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You know something Cindy? (And I haven't finished reading this article yet...) What you're describing, early days, corresponds exactly with what I witnessed in my own town, early days.

I KNEW we were "in for it".

On March 12th, 2020, I was waiting around for 9 am to hit at a large supermarket which also houses my insurance agency, as my car insurance was expiring the following day... (Procrastinator. Last Minute Me.)

I curiously observed shoppers exiting the store, carts piled high with 24 packs of toilet paper, and thought "wtF is going on here??"

I watched as a fellow, in full hazmat, wearing a double sided gas mask, trundled out the door dragging 2x 48 packs of tp...

Upon completing my insurance renewal, I couldn't resist. (History in the making here... gotta.) I found the toilet paper aisle. It had been cleaned out. It was 9:15 am.

I took photos of the situation, for posterity.

The canned goods and pasta aisle was the same story. 1 dented can of some Chef Boyardee crap, sitting all by itself.

Yep.

I'd wager all of Canada experienced the identical scenario.

Signs went up. Plexiglas went up. "Distancing" stickers were glued to floors.

No n95 masks available. No surgical masks available. No hand sanitizer available.

Guys & gals wearing home-made masks and Harley Davidson bandanas covering their faces...

Don't tell me this wasn't a "mass psychosis" event, fueled and wildly fanned by media presstitutes.

Inflamed by Daily Covid Press Briefings, from our provincial Chief Medical Officer.

Meanwhile: Suddenly and unexpectedly my small seasonal business was deemed a "nonessential" service and I was out of work.

Zero income.

Anyway, back to your fascinating Tale Of My City, circa Day 1 of The Pandemonium.

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Thanks ma dear.

Thus was way before we knew schools were going to be closed for so long. 🥲

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Insane.

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I live in the same-type town; not too big, not too small; just right.

A nice town that had a vibrant Main Street, a long history, people who know each other; stores, mercantiles, street- front lawyer's and accountant's offices; restaurants and sandwich places and small, neighborhood clubs and pubs.

Victorian houses with flags flying on almost every porch.

And drivers who would stop - even in the middle of a block - to let someone cross the road.

My house is on that Main Street; so I have noticed the difference.

Like Cindy, I walk a lot. And I have noticed the difference.

The small shops close and then reopen, under new ownership.

The lawns are still mowed; the streets are clean; the forsythia and hyacinth are now in bloom.

And the flags still fly.

But where are the people?

Where are the sounds of kids, laughing and eager to finish their school year?

Where are the sounds of life?

Where are the sounds of joy?

What happened?

What happened?

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This hit home Marvin.

Then lyrics, which were changed from the original British song "God Save The King", popped into my head:

"My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing; land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside let freedom ring!"

"What happened?"

I wish I could definitely answer that question.

Such a melancholy comment. 😢

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It is melancholy.

But to repair what is broken, we need first to identify the break.

Cindy has begun that process. She has taken us back through a memory-hole to the life we used to live, just a few years ago. For many of us, what she has written cuts to the core. I have seven children who may never really remember the feeling of living a free and fearless life.

It is up to us, individually and as a people, to remind them, to show them, that Life is Beautiful.

Unapologetically, Marvin.

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Beautiful.

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whoops! I read the text before I read the date. Thought they had engineered another faux disaster. what a relief! that'll show me! stay well, Cindy.

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Yes, no duh. The only reason I even had that one was because of all the toxic smoke we had during wildfires. This was in March 2020 when 99.9% of people were shitting their pants.

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I still cannot believe that people were walking around wearing face diapers that had 0 efficacy in stopping viruses. I use good quality masks in my work as a metalsmith and they used to come with a disclaimer that they don't prevent transmission of viruses. Not any more! OSHA caved.

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some people here in the midwest are still wearing the face diapers....

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Here as well. And gloves...

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They will probably be buried with them on.😂

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Here, as well.

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The "Pandemic" declaration struck me as a psychological, "Shock and Awe" operation immediately. I've been exclusively a walker, too, since my car's engine blew up in June 2013. The walk to work the day after the NBA and NHL cancelled their seasons, a Thursday, was a weird one for sure. I had 3 and a half miles on a sunny middle-March day to think whether or not the "powers-that-be" had just lowered the Covid-1984 boom on all of us peasants. Not quite, but they tried: the "best laid plans of" Totalitarian "Mice and men." I'm sure that our Ivy League-trained nitwit ruling elites will try again, in some form or other, but Total Social Control is a fantasy, a technocratic fever dream. Unfortunately, much of the population fell for this laboratory trick experiment at the extended Time of Covid. The Mask was just an armband, a bit of pious embroidery--might as well have been a Swastika. My thought then: "A Haz-Mat suit might get the job done a bit better," or more Vitamins C, D, some Zinc...

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Those early days of the scamdemic, especially when the "old folks" (like me) began dying in hospitals (alone), finally, kicked me out of 40 years of narcissistic agnosticism. For the first time in my life I saw (and felt) the presence of a cruel evil force. I realized if Satan existed, and there was no longer any doubt in my mind at that point, then God exists. Everything changed.

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