I’m beginning this post as I’m on hold with the Canada Revenue Agency (Canada’s IRS). I was on hold for 15minutes, summarized my inquiry to an agent, then was on hold for another 15 minutes while they researched my history. That’s when the call dropped.

I’m on hold again and the estimated wait time is 30-40minutes. Seriously #RevenueCanada!? 😦

Let talk about something more upbeat… like lockdown in France – LOL!

Empty Streets…

Last night I was waiting at the train station for Dominic to arrive when he texted that he’d be on the next train.

No problem, I thought. I needed to pickup a baguette for supper so I left the car at the station and walked to the main square (armed with my duly completed government form, explaining WHY I was out and about).

The time change has already happened here so while the photo below looks quite dark, it was actually only 6:00 p.m. … quite early. I was surprised at what I saw.

• Compared to what you’d normally see at that time, there were very few people in the street. The majority of those I saw were students getting out of school or taking buses.
• No restaurants were open. Several them had signs indicating that they were only welcoming customers at lunchtime.
• All I saw open were:
  – the two bakeries
  – the two mobile phone shops
  – the pharmacy
  – the news-stand (who also sells bus tickets, stamps, etc.)

How strange to see the town (including shops, boutiques & restaurants) so dark at 6:00 p.m.

Perhaps I tend to forget about it since my ‘work’ happens at the house now, so I’m not out ‘n’ about to see it regularly. Also, in some ways, we tend not to think about it as much because this lockdown is not as drastic as the one in the Spring… there are typically many more people working, on the move and, for students, at school.

Yet, despite the activity during the daylight, working hours… apparently ‘life in lockdown’ becomes more apparent in the early evening.

FYI… 22 minutes later, I’m still on hold with CRA. 🙂

On an up-note… tomorrow is a holiday here. What we call Remembrance Day back home is simply known as l’Armistice here. Either way… no classes.

In the end… 38mins later, after 1 hard transfer and an impatient agent, the call was dropped again. I worked for 8 years for Xerox Canada and my wife, 17 years at Air Canada… we know how to give customer service & that ain’t it. #SoDiscouraging (trying to resolve a 2018 issue)

---

Thanks for stopping by
May your day be better than my interaction with Revenue Canada 🙂
God bless you today!