Jaime Rowe: A Day In The Life

Friday, November 20th

This Friday was followed by a weird kind of day. Yesterday's felt a little too similar to back in March when lockdowns were first implemented across the province. Ontario’s premier has been hinting at lockdowns for a week now, to be announced today. It felt surreal, like we had to enjoy our last days before we couldn’t for a while again. 

Thus today was a bit different than most days. My partner and I went to Redbrick, the downtown café we often visit to get cider. Masks were mandatory and we couldn't stay long - it’s of course been this way since mid-March. It was supposed to be a happy day, but I couldn’t get the feeling out of my head that furthered this sense of impending doom (~~dramatic~~), but I tried to ignore it as best as I could. This seemed like, at least for me, one of the last days we would get to do anything like this for quite a while. On the way home, the bus was filled to the brim with high school students, adding to the lingering COVID-19 anxiety. 

The announcement regarding the new lockdowns started at 3:30. At this point in the day my partner and I were sitting at a Tim Horton’s and doing homework. I was watching the live broadcast while others in the establishment seemed pretty neutral about the whole thing. I felt alone in a situation that I don’t think I should’ve been alone in. The premier announced that only parts of the province were shutting down (we knew this previously but didn’t know which ones), not including ours. We continued on, but the dread still sticks to the back of my head. 

I go home and take a nap. I work on my homework and fall asleep after spending the last few hours of my night listening to stand-up under the Christmas lights set up in my room. The day turned out better than I had hoped and tomorrow’s still looks somewhat hopeful for Guelph. So far. 

Unsuccessfully drinking apple cider