Last December, I helped a friend of mine move. He was moving out of town for education reasons, and it wasn't optimal timing, as it was not too long before we went into lockdown. But it was more than a one man job, so I took the chance and me, him, and two other guys took on the task of moving heavy objects in close proximity, sweating and breathing heavily at each other. Even with masks it didn't feel very COVID safe.
He was a pretty close friend. Whenever we were allowed to have social bubbles, he was the only one outside my household or immediate family that I kept a spot for. Before COVID, he was the only person that I really went out of my way to hang out with that wasn't a coworker.
If you've been reading awhile, he's the guy I met in Katimavik as he was leaving Thunder Bay and I was arriving there, who was the tallest in his group, had a pin hat, was the chairman of his group's Communication Councel, and kept a dream journal. All traits that we shared. Because my group arrived at two placements after his, the locals would always compare me to him, and then we even wound up living near each other after the program finished.
He's also the guy whose shorts I stole because Air Canada lost all my luggage and he had to leave some stuff behind because of a baggage limit or something. I wore those all the way until last year when they ripped. Another tragedy of 2020.
Before all this, of course I myself moved. Not as far as my friend, but it did cause my former roommate to move out of town. He'd been stressing me out for awhile, so I thought I'd feel relieved more than anything. However, other than the person I mentioned above, he was probably my only other "guy" friend, so that's a dynamic I'm lacking in my current lifestyle.
Also, for better or worse, the place I moved from had a very active community. This made me nervous, because that neighbourhood also had Waterloo Region's highest rate of community spread for COVID, and the active community was probably the reason. But in a way, it was sort of a relief that I could never sink into a fully solitary lifestyle. You couldn't help but know all your neighbours and be invested in their lives.
So, between my two friends moving, and myself moving to a quieter neighbourhood, I'm experiencing a truer sense of isolation than I have throughout the pandemic.
Obviously I have Lee-Anne. I'm kind of leaning into the solitude bit for the theme of this post, but I don't want anyone saying I didn't count her.
Did I mention that our upstairs neighbours were gone for awhile? We moved in slowly and settled in here halfway through December. Then after a couple days they disappeared. They were gone for about two and a half months, so we've been here longer without them than with them. Regardless, even with them back, it's not like we've been able to develop any kind of connection. At first we thought they were staying in quarantine for 14 days as recommended for travellers, but it's been over two weeks and not much has changed. I know full well there's at least one person who lives up there that I've never met.
One funny thing to note is that when I was helping my friend move, I learned that one of the guys in our four man crew owned a bakery just across the street from where I live. Then later on, in a staff meeting, somebody mentioned ordering donuts from there and several people started talking about how they have a really good reputation. Later on, Lee-Anne got some stuff there and mentioned me. It was the owner, and he remembered who I was.
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