Tag: tourist trap

Dream

After the rain.

Dug the garlic today. About 120 heads of purple hardneck. I laid it out to dry and damned if we didn’t have a hard rain. Granted it didn’t last long. It was marvellous to feel. It was like the earth lapped it up. The birds even came out and seemed to rejoice in the damp, warm air.

Deb’s bouquet.

The garden is doing what it can. Picked a bunch of peas. Not easy. The wind has blown most of the vines off the fences, making one pick through the tangle. I know I’m missing as many I’m picking. Willow helped out picking, but she ate the ones she picked not contributing to the bucket. Once and awhile I’d give her a pod I’d eaten the peas out of. She would nosh it around and spit it out, giving me a dirty look. She will eat the pea pods as long as they have peas in them, take the peas out and try to pawn them off and she will let you know you are a cheat.

The mosquitoes have been atrocious. The garden is almost unbearable. At night we usually have at least a few driving us crazy. The buggers having followed us through the door. Sometimes I hear Willows jaws clack as she tries biting them out of the air. They are tough to get in the pitch black.

The fire in the Palliser River area is getting bigger. It has burned a lot of country that Lisa and I love. It will be something to see when we can get out there.

It is a long weekend and the tourists are unrelenting. Hordes all trying to do everything at once. I am not sure if they even notice the smoke obscuring the mountains or the sun that rises and sets blood red, on fire through a thickening haze.

Humans are something. I dreamt that the town and hills surrounding the lake were on fire, like they will be one day, while the long grass, trees and homes burned, the tourists in their wake boats just kept jetting around the lake, pulling water skiers and surfers, kids on tubes, loud music from big thumping speakers, laughter, cocktails, bikinis and sunglasses, sunblock and beer bottle empties thrown overboard. Making sure they are draining their tanks, getting their kicks before the lake starts to boil.

Just a bad dream. Exacerbated by the heat, smoke and pesky mosquitoes.

rant

It is hard to believe we are experiencing a pandemic and have been given instructions to not travel and social distance, keep to your household, etc.

The Columbia Valley is located in an interesting part of British Columbia. Three hours away from Calgary, Alberta. Home of some of the most entitled residents in Canada, wealthy, individualistic with a huge chip on their shoulders thinking they have been hard done by by the rest of Canada.

Lake Windermere is surrounded by their opulent second homes, or cabins as they like to call them. Albertans like to remind us at every turn that we are nothing without them. I can’t tell you how often I have been told that this part of BC is their ‘backyard’.

This is the end of a long weekend that saw the area swamped with tourists, the overwhelming majority from Alberta. Every resort full to the rafters, people gathering in condos, outside, shopping, on the lake, at the ski hills and bumping into each other in parking lots.

Who could blame tourists for wanting to be here with the abundance of fresh air, recreation and scenery. Normally they would be welcome with open arms, but these are not normal times. It isn’t inconceivable, even probable some tourists from Alberta have travelled to the Columbia Valley to skirt the health and safety Covid protocols of their home province.

It makes me feel foolish. Why are we adhering to Covid protocols while so many are not? Why are we not seeing our children and grandchildren? Why am I wearing a mask while people in stores and gas stations do not?

It also makes me wonder, at the rate we are going, how will we be able to put the pandemic behind us.

My guess is only about one third of people, in this area, locals and tourists, are adhering to health protocols; one third believe there is Covid but don’t give a shit, because they believe it doesn’t affect them; and the last third don’t believe there is a pandemic and it is made up by government or some higher order to take away our freedoms and control us.

Regarding the last group of people, our local newspaper has given them plenty of space to state their case, with the editor even writing an editorial how we should approach their argument with an open mind. Sorry but I don’t think reptilian super beings are trying to control me. Sometimes I wish I did so I could feel smug like the rest of them in the knowledge that I have all the answers. Is it a coincidence that many of these folks don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground, but have fantastic hypothesis’ on the working of the world.

And the third of the people that don’t give a shit, the travellers from Alberta and beyond and our local politicians acting like giddy school girls welcoming visitors to the valley in spite of our top doctors warning against it, thanks for nothing.

Perhaps a vaccine will put an end to the pandemic, however that is not entirely clear. If it doesn’t we will be in a heap of trouble. There is no way we can control the spread of the disease with only one third of the population adhering to protocols.

So why don’t we just say, ‘fuck it’ and let sickness run it’s course. The final results will be quicker. Sure there will be deaths, but there will anyway, and herd immunity will be achieved faster, after all, it’s just a strain of flu we are talking about.

Of course, I am being flippant but also deadly serious. How long will it take for the one third to look around and question why they are being vigilant in light of so many being inattentive.

I like to think this small tourist trap I live in is not indicative of the rest of Canada. That progress stopping the spread is being made. If I am wrong then throw away the protocols – I’d love to see my children.

This is only the first long weekend of the year and I’m already sick of people selfishly thumbing their noses at the Covid health protocols handed down by our Prime Minister, Provincial Premiers and Canada’s top doctors and scientists.