Shard

Not just a latte, could be a pint, a burger, whatever, but does anyone else feel the ambience is kind of...destroyed? I don't know, as I've hardly been out, and most venues are closed until next week. Normally, I'm quite into cafes and pubs, but I find all the protective measures (spacing, glass shields, masks, etc, etc) all a bit depressing. Is it something that one gets used to? Anyone acclimatized to the new normal yet? On top of all the "ambience doubts" I'm still convinced there's a killer virus out there, there's literally a pandemic going on (folks!) and so I question the very idea of going out to social locations. I hate being this paranoid, but....

dbd33

I have no expectation of visiting any such places for the foreseeable future.

Atlantic Xpat

I've visited our favourite famly pizza place - twice int the past two weeks - and the local Keg steakhouse. The pizza place felt markedly different - sparser table set up, hand sanitising stations and servers in faceshields but not masks. Paper (disposable) menu's on request but QR code on the tables that takes you to the online menu. Pizza makers (I know there is a word for that) in masks. Ambiance was different - the visors look a bit wierd, but we know the staff well and they were so transparently delighted to see customers again it made up for it. The Keg was a different experience - Masked greeter at the door, don't arrive more than 5 mins before reservation time, wait outside until called in (which was 25 mins later & thats going to be a problem on a rainy/snowy/cold day). Inside not much felt different - no appreciable change in layout although they were restricting overall capacity, servers in masks, regular menus etc. In both cases condiments brought out in disposable plastic containers. As it was a Keg, the steak was still not cooked properly but thats nothing to do with Covid 19!

I think we'll still go out to eat at times, certainly while there are no Covid cases in the province (24 days with no new cases yesterday). If there is a spike, as there inevitably will be, then I'd think twice. Bars open on Thursday - I don't anticipate racing back to a bar but thats mainly because there are none within walking distance anyway!

scrubbedexpat091

We never ate out much pre-COVID but certainly wont eat out now at all, just no point. I see some of the hipster places in our neighborhood are busy, but with 50% reduced seating capacity, some only have like 12 people inside at once and a line of 20, so normal times most of that line would have been inside seated.

Bigger chains have big banners outside screaming we are open, come eat, so unsure of how they are doing.

The coffee shops near us that I have seen are not permitting anything but take out, order and leave, no sitting around.

I suspect some of these places will end up closing, can't imagine smaller places can survive long term with the new reality, and while the food in the restaurant in our building is good, and they do take out, I am not going to pay dine in style prices for take out, which seems to be what some places are betting on, but people tend to be more willing to pay higher price for sitting and dining in and such, but when it comes to take out, expect lower pricing.

Shard

So, there are other sane people around !

Shard

Thanks for this report from the front line AX.

Shard

Yes take-out is a bandaid solution for a full blown cafe or restaurant. If that's the business model all they need is a truck.

Pulaski

This! SDing, masks, screens, hand sanizer, etc., are desiged to mitigate a risk, and the risk is still there, even though things are "opening up" the risk is still very much there, and indeed in my bailiwick has been steadily increasing since March, so the risk is increasing not decreasing.

The best mitigation for the risk of catching the virus while you're in a coffeeshop, bar, or restaurant, is to not be there at all, and stay home. So that is what we're doing, and will continue to do so for the forseeable future.

Shard

Thanks Pulaski. I've been genuinely wondering whether I should go against my better judgement or not.

Pulaski

The problem that we all face, is that seeing people out and about, at bars and restaurants, is going to create the illusion that "everyone" is getting back to normal, but what you won't see, at least not obviously, is the ones who are more cautious and are staying away/ staying at home. So when you see a moderate crowd in a bar or restaurant, you need to ask yourself, what was it like before the lock down? If previously the place was packed, with a queue outside and a crowd on the terrace, then difference is the people who are still at home, waiting for more information and hopefully, in due course, a vaccine.

johnwoo

It's my wife's birthday next month so I'm torn between going away for a few days or going out to dinner, or non of the above.
I feel I'm going to do the wrong thing whatever.
On a different note, getting a drivers license renewed is turning into a nightmare. Not an easy thing even at the best of times, added to all this the new Real ID thing.

scilly

Our local coffee shop opened up for take-out coffee in early April, OH would walk down, buy a coffee for him and a latte for me, decant them into our travel mugs so they would keep warm while he walked back home. We then had some really lovely weather about 2 weeks into the new system, and there is a small neighbourhood park nearby where almost no-one went. So on about 5 days over a 2 week period, OH would take me in the car, he would buy the coffee, drive over to the park and we would sit on one of the benches (5 very well-spaced around a grassed area). Sometimes a close friend would join us, sitting at the far end of the bench from me. We maintained more than a 2m spacing at all times.

Restrictions eased in early May, and the coffee shop opened up for stay-in consumption of coffee and food. But a very different system, with tables well spaced, only 2 chairs per table, and only one window bench area available for seating with 1 chair to be used and next 2 not available ...... that reduced the seating to 3 from 7. Coffee still served in disposable paper cups, food in paper bags. No jugs of water with glasses for freebie water, only bottled for sale. No thermoses of cream and milk or shakers of cinnamon, nutmeg, etc out on a service counter, staff had to do it for you, and only wooden stir sticks, no metal or plastic spoons/forks/knives

About 2 weeks ago, they were allowed to change the arrangement slightly, largely because we were allowed to increase our "bubbles" by 1 or by 2 if they were from the same household ..... furniture rearranged, tables still spaced at more than 2 m distance, but there was now 1 table for 4, 2 tables for 3, and 2 tables for 2. No change to the window bench seating. Plus they are allowed to serve coffees in real cups, because of the super-duper dishwashers such places have to have.

We haven't yet eaten out, but we have been having pick-up from a local Japanese restaurant.

I've been for 2 physio appointments (badly needed!), in a superb safe environment set up by my phsyio. OH has had his hair cut, I'm still growing mine!

I'm currently waiting for my doctor to phone me ....... I need some new prescriptions and they would rather not have patients go into the office unless necessary, so are doing as much as they can by phone or video. It's going to be interesting, especially as it is the doctor on duty, not my own.

So that is BC .................. pubs, restaurants, stores, etc etc open but under very strict regulations, and they can be shut down at a moment's notice if an inspector sees thay are not obeying the rules.

BristolUK

The others here sometimes want an iced cap from Tim Hortons and the nearest is a small kiosk 5 minutes away in the hospital building and for now nobody goes into the hospital unless it's for an appointment or visiting.

We've usually gone out to restaurants just for birthdays but lately we've aimed to do it more in the winter - to break things up a bit. But accepting we won't be doing that for the time being, we've upped food delivery and take-out, especially me since an Indian restaurant started up.

As far as I can recall, I've been to a bar for a drink only once since I lived in Canada and that was just before a restaurant for a meal anyway.

I can't see the distancing thing working 100% but it might work better if a restaurant had a sort of family night where seating was limited to groups of people from the same household with the tables used some distance apart. Of course policing that might be an issue.

Having said that, the number of times we've been in Cora's for a mid to late morning breakfast you'd think that was the old normal let alone the new one.

scrubbedexpat091

If only the province would send some inspectors to big box stores, like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Super Store to name a couple.


Our doctor has been doing video/phone appointments since mid March, its a much nicer system overall, can book online, see what days appointments are available, and not have to leave the house. If the doctor needs to see patient in person, the doctor books another appointment, so I suppose it could be a bit more costly in the long run to MSP, but its so much nicer, 9/10 appointments I have do not need me to be physically there (almost all my appointments are refills) so I hope this system sticks around, I also find the phone appointments are on-time and the doctor spends more time discussing things, she seems less stressed as well and lots of times now same day appointments are even possible which were never possible under the old system.

Now if only medical records were available online, I like the way my mom's doctor works in California through the online portal she can access everything, lab work (which we can in BC) prescriptions, email the doctor a question, review medical records, and everything under the sun really.

Atlantic Xpat

It's all about the quantum of risk where you are isn't it? If locally (your town/city/state/province) there are multiple daily cases/fatalities, then staying at home is the best move. (& is what we'd do). If there is a low incidence rate - or potentially zero - as it is in Newfoundland, then that's a different proposition. The danger is, of course, that we see on TV, people either going back to some semblance of normal or remaining locked down, without considering the difference in Covid incidence between there and here - wherever there and here is. I think reopening business - when safe to do so, is a positive step in terms of mitigating the economic downsides of total lockdown.