Salut!

Covid-19 Diaries: Toronto (36). When boys cry

The 36 is just the number of Bill Taylor's lockdown musings that have appeared here. He posted many more at his Facebook pages and, with his agreement, they re-appeared selectively and lazily at Salut!

 

Bill's description of an emotional cocktail of sadness, relief, weariness and maybe hope, after a year of Covid despair needs no protracted introduction. But as well as making us believe, at last, in the possibility of closure, he quotes from a wonderful (Scottish, Bill) song of parting. Different versions of The Parting Glass were discussed in recent edition of the Cover Story series at Salut! Live ...

 

 

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto: (25) end of the trail

 

Bill Taylor chalks up his quarter-century of lockdown notes from Toronto. His offerings have been the prolific heart and soul of Salut!'s series of Covid-19 Diaries and he will continue to post his thoughts at Facebook for those of you who know him there. The series has been worthwhile - just look to the left for a glance at the menu - but will be added to only occasionally from now. Thanks once again to all contributors and most of all, of course, to Bill ... 

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto: (24) too many post-lockdown maybes

Bill Taylor's photos come without captions in this series for the goodish reason that they are mostly drawn from the past and therefore have no direct relevance to Covid-19, leaving the reader to work out the indirect allusions, itself a rewarding exercise.

I did say the series had run its course  but would also remind contributors that anything they provide will be published. Bill's are easy because he posts them anyway at Facebook and I merely reproduce them ... meanwhile, join the fun at Salut! Live and nominate your best 10 male singers, any genre and your best 10 female ...

 

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto: (22) rebellious Canadian youth in search of paradise

NAME YOUR TOP 10 FEMALE SINGERS - CLICK ANYWHERE ALONG THIS LINE TO REACH SALUT! LIVE AND ADD YOUR LIST

I never much liked Easter. This time, it is destined to be associated for ever with the drudgery of lockdown, which no permitted walk in the park ("only 20 minutes, madam, since you're not alone," the officer told Mme Salut as he passed us, not quite observing social distance from his colleague) or visit to the corner shop can ease. So I turn again to Bill Taylor and his Toronto notebook. It won't last ...

 

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto (21): a wish list for now and afterwards

Wasn't going to but relented ... Bill Taylor's wish lost made me chuckle 

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto: 20 not out

 

 

 

 

The Editor writes: I cannot recall when I stopped laughing at people wearing masks in the street or believing the only times they're useful are when treating an infected person or suffering from the infection. Anyway, that was a first for both of us today when we went shopping to the Co-op. And yes, I still felt ridiculous.

 

Meanwhile, Bill Taylor keeps us entertained from Toronto. His jottings will continue to appear here, just less frequently. The Covid-19 Diaries, packed with fine writing, can be browsed here

 

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto: (19) home truths - and it's not all about memes

It seems time to scale down the Covid-19 Diaries series. Bill Taylor will continue to post daily thoughts from Canada at Facebook, which is where this all began. I may, every few days, reproduce them here as I have been, until now without fail. I will discourage other contributors from devoting to their own lockdown notebooks though any disinclined to heed my advice will see their work posted as and when I get the chance.

 

My thanks to Bill and all others who have made this an uplifting and at times even useful exercise. See all their efforts at this link. All good things come to an end and it is time to acknowledge that series, or at least the relentless daily posting, has run its course ...

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto: (18) Somerset Maugham, taxing apostrophes and reduced to cleaning windows

Bill Taylor remarked that the Covid-19 Diaries had taken on a life of their own. The same could be said, with more force, about Bill's mighty contributions to the series from Toronto. Today, he's up to 18 and his daily missives really need no elaborate introduction ...

 

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto: (17) always look on the bright side of life. Well, try to

       

Today has been set aside as a quiet day for the Covid-19 Diaries. With input from Bill Taylor and, in Lombardy, Renata Baraldi, yesterday's instalments attracted an impressive readership, just under 700 visits to Salut!, a clear record for the series.

Today we'll make do with another welcome, thoughtful dispatch from Bill in Toronto ... otherwise, I urge to you to browse the growing catalogue; you'll chance upon some seriously good writing

 

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto: (16) toilet roll and wine galore but where's my Weetabix?

You simply cannot even guess at the lengths I go to when presenting each edition of Salut!'s Covid-19 Diaries. Sometimes, it's as far as the three or four Fawlty-like paces it takes to get from bedroom to study. Here, with minimal editing but masses of admiration for the super photo, is Bill Taylor's latest dispatch from Toronto (how long would it take to send a mercy package of Weetabix from London to Canada?) ... 

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto: (14) the mother and father of 'when it's over' lists

 

 

This, for Bill Taylor, is an open goal. After a slightly surprising dip yesterday, readership levels for the Covid-19 Diaries are once again robust and may be heading for a record (at least for the series). Just as well as Bill has come up with an exhaustive list of things he will and will not do or be in the event he gets out of this at the other side and not on the other side ... as he puts it, "I shall hope not to be a statistic"