Pandemic has a different face living in Nova Scotia

The pandemic has impacted all our lives, even if we don’t personally know any of the 21,000 Canadians who have died so far, because the virus is top of mind with virtually every decision we make these days, from routine errands to life-changing plans.

So it was with our decision to move to Nova Scotia after 40 years in downtown Toronto, something that was not on our radar before the pandemic hit, shutting down virtually all the things we love about living in the city, including concerts, plays, museums, sports and even movie theatres. Forget about dinner with friends, at least indoors.

There also seemed to be more and more jerks ignoring physical distancing requirements, especially hard-breathing, sweaty, maskless runners that breezed within inches of people out for a walk, parents desperate for a little fresh air or a few minutes of quiet from their locked-down households.

It’s infuriating to see hundreds of people yelling at anti-mask rallies in Hamilton, St. Catharines, Toronto and elsewhere across Ontario, especially as COVID-19’s daily death count keeps climbing, and as the virus devastates long-term-care homes and overwhelms hospitals. Their selfishness is unbelievable.

While vacationing in Nova Scotia last summer, just as its mandatory mask policy kicked in, we saw that people took COVID-19 very seriously, even though there were only a few new cases each day in the province, and none in Antigonish, where we were staying.

No one whines about putting on a mask to enter a store. There are no protest marches, and people on the street try their best to stay as far apart as possible when passing each other — usually offering a knowing nod or a hidden smile. The movie theatre is closed, but stores, restaurants and bars remain open, with reduced capacity or hours, and families can visit each other, so life goes on more or less as normal, with face coverings.

The sense of ease, and normalcy, we felt walking around town after our 14day quarantine was such an unexpected relief we started looking at houses, and soon found one we loved.

I had been talking about leaving downtown Toronto since retiring from full-time reporting in 2017, fully expecting to stay in southern Ontario, but the fallout from COVID-19 helped convince me Atlantic Canada was the place to be.

We returned to Toronto to make sure we weren’t acting too rashly, but soon called to make an offer on a great home we’d found just outside Antigonish, overlooking farms and rolling hills.

The huge difference in real estate prices didn’t hurt, but it’s the people and the pace of life that convinced us we made the right decision, the many neighbours who dropped off little welcome gifts and then stood back six feet as we introduced ourselves.

The hardest part was having to make our socially distanced goodbyes to our Ontario friends last October, in ones and twos, usually in our backyard or theirs, or in the park near our Cabbagetown home, instead of one big goodbye bash. That’s the only regret we’ve had about our decision to move to Nova Scotia, where people are very proud of the fact it’s routine to have zero new cases of COVID-19 several days a week, and fewer than ten active cases in the entire province.

Watching Ontario struggle with lockdowns and colour-coded COVID regulations is like looking at another world, one I truly hope will return to whatever normal will be as soon as possible.