It’s still pretty chilly here in Southern Ontario, and it has felt like a long winter. I’ve been working from home most of the winter (driving in snow is okay with snow tyres, but I’m trying to keep driving to a minimum so as to keep my carbon emissions low). I’m fortunate that my job was classified as essential, so I’m still working from home. No novel-writing for me.

I felt a bit down yesterday because it has been getting warmer and more spring-like and then it snowed. I’m missing the English spring, especially seeing people’s photos of cherry blossom and bluebells on Instagram. Still, spring is coming — slowly. There are some daffodils in a garden up the road, and we have crocuses and snowdrops. We’ve been getting out in the garden and making paths and planting hardy plants and getting the raised beds ready. We also made a stone circle.

I feel very fortunate to have a garden to grow stuff in. I’d have gone completely stir-crazy if I had been in an apartment for the duration of lockdown.

The whole experience of Canadian winter followed by pandemic lockdown really brings home the meaning of “cabin fever”. The garden was covered in snow for three months. We had some good walks in the snow, though.

We’ve binge-watched the whole of Avatar: the Last Airbender. It was great. Then we watched the recent Netflix/BBC version of Watership Down. The rabbits look weird but the plot was very true to the book. I’m planning to do a post about fictional worlds and magic soon. (It’s been a few years since the Great Internet Controversy on that topic.)

I’m re-reading the book of Watership Down now. What I like about it is that Richard Adams never loses sight of the fact that his characters are rabbits. It’s also a very environmentalist book.

We have been out for a couple of walks (observing physical distancing of course) but we didn’t go very far, just walked down to the millpond. I checked the dates and realized that our walks were ten days apart.

I really hope this pandemic does make people reflect on what makes us human: community and mutual care and storytelling and connection with Nature. And I hope that we will collectively re-evaluate those essential jobs that have hitherto been undervalued: doctors and nurses and delivery drivers and trash collectors and supermarket staff. And also statisticians and pandemic planners.

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