Satanic raisins and a lament for a fading summer
A graduate of the University of Toronto, Trevor Hutchinson is a songwriter, writer and bookkeeper. He serves as Contributing Editor at The Lindsay Advocate. He lives with his fiancee and their five kids in Lindsay.
Is anyone else having trouble believing that we are already in late August? I mean seriously, where did the summer go?
Now sticklers will remind us that summer actually goes until September 22 this year, but let’s face it: for most of us, summer ends after Labour Day.
It’s also hard to believe that this is our third COVID summer. And yes, the virus is still a thing. We are nowhere near post-COVID. What we are is post-pretending to care about our vulnerable neighbours. We are post-giving a crap for anything else but our convenience. Our ability to come together to support each other has been replaced by selfishness of the tallest order. Learning to live with the virus is really just learning to allow other people to die with it.
And we are playing a deadly, delusional game. Sadly, the Omicron BA.5 could be one of the worst iterations of the virus to date. Vaccines for this variant won’t be ready until the late fall at the earliest, by which time another variant will have taken over. And we are only beginning to see how long COVID will be a drain on our economy and healthcare system. It’s just all so exhausting.
But my exhaustion pales in comparison to any health-care workers I know. Our health-care system is collapsing in real time. So far the provincial government (whose members definitely seem to be getting a sweet, sweet summer break) seem to be sticking to a one per cent raise for nurses (which is a decrease in wages due to inflation). This does not bode well for the near future of the staffing situation in health care.
I guess August is seeming a little heavier to me this year. And we still have teacher contracts looming and an upcoming municipal election. All while we are in a climate crisis with world-wide inflation and supply chain issues. (None of which are Trudeau’s fault by the way, unless he is secretly in charge of the entire world.)
I hope most of us will get to take a beat this month to relax and recharge. I’m not sure I can fit in a holiday this summer, but I have no excuse for not taking advantage of all the beauty that surrounds us in Kawartha Lakes. I’m thinking even day trips for butter tarts might help my mood. (And at the risk of sowing more societal division, let’s be clear in stating that raisins are from Satan and have no business being in the same room as a butter tart.)
Whatever your month looks like, I hope it is safe, fun and relaxing, with as few raisins as possible. Happy last real month of summer!
