TubaOrNotTuba

The US has a new federal holiday. Juneteenth. Marking the abolition of slavery, I think. We didn’t get much advance press up here. Wort noting that it took many, many years to move beyond the actual event, all the way to a holiday on the calendar. Like anything new or novel, we’ll have to wait to see how this plays out.

Cold storage; not to be taken lightly. For example, one of the more important vaccines is to be kept in the level of cold that is found at the South Pole, and in refrigerators where we store salmon until needed for a dose of sushi. I know this because one of the neighbours loaned his refrigerator to the government some months back. A big deal, for a small business owner.

They are back! With a buzz and a whir, the first of the sugar hawks arrived at our front side feeder, this morning. Of course, I took the time to record the sighting on a special website that has a daily map update going on, for years. Yes, I can check back to see if this is early or late arrival. No, I haven’t.

Just a head’s up for some of you; the BBQ wings in the frozen food section aren’t as good as the one from your better restaurants. Not as tasty, not as much of a treat. And yes, I did cook them, twice (despite the box brag that they are precooked). Got all of the frost out, but that sauce in a plastic sack is to be avoided. It was a meal on a whim. A response to cabin fever. Next time, I’ll go for a grilled cheese sandwich.

Despite the rain, we went for a car ride today. My first, in many weeks. All in the name of medical science; the nearest vaccination clinic available was a two hour round trip, plus another hour spent mainly in queues, or sitting quietly. The actual injection took seconds, and I can brag that it hardly hurt at all.

On April first, all jokes aside, I registered online for my first round of vaccinations. Since then, I’ve had two robotic phone calls, as reminders, and I think I might have had an email along the way. Assuming that tomorrow actually comes, my first session should pass “like a hot knife through butter”. After that, there will be a future delay (rumours talk of months; I don’t really know), before the second session. Until then, we continue to require social distancing, masks and a recognition that online shopping is the way of (my) future. Will the vaccine make me invincible? Doubtful. There we have it: a textbook example of delayed gratification. And I no longer care.

MY favourite taster channel on YouTube (“TRY”) went on a deep dig this afternoon. Who dreamed up a comparison of various jelly bean flavours? The packaging, in some cases, had the intrigue thing, but overall there wasn’t much punch to the show. I’ll be back when you do something more interesting: odd beers from the East, for example.

Never underestimate the ability of certain objects to shape-shift. This evening, I was brought in to hep find a particular food container. Something from the Tupperware spectrum. It should have been easy to spit; fairly large, with a ruby red cover, stored in a single cupboard with others of its type. Alas, it was rendered invisible. For two of us, in surfeit. It was only when we had given up hope, and decided to look elsewhere that the container reappeared. Shape-shifting!

Perhaps the people were confused. Maybe the instructions were unclear. Somehow, after their arrival on the Island, late last week, a carload of tourists went to that top tourist attraction: a nearby Walmart.

Another short small world story. This evening, on social media, I watched a report from many years ago about a world renowned author. What set the story apart from so many others was the detail that one of the author’s books had been translated and printed in Charlottetown. Now, I haven’t read the book, but her son lived on my floor in residence at that point, so it was an interesting detail for me. Your mileage will vary, of course.