Travelling can be Uber exciting, that much is obvious, but if the timeline is extended it can bring around periods when you find yourself feeling just a tad bit bored. One of those recently resulted in some thoughts about events leaving me with a furrowed brow and a look of bewilderment on my face.
American Politics:
My mother is blessed (???) with a significant cable package in her condo complex allowing for what I consider a ridiculous amount of choice, but being a curious sort who is at the stage of life where information gathering is a full time pursuit, she tends toward news-style programming including CNN and local networks. If I wasn't aware prior, although likely just forgot, there's a tremendous amount of dissatisfaction, disagreement, and discontent on both sides of the dividing line surrounding presidential policy, governance and bipartisanship. Most Canadians are aware of the strife between President Biden and former President Trump, the conspiracy-fuelled discourse surrounding the last election, and the complete mess that Capitol Hill is in right now, but until I was immersed in the American media's incredibly varied coverage of pertinent issues, I had no idea of how far apart the sides are, nor the degree of venomous debate being hurled across the floor. Three mature adults sharing the same space results in a plethora of discussion centered on opinions about the discourse and possible solutions to make things better, but one issue that keeps popping up is the bewilderment with the shambles that the Senate, House of Representatives and White House are in with elected officials drawing a well-padded salary, actively being uncooperative, regardless of what is set in front of them. At what point do the American people hold their representatives accountable for choosing not to carry out their duties? Depending on which network you watch, President Biden is being roasted for what are viewed as tremendous failures, and professing my relative ignorance of the details, I profoundly empathize with his plight when fellow representatives have decided they will "take their ball and go home" in what I personally see as a significant degree of immaturity. I am not a big fan of Trump, and for the life of me cannot see how the Republicans chose him to represent their interests, especially watching the coverage of the anniversary of Jan 6th 2021 as it becomes more and more apparent that not only did he do next to nothing to manage the situation, but very likely had a hand in its inception. Rides around the local area have unveiled a sizeable number of Trump 2024 flags and signs.
What? Wait a minute! Really?
I cannot see any plausible explanation that would justify any support of this narcissistic train wreck.
Florida Weather:
While enjoying the great benefits of life in southwest Florida, we received our first day of rain after fifteen "crappy days in paradise" as a significant line of active weather pushed across the state on Jan 16th prompting repeated thunderstorm and tornado warnings all morning on our cellphones, landlines, TV, and internet, accompanied by the beach and golf course warning horns startling the unaccustomed with their staccotic bleats. In the end, our tiny part of paradise was sparred from anything destructive, but the coverage of counties surrounding us was filled with the devastation of it's effects with 6 US weather service confirmed touchdowns, one that was only miles inland from where we are. Living in Ontario, our experience with tornadic thunderstorms is limited ... unfortunately, those in Barrie are all too familiar with tornado damage... but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a little unsettling. As opened with, the bulk of the days in southwest Florida are filled to the brim with cloudless skies, bright sunshine, glorious temperatures, and heavenly onshore breezes, but life is full of give 'n take, and we'll happily endure these sporadic events.
One amusing note, the warnings always included advice about finding somewhere to weather the impending tornado free from windows and surrounded by concrete walls, and with so many buildings down here being made of concrete block (which are also hurricane resistant) the best place in my mom's condo is a small bathroom in the center of the unit. Although you cannot appreciate the size of this bathroom, it caused us a fit of giggles as we envisioned the three of wedging ourselves into this space.
Weather back home:
In an earlier post I wrote about our good fortune on the trip down in late December, arriving in Naples just ahead of a significant winter event that stormed across the lower states leaving treacherous travelling conditions in its wake thanks largely to the fact these states have little infrastructure for dealing with ice and snow. Some may have seen coverage of the bedlam on I95 where hundreds were stranded for over 12 hours as state officials struggled with the conditions, and we collectively reached back across our right shoulder with a congratulatory pat for our planning. As with any storm, the effects were dealt with and the obstacles cleared, leaving life to return to some semblance of normal, but Mother Nature wasn't finished as she sent another winter storm charging up the east coast, this time its offering was a thick coating of ice thanks to hours of freezing rain. Case in point, my university football buddy who lives just north of Atlanta, Georgia, replied to my query about his part of the world that he awoke to a blanket of snow that had an icy crust creating havoc causing some limited power outages. Back home in Ontario, our kids reported windchills of -30C or more as blizzard-like conditions loomed, threatening the reopening of schools after a Covid-imposed shutdown following the holidays. As luck would have it, that very storm slammed the province with a once-in-a-decade blizzard that prompted school closures, delaying the return to face to face learning, grinding travel and commutes to a halt.
In supreme ridiculousness, video surfaced of folks actually hand-shovelling car paths on the 401!
Covid Continues:
We knew when we made the decision to point the car south and help my mom return to Naples, that Covid conditions in Florida were certainly worthy of caution, partly due to the head-in-the-sand actions of governor De Santos, but also to the shoulder-shrugging ambivalence of a significant portion of the American people. As we go about our daily tasks that require leaving the safe confines of our condo unit, we estimate that 30-40% of the crowds we encounter are following any semblance of Covid protocols like distancing and mask-wearing. Without any way of actually knowing, we surmise the obvious mask-wearing minority have come to Florida from affected areas like the US northeast and Canada. It is also worthy to note that the Atlantic side of the state is a much worse scenario than our gulf side. The local news reports include the same doom and gloom of the Omicron swath of infection and its effect on the health infrastructure, but there's a palpable feeling of "Meh, whatever" by a significant number. I would never have thought it possible but I actually miss the security of vaccination checks, imposed safety measures and conscious attention to the infection rates of back home.
While on the subject of Covid and related issues, can I bend your ear for a second with some thoughts about Novak Djokovic and his escapades down under? How appropriate is his nickname of "Djoker" after proving yet again that his level of entitlement is nigh unto limitless, justifying his massaging of the truth to allow his fans to see a defence of his 2020 title. Who knows what the truth actually is ... Is he vaccinated? Did he actually endure a Covid infection? Who actually filled out his visa application? In the end, it really doesn't matter since the feds have ordered his deportation. He is most assuredly a Djoke!
Inquiring minds like mine are curious if he'll actually serve the 3 year ban that comes with the deportation. I would be one of the most surprised if he does because you know that an appeal is on the works as I write this.
Either way, we'll continue to wear our masks, avoid crowds whenever possible, and do our part to manage our exposure to Omicron.
That's what I think I think, at least.
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