gridlock at the border

Trucks blocking the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor Ontario Canada are giving me déjà vu. Seeing gridlock at the busiest crossing at the Canada U.S. border takes me back to the aftermath of September 11, 2001. I was a radio reporter for the CBC, reporting on a closed border. There was a good reason for the shut down. Everybody was scared, especially on the U.S. side. Nobody knew what was going to happen next. Hundreds, maybe thousands of truckers were inconvenienced. They parked on the road and lived in their cabs for days. I interviewed some. Frustration but no complaints. Everybody pitched in in 2001. In 2022 it’s the opposite. The only reason for this traffic jam is inconvenience for the majority and economic mayhem for Canada.   

vaccine

I sit in a small office while the appraiser looks at my late mother’s jewellery. I suspect some is valuable, some is not. I hope he tells me more. He does. I wear a mask the whole time. He takes his off. We sit across a desk less than a metre apart. He’s nice enough until I ask, “did you get the vaccine?” “No, my family is prone to blood clots” and he mumbles something else. I stiffen. It dawns on me, he’s an anti vaxxer and masker. How many people visit him every day? How many does he breathe on and breathe on him? Could he spread it to me? Apparently, he doesn’t care. I had my first shot of AstraZeneca so if I get the virus, it will likely be mild, I hope. I’m never going back that’s for sure.