Hopefully, this is the last of the abnormally cold days we've
been seeing in the last while (-20 to -30 C). You dress like a bear
and a spot of cheek that isn't covered screams this is TOO cold!
I've seen reports this is actually due to climate change with the Jet
Stream slowing down and making a more pronounced sine wave.
But that is not the whole story. Below:
Those very determined truckers in Ottawa are ipso facto lobbying the Biden
Administration; not a promising affair. Is this really necessary? Where is the
bureacratic analysis of the situation for cross-border trade!? Granted
fighting the epidemic is top priority, but deconfinement may need some
thoughtfulness...
* * *
There is a tragic element in all this: the one thing that pandemic measures have
been aimed at is avoiding close contacts between the unvaccinated. and this is exactly
what this demonstration seems to be delivering. Will it be a cauldron of infection
for Omicron; I hope not. I have bee looking forward to going for a double double
this week - as Quebec restaurants re-open - albeit at a 50% capacity Tim's... Maybe not!!
Of course, natural immunity is also part of the equation. Hard to know who has natural
immunity from a past infection and whether this is adequate faced with omicron... 👳♀️
* * *
DAY 3
For any of the truckers who might be dismayed at the difficulties
of finding food and drink in downtown Ottawa; you have my full
sympathy. Ottawa is not a normal city with shopping and eats at its core; it
is a government town with civil servants crowding in during the week
but a largely empty hull week-ends.
Bottom line, there is coffee and muffins everywhere till noon, but then not.
(Booze picks up later in the day). One can buy lunch in a line-up; there are actual
restaurants in government buildings that serve lunch to departmental employees.
To find a family restaurant one needs to go toward the suburbs, down Bank street
going South or out to the West. The train station off the Queensway is large, warm
and has stuff. There are French speaking folks in the East of the City.
On a normal day, downtown Ottawa is a traffic nightmare early in the morning, and
then around four in the afternoon. The Prime Minister goes to work in a limo with
police escort at nine in the morning because he wouldn't make it any other way...
* * *
Day 4
Real-time map of Ottawa:
It's cold as anything and I'm getting bored. Might dust off my vaccine
passport to go to the local foodcourt and get a liter of milk, browse the
cookies...Who knows!?
This is when I start to muse about the Milankovich cycle!
Between the cold and the covid restriction, I get to watch a lot of YouTube.
Below, a really interesting overview of early humans entering Scandinavia.
Didn't really understand about Doggerland before thi; makes me realize I have
been out of school for a long time. Awesome!!
From Le Devoir:
That said, there is no real reason for demonizing the unvaccinated.
One might take a sociological stance on the issue. Like, not
everyone adopts novelty at the same rate and there is no reason
to assume the unvaccinated are malevolent. I don't have a shaved
haircut but my daughter does. Perfectly normal situation. The vaccination
effort we are living through now seeks to simulate natural immunity
in the population because we are dealing with high population spread
of airborne diseases. That's the truth of the situation.
