RamsayWrites

The Plague-Ground: We’re not all in the same boat. But we are all in the same storm.

On the weekend, Spain redefined the meaning of stay-cation by letting its people leave their homes – but go no further than a kilometre from them. Such is the nature of travel these days. But that will all change once we have the all-clear, and a vaccine, and rigorous testing at choke-points like airports. Hong Kong International has already installed […]

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The Plague-Ground – If you’re feeling anxious, join the herd

10 Comments / Plague-Ground / Bob Ramsay

The pandemic has taught me you don’t have to be facing a fist or a pistol in order to feel threatened. You don’t have to face eviction or lose your job or your clients. You don’t even have to be on a respirator, or just be old. All you have to feel is a change

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The Plague-Ground – “If I had but one word to delete….”

89 Comments / Plague-Ground / Bob Ramsay

It’s only April and already we know what the Word of the Year will be: “Coronavirus.” It was first coined in 1968, but no one outside the world of science had heard of it until January, and now, like the pandemic it describes, it’s everywhere. In fact, there’s a case to be made that “coronavirus” is

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The Plague-Ground – I didn’t say I hate America

21 Comments / Plague-Ground / Bob Ramsay

I didn’t say I hate Americans. I didn’t even say I hate America’s institutions. All I said in yesterday’s blog was that it’s time Americans stopped viewing themselves as the best nation on earth, and that we Canadians could help them do that. Period. I got a lot of agreement and some dissent, most very

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The Plague-Ground – What you must never tell an American

52 Comments / Plague-Ground / Bob Ramsay

Thank god for the pandemic. Now, even we Canadians can speak truth to America’s lack of power. Yet until now, in the way we would not discuss gun control or health care with our American friends, we would also let them get away with saying they are citizens of the greatest nation on earth. Or

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The Plague-Ground – I am calm

37 Comments / Plague-Ground / Bob Ramsay

I’m calling my bank now. They left a voicemail for me at 5:15 yesterday afternoon. It sounded serious. So I called them back right away and got a message saying they were open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s now 8:01 Friday morning, and I’m calling them again. I’m calling from the deck because

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The Plague-Ground – YOU CAN TAKE THE BOY OUT OF THE CITY, BUT…

38 Comments / Plague-Ground / Bob Ramsay

Jean and I have moved up north for the past month. Last week I looked at my calendar and noticed I had a lunch scheduled that day in Toronto with an old friend. Had I cancelled that? Had he? No matter. Neither of us was going to turn up anyway. But this prompted me to

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The Plague-Ground – One to Think. One to Blink.

23 Comments / Plague-Ground / Bob Ramsay

Two weeks ago, I was searching for toney ways to keep us entertained at night. Enough of Tiger King! Bring on King Lear! Today, I’m drowning in culture. Especially the kind where I have to concentrate for longer than a minute, like The Ring Cycle, The Messiah and Swan Lake, and of course anything by Shakespeare. (Did I

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The Plague-Ground – In Defence of Curiosity

7 Comments / Plague-Ground / Bob Ramsay

In the rush to find a vaccine, let’s not forget the rush to find whatever your curiosity leads you to. It’s easy to think one rush is urgent, while the other seems trivial, almost insultingly so these days. But the fact is, basic research (“I wonder where this takes me…?”) and applied research (“Find the

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The Plague-Ground – Would you buy the middle seat?

12 Comments / Plague-Ground / Bob Ramsay

This week, William Shakespeare will be 456 years old. We should care because the temple to his genius, the Stratford Festival, is in dire straits. Stratford’s problem is shared by most every arena, concert hall and auditorium in the world. It’s in the fixed seat business. Until the pandemic, Stratford thrived or stumbled by the number

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The Plague-Ground – Who’s in your basement?

19 Comments / Plague-Ground / Bob Ramsay

Imagine you tune in to the Prime Minister’s daily pandemic briefing today and hear him say this: “We are now ready to open the American border. As of Monday, Canadians — and our goods and services — will be able to cross into the United States unhindered.” Really? You might wonder what Canadian would want

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The Plague-Ground – Quick, what’s your postal code?

49 Comments / Plague-Ground / Bob Ramsay

On Monday night, I logged into my online bank account. I keyed in my Username and my Password, just as I’d done a thousand times in the last years – and a hundred times in the last month. “Invalid Username/Password. Please try again.” So I keyed them in again, being careful to get all the letters,

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The Plague-Ground – Quick, what’s your postal code?

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