Right, so... that was briefly an exciting window where we all got to taste going back to "normal" for a couple of weeks. If you are at all like me, you excitedly made some plans for things you hadn't done in awhile - like to go concerts...
...Then the numbers shot up and it turns out living in fear of COVID is normal, again. I am crossing my fingers that Paul Pigat's birthday gig will go off as planned, on September 25th, because I really dig his new album (and am working on a blog interview about it, coming soon), and really want to go see SOMETHING at the Rickshaw again, even if it's at a mandated 50% capacity; I haven't been there since I saw Paul open for Coco Montoya in early March 2020, which I noted in my "What Were You Doing When the World Ended" post when the first COVID shutdown started.... but 15 days seems like a very long time indeed, and that's how long it is going to be before the show; a whole lot could happen in that window...
...and though I still notice things that excite me, like Bishops Green and the Spitfires being added to the DOA Hardcore 81 bill, I am highly skeptical that any of the other gigs I've been eager to attend (or actually got tickets for) will go off as planned. I mean, I was getting really, really excited about the Sparks show in March, having recently joined the legion of converted fans, but when I got to choose my rather crappy seats from the floorplan of the Vogue, it sure didn't *look* like they were being sold at 50% capacity. It *looked*, rather, like the whole venue was almost sold out. So what will MRG do? I've heard various dodgy things about their refund policies, and watched the Residents show they had booked into the Imperial get postponed, then postponed, then postponed, then cancelled, and I'm pretty sure I noticed a two-tier pricing scheme, the last time I contemplated going to that show, where you had to pay extra for an "insured" ticket if you wanted a refund. I sure don't recall doing that when I paid for the Sparks tickets. I also didn't read the fine print, because, like, COVID was over, right? We were all vaccinated, right? The vaccines work, right? We can GO BACK TO NORMAL!
No. No, we can't. Meantime, society seems to be dividing itself between a small but very vocal minority of people protesting assholishly outside hospitals and an equally vocal majority blaming these so-called anti-vaxxers for ruining our plans to reopen. None of it really adds up, as I've mentioned on Facebook - if we're so sure these vaccines work as promised, and 80% of the province has received them, then our reopening SHOULD have gone as planned, too... it does not seem to have. And while some people have weighed in that it is all down to Delta, that doesn't really make sense to me, since BC had (supposedly) factored Delta in when it announced this reopening, and the PHO was sticking to its guns that, despite rising numbers, we were "on track."
We are clearly not on track - at least, not to any station I'm hoping to arrive at - but things were set in motion, so just like last March, I am back at work, washing my hands often, hoping for roomy Skytrain cars. Unlike last March, I now wear a mask in public spaces (and try to make sure everyone else is, too). COVID fatigue is real.
I guess I should go see a movie or two, as well, before the lockdowns return...
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