One good thing about COVID-19 is the way in which it has influenced some of our lifestyle choices.
Never mind toilet paper, Walmart has an empty bike rack, yeast has been selling out and garden centres are booming.
Some dedicated shoppers who’ve had to go cold turkey have realized they didn’t need to be shopping for stuff as much as they used to so there are fewer cars on the roads, less money being spent on pure consumerism and more time to look around and see what’s right under our noses.
I do feel sorry for twackers though, people who enjoy “twacking” around just looking at what’s on offer as recreation.
Like Janine and me at the thrift stores.
The home is becoming more than a just a home, it’s becoming a place of refuge, a place where you realize can do more things you enjoy, a place to appreciate your own little patch of outdoors as much as the indoors.
And if the summer of being forced to stay in our own province doesn’t make us appreciate it more than we don’t deserve to be living in this fascinating place.
World travel is educational. Everyone knows that but check out gaysaroundthebay.com to see just some examples of how you can have world travel experiences while ‘stuck’ in Newfoundland.
Out of Canada’s 20 UNESCO World Heritage sites, we have four of them!
Four, and I’ve only been to two of them: Gros Morne and L’anse aux Meadows.
If we all picked just one place to not just visit but learn about when the Staycation guidelines are released we’d all be better off culturally, financially and maybe even spiritually.
Learning should be a key component.
If you drive through or around a place, stop for lunch, even stay overnight without making a conscious effort to take guided tours, read story boards, or read up before you go, you’re not experiencing our tremendous history and are poorer for it.
Newman and I will be going to a few places in the intrepid Enterprise. We haven’t decided where yet.
Grand Bank is in my mind, and Mistaken Point.
I’d like to revisit all the wonderful places on the Northern Peninsula and make our way to Battle Harbour and Red Bay. It would be no problem to spend a week or more and when considering the cost, consider what you won’t be spending on outside travel this year.
Daughter #2 and six year old grandson have taken to hiking the East Coast Trail and exploring new places while son-in-law holds down the fort with the almost two year old.
Their first excursion was from Torbay to Middle Cove, starting on Motion Lane.
There and back took about three hours.
The next time they picked the Torbay/Flatrock trail, planning to go only so far and turn back but it was a beautiful day and they were having a wonderful time and the next thing they knew, they were all the way to Flatrock.
Reed had insisted on putting a couple of Transformers in his backpack. Daughter relented and it turned out to be a good thing.
It was six hours by the time they got back to their starting point! I’d say the bit of time spent playing with Transformers in Flatrock went a long way to this six year old’s relaxation before starting back.
At one point on the way back he sat down in the trial and said “why did I agree to come on this hike” but overall he was fine with it all.
The next day his mother was stiff and sore but he didn’t have a feather knocked out of him.
I had talked about going with them. Ha ha.
I can just see Search and Rescue coming to airlift me out.
La Manche is on their list and fear of heights guarantees that there Mimi won’t be on that trip either.
On my best day I think I’d be good for an hour each way, maybe more if it was all level and with a good rest before starting back. Especially if I had my Transformers. Ha ha.
Never mind, there are lots of other ways to explore Newfoundland and Labrador.
Janice Wells lives in St. John’s. Email: [email protected] or [email protected].
