency - go to work, finish the budget, answer the critical questions in front of you.

I think most people use the M-F five day work week as a guideline and so as the weekend gets closer you start to plan your escape. Lately, every days feels like the weekend. Not complaining though.

The arrival of the virus and the resulting rules to self isolate have left most, if not all of us with a lot more time on our hands. Many people who are working from home are valiantly attempting to do so, but I would suspect that it’s not easy and some may be struggling to fill the normal eight hours. I spoke to a good tennis friend the other day and he told me he is working from home but he is finding it difficult to stay motivated. He misses the water-cooler conversations!

I was reading a very interesting article in a recent Sunday New York times in which the writer (Taylor Lorenz) suggests that - “people are finder it harder and harder to get things done.”

One particular quote is telling - “Drew Millard put it more directly in an essay for The Outline: if your lucky enough to be employed the only person who cares what you’re doing right now is your boss.”

People are reacting to an internal pressure to clean, to organize, re-arrange the t-shirts and socks. You know that one of the first things someone will ask you “is what did you do today?” I guess we all feel we have to do something?

A trip to the grocery store will often find that the shelves of baking supplies are becoming low - are we all out there baking and cooking?

Finally, this idea that we need to be doing something great that’s worthy of the time spent at home is likely not productive and that maybe it’s “okay to the idea of just being.”

I’ve tried to lower my access to social media (to no avail) and I am finding it interesting how many odd and sometimes interesting things are populating my feed. On the left you can see Roger Federer hitting balls against a wall. It is a video on Instagram in which he says “Here’s a helpful solo drill. Let’s see what you’ve got! Reply back with a video and I’ll provide some hits and choose your hat wisely. Well, people did as this post has 10,373 comments, and since then a number of tennis players and celebrities have taken up the challenge.

And of course with all of the fitness outlets we want to enjoy are closed, all kinds of companies are posting ways to continue to workout at home. I’m seeing all kinds of ads for fitness bands or contraptions of all types.

Some local fitness clubs are posting on Instagram Live workout schedules from your favourite instructors. The growth of this type of marketing may be something that is here to stay once life starts to get back to normal.

Well it seems that we are likely going to be in this pickle for a lot longer. Originally we were assuming that in 2 weeks everything will be better, but as I said earlier we’re now going into the 5th week and it’s not looking like this is ending any time soon.

In the last few days, the Quebec Government announced a ban on any public cultural/sporting events till the end of August, so that means no Rogers Cup in Montreal. Is an announcement about the Toronto event coming soon? People that I speak to don’t believe that the US Open will happen and that is not till the end of August. This is going to be a bizarre summer.

Not that is comes as a big surprise but Broadway (NYC) continues to be shut down and here in Toronto the Mirvish theatres announced that they will stay closed till the end of June. We had 4 tickets to see Hamilton at the end of this month so that’s not happening. They sent me an email suggesting that we can ask for a refund or they will hold it as a “credit” and they are hoping they can find time in the future for a return date for Hamilton. Not sure what to do on this one?

We’ve been working through our small freezer and I can almost see the bottom of it. The positive of being home is you are spending less money out in restaurants, and although my wine intake is slightly higher, I can get an entire bottle for the cost of one glass at the Tennis Club. The key of course, is don’t drink the whole bottle.

There are certainly some interesting recipes showing up more frequently on Instagram. I stumbled upon the feed from one of the chef’s at @aloette in Toronto. Her name is Maddy Goldberg and she sometimes has some live streams of cooking and of course there are images of some very good looking food.

Speaking of Aloette, it’s been on my go-to list for quite awhile but we have not been successful in getting a place at the table. Located at the corner of Queen and Spadina - it’s called by Blog TO - a casual, but elegant little sister to its big brother upstairs - serving what would be considered “comfort food.” With the shut down of all restaurants in the city a number of them are trying to continue on with take out options. With that in mind, I ordered the other day for Ms Sarah and myself their well regarded burger. I don’t think anything can quite replace the dine-in experience but this was a pretty good burger. You had to order it via an app (Ritual). This was the first time I had ever used it and it was very simple to use and straightforward. After placing the order it gave me a pickup time which was very accurate. As you can see below the pick up orders were stacked neatly on the counter.

It is amazing how the “Internet” is aware that I need a haircut? The last few days there have been more and more posts offering devices on sale. Ironically a quick check on Amazon will show you that they are sold out of hair cutting trimmers for men. I wonder how “home hair colour” kits are doing?

And if your queasy about touching elevator buttons or any type of button there is something to fix that!

If anyone has a prediction when this will all end lets hear it. Hey - we’re pretty lucky and we don’t have the right to complain (too much). We have a roof over our head, plenty of food and we are being told “its okay to do nothing.” Imagine that.

And if you need to confess there is a church in New York offering drive through confessions. I think I will keep my sins to myself - at least for a bit longer. I think the sign below tells it the way it is!