Editor:
I went to Shoppers Drug Mart and was relieved to see a security guard and a line of people at the door, limiting the store to 50 persons.
A few of us were standing in line, two metres apart, when we were graced by the arrival of the Queen of the Universe. Her royal attire must have been at the cleaners and her dingy coat and droopy track pants were a disguise to confound the paparazzi.
The guard informed Her Highness that there is a line. He obviously didn’t get the memo that plebes are not to address Her Highness directly because she, in an attempt at inter-dimensional travel, tried to walk right through him.
So much for social distancing.
He forcefully told her that there is a line and finally she opened the curtain of her imaginary litter and spoke: “I’m just going to the pharmacy.”
A line she repeated almost a dozen times as the guard repeatedly explained that the store is limited to 50 people and she needs to get in line. Her Highness was aghast that the guard thought this applied to her.
Finally, she got in line, by just standing in front of the person at the front of the line (me!). In Act II of this drama, Her Highness now had to be convinced to go to the back of the line.
“Okay, I’ll get in line… but the back of the line? I’m just going to the pharmacy.” There were only four people in line. The stress this put on everyone in line was unnecessary and made a difficult situation worse.
At least there was no yelling or shoving and I managed to keep my big mouth shut. Later, I thought it would be safe to go for a walk on the boardwalk at Deer Lake. At first it was nice, there was a breeze blowing off the lake, people were walking respectfully apart.
Then along comes this idiot jogging/running on the boardwalk. Exhaling vigorously, running within half a metre of people while depositing the wafts of his exhalations on everyone.
People were freaking out, but we couldn’t get off the boardwalk to get distance from him. I got a whiff of his BO as he ran by, mixed in with that miasma could’ve been coronavirus. I was suddenly terrified where a moment earlier I was quite relaxed and felt safe.
This macho moron could’ve been infecting every person he ran past and he just didn’t know or care. How can anyone be so thoughtless and selfish as to force people to inhale their exhalations at a time like this? Can the parks department put up a “No Jogging on the Boardwalk and Narrow Paths” signs? Sadly, the boardwalk may have to be closed even though normal, thoughtful people can use it safely.
Werner Meile, Burnaby
