This update will be of
nine pages, there is a lot of work to be done.
I will load each page as I complete it and this may take a few
days.
Regulations meant wearing
a mask all the way to my place of isolation - quarantine from
Guildford in England to West Vancouver, BC, Canada.
I took the £2 bus ride into Guildford and walked to the railway
station where I caught the convenient Railair link.
Except when eating and
drinking one had to wear a mask in Terminal 2 at Heathrow and on
the Air Canada flight AC 0855 to Vancouver.
In the terminal the pub and many restaurants were closed, I
social distance queued for a coffee and a muffin while I waited
for the gate to be notified.
The Air Canada flight
connected with an Air India flight with the smell associated with
many sweated tropical bodies...
It was at least 80% full but I was lucky, seated in an aisle seat
with the other two centre seats unoccupied.
All the passengers had face coverings, one flight attendant wore
full PPE in my section, but the rest made do with masks and
gloves.
Each passenger was given
a care kit with a bottle of water and a small bottle of hand
sanitiser (which I am still using).
Since quarantine is equivalent to prison we were given sparse
rations at the beginning of the flight and towards its
conclusion.
It was just a bit better than 'bread and water', there were no
drinks other than bottles of water, no tea, no coffee, no pop, no
alcohol..
Before leaving I had both
gone onto the BC website to fill in the form, and had downloaded
the Government of Canada App, to enter my Quarantine Plan.
On arrival at Vancouver Customs and Border Protection however,
these were not accepted, and so I still had to write out the plan
on a paper form.
Since the number of passengers through the airport was low, the
delay wasn't much, but it was frustrating doing the job three
times over.
What was typical was how Punjabi people do not understand the
concept of the queue, and politeness, as a whole family pushed me
back to occupy the space in front of me.
Ted picked me up and gave
me a phone... I finally had a phone number that I needed before I
arrived to insert into my quarantine plan.
This would later cause me a lot of trouble as the authorities
tried to contact me through an alternate number which
unfortunately was connected to an answering machine!
Fourteen days is a long
time to not be allowed off a property. At least in England I
could go for a walk in the countryside.
There are trails up the street from here, little chance of
meeting anyone, but prohibited.
The second night here Daryl spotted a police car outside,
checking up on me? I was inside the motor home watching Netflix
on the iPad.
I am a lot more wary of the police here in Canada than I am
anywhere else I have lived on this planet.
There are a couple of
cats here to keep one company, sitting in the Sun when it's warm.
The first morning it was 13º Centigrade...
That first morning I saw a bear in front of the motor home, but I
have not seen it since.
or