The Victoria Day long weekend for Rob Watson meant friends, sunshine, barbecue, beer and a cottage.
The 36-year-old laughingly remembers batting away black flies on morning runs in Port Stanley, Ont. He’d jump off the dock afterward to cool off, then crack a cold one before unfolding in a Muskoka chair for a lazy afternoon by the lake.
“(Victoria Day) is kind of when Canadians come out of hibernation,” said Watson, a competitive runner. “It’s like: summer is here. It’s a very Canadian thing.”
This year, Canada’s unofficial start to summer has been pushed back by COVID-19. The long weekend known fondly as May Two-Four in parts of the country has been all but cancelled.
That cottage getaway, the Blue Jays game under an open Rogers Centre roof, or beers on a patio have been achingly replaced by blank squares on the calendar.
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Canadians have largely supported physical distancing, and most understand it’s a necessary effort to avoid a potentially catastrophic spread of coronavirus. In a recent Leger poll, 97 per cent of respondents said they practise social distancing and a majority suggested they did not want to rush the reopening of venues,