We are Day 1 of our self-isolation. Yesterday Prime Minister Trudeau asked that all Canadians abroad return to Canada, asked that everyone self-isolate for 14 days upon your return. He closed the border to anyone but Canadians, Permanent Residents and US Citizens as long as they are asymptomatic. He stated that it is not the governments job to ‘go around the world rescuing Canadians” essentially meaning if you are outside of Canada its your responsibility to get yourself back, you’ll be welcome as long as you aren’t sick. If you are outside of Canada with symptoms of COVID-19 (cough, fever and sore throat) you are not allowed to return and will be stopped at the airport from boarding a flight home. There will be financial support given to those Canadians who are not allowed back home - one question would be, if someone left AFTER the pandemic was named, which I think was Friday the 13th of March, would you still be financially supported if you chose to leave after that date? We streamed the press conference on CBC while driving - there was A LOT of concern in the pre-talk before the conference about the US Border and all the people returning from the US bringing the virus into Canada but the PM didn’t really address that in his conference other than the 14 day self-isolation.
Yesterday Jay flew home with Sophie via Air Canada from Orlando, their flights were over $800 each. Paige didn’t want to fly so Sarah, Ellie and I drove. Alamo changed our rental car and didn’t charge us a drop fee so our rental contract didn’t change other than we switched cars and we now could take the car to Canada and drop it to Toronto. Jay took a cab home from the airport when they arrived at 11am and left the car at Viscount for me to pick up and drop off the rental car.
Sarah and I got up at 6am yesterday morning and were out of the hotel by 6:20am and back on the road. We made several stops to pee, get gas, get food and get a ticket for speeding - we eventually got into our homes at just past midnight, an 18 hour day for about 15.5 hours of driving.
We were so relieved to get to the border and just be in Canada. The border security person who we spoke to didn’t even MENTION Coronavirus, ask us if we had any symptoms or if we had permission to travel with the kids without their other legal guardian. He did calculate the math for how much overage we had in booze. We had 3 bottles of liquor and 3 bottles of wine, so we thought we were 2 bottles over, as we are each allowed 2 bottles. But, you’re only allowed one bottle of liquor each at 1.14L so technically we were over by 3 bottles of wine and a bottle of liquor...he let us go anyway, but seriously that was his biggest hang up. he didn’t even ask us to acknowledge that we would self-isolate for 14 days when we get home. I guess he didn’t watch the press conference.
What self-isolation looks like - we had a bit of a debate this morning on this, and its also something that has been changing. As of yesterday, which applies to us, self-isolation means not leaving the house basically. Get someone to drop off food and essential items you need and avoid going anywhere except for medical assistance. We will self-isolate with the people who we were with - which makes it somewhat easier for us, the girls can go visit Ellie or Myah and vice versa and we can get together with the Acorns and Faust’s because we’ve all been together. We all have property, so there is a lot the kids can go and do outside. We can’t see anyone new or go do anything.
In Uxbridge a lot of the restaurants and cafe’s have switched to take out or delivery only. Delivery is great for us, we can pre pay and then have it delivered to the doorstep. We’ve had several friends offer to pick us up and drop off what we need, we’re pretty stocked for now, I think we could probably survive for 14 days just on what we already have in the pantry and freezer, but it will be nice once some of our fresh fruits and veggies dwindle. And we have a well stocked bar so no worries there! Also, in case you’re worried about it we have 20 rolls of toilet paper on hand.
I sent a message to Trev to let us know if he needs anything we can drop it off to him. He came home 2 days before us so is isolated separately.
Part of my Costco order was delivered today. I ordered a small tenderloin roast and cut it into steaks and put it in the freezer.
I’ve never ordered groceries online for pick up before from Zehrs through PC Express but Sarah said she was going to do that - I downloaded the app because on the website it said the closest grocery store was in Markham when I know Uxbridge does it, but the app isn’t working either for now. I’m guessing due to the volume so I’ll try later tonight.
Today is St Patricks Day and so we will have shepherds pie and green pina coladas! Sarah, Ellie and Anna are coming over for dinner, maybe the Faust’s, Ellie asked me to wait to make the pina coladas because she wants the recipe so I’ll show her how to make them.
I still did some work today, a client is putting an offer in on a house and another called me about refinancing to take advantage of the low rates right now. I prefer to meet every client face to face for an initial meeting and to explain to them the process, how all the figures align and make sense, but I won’t be able to do that for (at minimum) 14 days so thankfully everything can be done by phone, fax and email.
Westjet announced today that effective March 23rd they will suspend all international and cross border flights for 30 days and reduce their domestic air travel by 50%. In the meantime they are working in conjunction with the Canadian government to get Canadians home, rescue and repatriation, for those who have existing booked flights and are asymptomatic.
Canada’s cases of COVID-19 went from 387 yesterday to 452 today. 11 new cases since I looked this morning at 9am. The US reported an additional 1060 cases today since the first screen shot at 10am.
I got a little obsessive about looking up the rising numbers, I’m not concerned about it or anxious, I’m a little fascinated by it. Mom and Dad are driving home today, should arrive back by tomorrow. I’ve been watching the border crossing times as well and they all look great with few delays.
Paige said to me, looking at my iPad, Mom, this is wrong, this says it’s 3:00! I said “Paige, it’s 3:25pm”. It is?! What time did I wake up? “About 11”. Lol
I decided I would bake some cheesie crackers. I have all the ingredients but I’m short on Rice Krispies so I asked Jim if he was going to the grocery store if he could grab me almond milk, Rice Krispies, flour and more bananas since we go through them so quickly. Our first delivery!
We packed up Sarah’s half of the groceries we brought back in the car from Florida, along with some frozen fruit and veggies for them and took them over. Picked up Ellie and brought her home with us. Day 1 and the girls are a little squirrelly, but I think its mostly for show at this point. Screen time is limited, we want them outside playing so they went on the trampoline, we’ll try to get a new soccer ball - ours is totally dead from the dogs, lol. They can play with the volleyball spiker game we have outside too - the next few days look nice before it starts to get cold again.
Restaurants are all closing to anything but take out and delivery. We’ll try to order from Urban Pantry in the next few days to support the owners and staff. My eye doctor called to reschedule my appointment, the gyms in town have closed, dentist offices are closed for anything but emergencies. People are really being encouraged to just stay home.
Faust’s and Acorns (Jeff and Jackson are up at Kent’s cottage) came over for dinner and we tried our best to not talk about Coronavirus. Of course it came up in conversation but surprisingly, now that we’re home, its not the sole topic of conversation. We had a regular, everyday night and it was great to get back to somewhat normal. It’s nice that we were all together while we were away and can at least have a few families to get together with while we wait out the 14 days and whatever is to come after that. Green pina coladas were enjoyed by all. I taught Ellie the recipe and gave her a can of coconut cream because its hard to come by in Uxbridge.
Jay talked to Kobe about doing some work around the property to keep him busy but also it has to be done so it’s a win win.
I’m still not able to pay through the app for my groceries, I’ll try in the morning and try online on the website vs on the app.
One last check before bed of the Corona count for March 17, 2020.
I’m still not able to pay through the app for my groceries, I’ll try in the morning and try online on the website vs on the app.
One last check before bed of the Corona count for March 17, 2020.
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