What Did You Get For Covid?

Christmas came late in 2020

Photo by Nature Zen on Unsplash

Remember Covid? Remember the beginning, the trepidation about going outside, touching anything? Sanitizer, disinfectant, bleach? Blech! Homemade masks were so cute, so 2020. What supplies would get to get us through those first months? Toilet paper was like rice in Y2K. We couldn’t get enough.

But there were the treats—streaming subscriptions: on Netflix, on Prime, on Apple and Crave. On Disney+ and Hulu, Britbox and Dazn (did anybody ever get Dazn?). Each not-too-expensive subscription made sense and got us beyond YouTube. We still have them. Maybe we can get rid of a few now that we are going outside again.

We felt compelled to treat ourselves. Good chocolate can be so comforting, and how about those bottles of expensive Scotch that I’ve enjoyed a few sips from? I had to make a comparison, in the interests of science, of course, since I wasn’t inviting anyone over. In the meantime, what did you get for Covid?

Of course, we were in the kitchen a lot; anybody need some sourdough starter? But we did take advantage of our stay-cation. It was a good time to get those gadgets that we really needed, well want, well need, well want. I know which won.

First came the Ninja Personal Blender. We already had a blender. It is about thirty years old, an Osterizer. It works fine, but it can’t pulverize ice cubes for that oh-so-necessary morning smoothie. Had I ever had a smoothie at home before? Was I still getting up in the morning now that I was always at home? No, but why not? And there was one family member who had planned on a year of travel which got abruptly interrupted and was now isolating with us with a weekly kale intake that required high-powered processing.

And then came the idea that I really needed an immersion mixer, the one Consumer Reports recommended. The more I looked at it, the more I lusted. This thing was a beauty. I wouldn’t need to make a mess on the counter with the Cuisinart, the blender, or the Mixmaster. I could make the mess right on the stove! It dices, it slices … well not really, but it does turn vegetable soup into a purée pretty damn quick. And that four-foot-long cord is just the right length to knock over a couple of glasses on the counter as I whip up egg whites for a soufflé. Who had time to make a soufflé before Covid?

And since our family of three now had two really great and necessary gadgets, we needed one more so that each of us could have their toy. Why not a spiralizer to make an entire zucchini into an endless length of spaghetti? This is really cool and looks great. We’ve used it twice in two years.

And how could I resist a keen-edged Japanese knife hand-crafted by master artisans and on sale at a favourite store? I mean they were moving, and at 130 dollars, practically giving them away and besides look at all the money we were saving by not eating out!

So Christmas came late for us in 2020, but it has lasted more than two years. And what did you get for Covid?

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Life seemed stressed at the seams with news coming from the United States, Ukraine and beyond. Heartbreaking. In my own province, the legislature passed a regressive piece of legislation. It’s hard to see a way forward sometimes. Sending you a story each week and connecting with you helps me. Your stories and my stories connect us.

I hope you will check out the next instalment of Letters from Second Peninsula.

Alice xo