Imagination…

…is what it takes to survive and prosper in our COVID winter, and summer, and fall and spring. We have all been pretty well locked down for well over a year and our normal lives have been disrupted to a large extent. We have been unable to see friends and family − although that is slowly improving − and our “fun” things in life have been cut off. So, what to do?

First, we began with backyard things. We weeded everything, rearranged our colours to be more pleasing to the eye and, after finding a little nursery that stayed open (out of town), we planted dozens of new flowers and plants. It was possible that our food supply might not be as reliable as in the past, so we planted some vegetables; some squash, tomatoes, carrots and spices to tide us over in case there were shortages.

The birds started to come by after they noticed all of the backyard activity, so we decided to get serious about birdwatching. We got two or three bird identification books on Amazon, with pictures of course, and now we are semi-experts. It is amazing how many different types of birds we attracted, once we set up a few feeders. The fat birds, mostly doves, are very messy and a lot of the bird seed ends up on the ground. Now we have squirrels and chipmunks to entertain us. Probably out of curiosity, we have also attracted some little rabbits.

The strangest thing in our backyard ventures was the morning I came out and found a vicious-looking dead “thing” in the middle of the yard. It had vicious-looking teeth and was the size of a medium-sized dog, and I wondered what had killed it. I ran off to get my wife, as I thought that she might know what it was and what to do with it. As we came back outside, we spotted the “weird thing” wandering off behind the garage. It was a very big possum who had certainly convinced me that it was dead.
And then we found three baby foxes which were obviously primed to dine on our menagerie. All of this was in the middle of our city. Once you start paying attention to the little things, it is amazing how much entertainment value there is in your backyard.

We also went for many long walks three or four times a week and it is amazing what we did not know about where we live. There are many nooks and crannies in our neighbourhood… as well as little parks and lots of neighbours of interest. One of the neighbours actually ran for the presidency of Nigeria. Not sure how, but I will ask him one day in better times; another neighbour has a massive car collection and he leaves odd cars on the street at times. Just more free entertainment.

I probably mentioned this before, but I have taken up bridge again after a long hiatus. I play with a British friend who now lives in rural Nova Scotia and we play on an internet platform called BridgeBase.com. My wife has indicated a desire to improve her bridge, so we are getting set to take on the world.

As a result, we are too busy, especially now that the travel insurance season is in full swing. We are currently underwriting about 800 people per day and the pent-up demand to get away is very high. There are still lots of issues to address, with borders and such, but everyone is generally ready to go and will adapt as necessary.

In order to have a wonderful life, it only takes a little bit of imagination to adapt. Have a wonderful fall, and stay safe!