At finger-pointing time, politics in Canada slips away into a morass of regrets. Wending your way through the reports on the pandemic, you have little to console yourself. We think of our politicians as the bickering class. There has got to be a light somewhere down damn dark tunnel.
What about the promise of science? Is covid-19 that much worse than the Spanish Flu of a century ago? Is it not just facile to lay the blame for this pandemic at the doors of the unprepared politicians?
Is it really a race between new strains of covid and vaccinating the population? When does herd immunity kick in?
I would rather be at a casino, showing off my expertise at the game of Blackjack. Yah, that is what I miss the most. I could kid you that I would rather be down in Toronto in that concrete convertible where the Blue Jays play. Quite honestly, I would not waste my time with that between-seasons bilge by sports writers who think they are talking about something important. Baseball is a game for a sunny summer afternoon and gentle breeze, with the roar of the crowd drowning out the vendors with their wares.
And by the way, save some crocodile tears for Ontario’s no longer omnipotent Beer Stores. Did you know that the Ford conservatives have slipped them a mickey while everybody thought they were fighting the pandemic? We now have beer and other booze on off-sale from our bars and restaurants. That is in addition to the beer and wines in the grocery stores. Mind you, you still have to go to the liquor control board stores to get any decent French wines at half-way reasonable prices. If I am going to pickle my liver in alcohol, it will be with something fit to drink.
They tell us now that the Beer Store lost $50 million last year. At what? The Beer Store are the poorest merchandisers in the province. They are dedicated to beer and have no clue of how to find an attractive way to sell it. I like to think of my local beer shoppes as recycle places that will conveniently sell you some beer when you take the time to drop off your empties.
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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry
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