Home again

After a tiring, almost 3 three day trip, we have arrived back in Fernie. Actually we have been here for a week already.

We left Olvera, Andalucia on the morning of March 27th. A friend in Olvera, Geoff, offered to drive us to the airport in Malaga.

Our Air Transat flight from Malaga to Montreal was scheduled to depart at 11:20 am. We arrived at the airport at 8:30 and found ourselves at the end of a very long queue.  The length of the queue was partly due to the suggested personal spacing of 2 metres and partly because people were anxious to leave Spain and had arrived earlier that us.

The Canadian government had implemented a "wellness rule" for those individuals boarding flights to Canada. The intent of the rule was to stop those with coronavirus symptoms from boarding the flight. We expected that some testing would occur.  Perhaps a body temperature check?  All that happened was that a check-in agent held up a sign asking those with a temperature, a cough or difficulty breathing to self identify.  Surprisingly... no one did! ???  On arrival in Montreal, the same questions were asked by the customs and immigration people. No further testing was done.

We did not have a connecting flight until the next morning so we stayed an an airport hotel. The next day we flew the Vancouver, then to Kelowna, picked up our car and drove to Kaslo.  We felt that it would be best to be in Fernie for our 14 day quarantine so the next day we drive to our house in Fernie.

We have been in quarantine for one week now. We are getting used to it. We spent the last 3 weeks in Spain in self isolation or lock down.  Here at least, we can order groceries on line and keep busy with household and hobby projects.   At this point we really aren't able to see the end of living in some form of self isolation, but at least by next week we will be able to get out for a walk.

A couple of days ago we had a video dinner party with our son, Jamie and family. We used our iPad and Skype video.  I mounted the camera (iPad)  at the end of the table at about the head height, as if someone was sitting in this location. To get the right image I had to move the mount back form the table a couple of feet.  The image showed the table  with Linda and I sitting on either side.  Jamie set his device up in a similar location.  The effect was that we were all sitting at long table. Other than not being able to pass the wine or clink glasses, it worked extremely well.

Here is a photo of our dinner video setup. I'm using an old TV/monitor for the picure and sound and my iPhone for the camera and communication.  If anyone wants to join us for dinner, just let us know.



 Stay safe everyone...