June 23

We awoke to a modern tragedy today. The internet was down! My wife would have a hard time working and I would have a hard time going to my Tuesday Zoom meeting. First world problems abounded and we felt out of sorts, lost. I had just experienced life without internet and I felt ok, it was still strange losing the connection we all have come to rely upon.

Good things come from tragedy, I know losing the internet is by definition not a tragedy, but I still made the best of it. It was time to clean the house. We had a cleaner come before covid, but she has not been to our house in over three months now. I wonder if she still is working? Or is she sitting at home collecting CERB. Time is slowly racing by and cleaning is another of the mundane ways to pass the time as it flies by.

Time, the most precious thing we own; the most fleeting as well. Three months ago I started on my journey of self-discovery. I started writing my journal and recording the days as they passed by. I have been honoured to have so many people join my journey. I have strived to keep relevant, to keep it interesting for myself and those that have come along for the ride. I know some have stopped by occasionally to catch up and read while others are there every day. As summer is here I will do my best to continue writing my daily thoughts. When the internet was lost again I stepped outside and helped Brad work on his new garage.

Brad is another of the fortunate ones. Like myself he says he is living the dream; the dream of freedom. Brad was an installer for Shaw, he was packaged out and now has been given his freedom. A freedom gained as covid took away many of our freedoms. He is now living without a clock to punch, living a life where family can truly come first.

Shaw has transitioned away from human contact, from an installer coming to your house. Now it is all self-installation and set up, they expect people to be able to hook up their own technology. In our modern world, there is less connection with humans and more connection with technology. We are losing something in the process. This morning we lost the ability to talk to someone and find out why we had no internet. Big corporations, in their desire for profit, have eliminated anyone from answering a phone. Covid is the perfect excuse for them to shut down the call centre. What better way to eliminate the personal touch than to claim “due to Covid19 we will no longer have anyone available to talk to.” Our tragic loss of internet was Brad’s gain.

After the evening rain, we all went for another walk down the street. My wonderful teen was home with her friends and I stopped in and asked them if they wanted to come on our walk. They were too busy staring at their devices in their hands to look up at me. “No thanks” is all I got. I tried again and pointed to the painted sky outside.

” Come outside,” I said,” get off your stupid phones and look at the real world. The sunset is amazing!”

“That’s not a sunset” was the grunted reply I received from one of Marijke’s friends.

I shrugged in frustration and left them to their devices.

The sunset was incredible again. Shapes in the clouds glowed with red and yellow yews. Rhonda pointed to the circle overhead and saw a spaceship. I looked at the whisps of cloud streaming behind it and saw the waves of red-painted against a canvas of blue. We asked each other if the sunsets are really that much better since the shutdown. Brad thought it was the lack of the jet stream making our sunsets, clearer and cleaner. The sky certainly felt cleaner after three months of very little air traffic.

We basked again in the glory of another sunset, another day on our beautiful street. Day by day we will continue to move forward in these strange times. We can enjoy the new normal of amazing sunsets and cleaner skies. I hope the next generation stuck on their phones will find a way to look up and feel the same connection we do.