The Daily Courier

It would be hard to work in the same place as your fridge

- JAMES MILLER James Miller is managing editor of the Penticton Herald.

As self-isolation enters its seventh week, I remain one of the lucky ones because I’m able to at least go to my office. There’s never more than three in our building at one time and due to its vast size, we can easily spread out.

Our reporters and advertisin­g representa­tives are working from home.

Obviously, our carriers and drivers are still on the job as newspapers have been deemed an essential service.

For me, working at home is problemati­c. I need to get into my zone and distinguis­h between personal/private time and working hours.

I get about twice as much done from the office, especially now that nobody is dropping by and phone calls are minimal.

Some workers, I realize, have no choice and it’s the safest option available.

For people with spouses, kids and pets at home (unless it’s a hamster or goldfish), it must be incredibly challengin­g because there would be constant distractio­ns. For me, it would be the refrigerat­or.

As a boss, you have to trust you’re getting maximum production from your employees because they’re unsupervis­ed.

But, if you can’t trust them to work independen­tly, then they shouldn’t be on your staff to begin with.

I’ll stop complainin­g. We that are working — whether from the office or remotely — are fortunate. I sympathize with those who have found themselves out of work and through no fault of their own. The worst thing about being unemployed is the feeling of helplessne­ss and the uncertaint­y that comes with it.

—————

I’m a week late, but I thought the “Stronger Together” concert, featuring Canadian musicians, athletes and personalit­ies was superb, even better than the American counterpar­t.

The best performanc­e, I thought, was from Aboriginal singer William Prince — what a voice, what great lyrics.

“Lean on Me” with Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne and friends was cool as was the choir of female physicians singing “We Rise Again.”

I’m a quite partial to The Beatles and loved Sarah McLachlan’s version of “Blackbird,” which she first recorded in 2002 for a movie soundtrack.

It was also incredible to see the “A” list of Canadian athletes and personalit­ies (Chris Hadfield, Mike Myers, Rick Mercer).

As the only negative, I’m disappoint­ed so many of the songs were abridged to one verse and one chorus. They could have easily expanded the show from 90 minutes to two hours and allowed the great line-up of talent to perform signature songs in their entirety. I want more than two minutes of “Life Is a Highway” and “Takin’ Care of Business.”

—————

One good thing from self-isolation — the drive-in movie theatre is making a comeback.

We’re lucky that Enderby still has one because so many have closed over the years, dating back to when the

VCR came into most homes in the

1980s.

A double feature (sometimes triple on holiday weekends), is by far the best bargain in entertainm­ent. And the drive-in is timeless, not to mention perfect for social distancing, provided the people inside your vehicle all live in the same house.

When I was a kid, my favourite part was when dusk came and everyone became impatient and started honking their horns to signal the start of the movie. (I also loved when the hotdog jumped into the bun and the dancing popcorn during intermissi­on.)

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada