Well, hooray! I finally got my post lockdown haircut. 102 days, more than twice as long as normal. And, speaking of normal…

And, yes, I know I am living with male pattern baldness. Just happy to still have hair. Anyway, things took a step towards normal recently in Calgary. Over the past ten days I was able to visit the dentist, the physio and, eventually, the hair stylist.

Getting my haircut appointment was actually quite challenging. We had a false start for reopening in Calgary, which got delayed ten days. I found my hair appointment cancelled because of the delay and had to start again. My hair guy has actually started using e-mail for the first time and that helped. Meanwhile, Hilda still waits and is not a happy camper. Our stylist is trying to make up his schedule by working very long hours and an extra day.

On the physio front, our once very busy Panther Sports Medicine patient area looked like a ghost town. Two physios, one admin and no support staff. I am pretty sure they are not covering their fixed costs, but thankful for the neck treatment anyway. As with the post lockdown haircut, getting personal treatments is something once taken for granted. Virtual massages are nearly as useless as a virtual haircut.

Our biggest issue with dentists coming back to work appeared to be simple things like getting PPE. And a few harder things like physical layout of dental surgeries. Looks like open plan offices, like public transportation, are not so great during a pandemic.

But these visits brought home to me how tactile we humans are. I noted to the nurse how nice it was to have someone touch you, again. (She took this the right way. Whew!)

Post Lockdown Haircut – Baby Steps Forward

So, community life is resuming. None of my friends want me in their houses (I hope that’s COVID-related) but we are able to meet on the deck for a spaced out coffee and chat. We are seeing our family again as we have declared a cohort bubble. I took the grandchildren to a nearby playground which just reopened. Carrying hand sanitizer is even more important than gummy bears.

I wear a mask whenever I go into a store, but not on my daily walks which continued unabated throughout. Seeing as I am married to the world’s best cook, I don’t go out to restaurants much. And it looks like English Premier League soccer will be starting up next week, as well as some sort of Stanley Cup Playoffs later in summer.