The way we live now

We walk. Now that the coronavirus has closed fitness centres, playing fields and playgrounds, neighbourhood streets have become everybody's new gym. Luckily for everybody's mood, spring streets in Vancouver are very beautiful. Photo by John Denniston.

We celebrate health workers, the new heroes of a time when everybody fears ending up in a hospital bed. Windows all over the city have sprouted hearts and rainbows and child-written signs thanking health care workers for their contribution. The spray of hearts on the window of this house was particularly eye-catching. Photo by John Denniston.

Just down the street from the previous house was this one. No subtle hearts here, just a big-lettered statement. Photo by John Denniston.

We bang pots. As former journalists, John and I tend to observe rather than participate in events like the 7 p.m. nightly noise-making to celebrate health workers. But one night at dinner, John confessed: "I banged a pot last night." (I'd been in the back garden, so missed this event.) I asked: "Will you bang a pot again tonight?" He said: "Well, once you start, you can't really stop." Ever since, he has stepped out on the front porch at 7 p.m. and joined the neighbours in making a row. 

We don't dress up, even for public appearances. John does his pot-banging in riding pants and slippers. 

We get surprises. When my friend Andre showed up  at the front door for a scheduled "distancing" walk this week, he was wearing a plastic face-shield like medical workers wear. A handy friend with access to the right kind of plastic  had made it for him. Masks and other shielding devices like this are becoming increasingly common these days, but still, it was a surprise to see it on my easygoing buddy. Photo by John Denniston.

We don't hug when we meet. And we meet for the strangest reasons. My friend Linda and I maintained our appropriate distance when we got together recently to do another exchange. She had scored cinnamon, which I couldn't find at my local store, and I paid her back and gave her more quarters for her laundry machine. Photo by John Denniston.

I head back to the car, loaded up with cinnamon. Who knows what the next exchange will be about! Photo by John Denniston.

We make use of all our storage space. Since I'm trying to limit my time in stores, when I do go grocery shopping, I stock up for a week or more.That second fridge that John and I wrestled into our basement a couple of years ago has been worth its weight in gold in holding the extra load.

We remember our old gardening skills. It's been a long time since I had houseplants, but when the tomatoes I'm coddling inside until the weather warms up started looking droopy yesterday, I realized that the little dribbles of water I'd been giving them may not have been sufficient. I dosed them well in the sink, and today they brightened right up.