Meanwhile, having found a place to live I'm off to the next step. Find work.
It takes roughly 20 minutes to canvas all the potential restaurants in town. It's not a big town. And - State of the Nation, the Pandemic, the World, none of them are hiring. Most are just trying not to lay off staff. But they'll keep my info on file.
This 2 weeks before Christmas, the busiest time of the year.
One of them has a curious question: "You have a place to live?"
Fortunately I do, and I imagine the question is prompted by the vast number of people that think they can get a job first, then find a place to live later, like it's done anywhere else in the world, only - like most things - it's just not that straightforward out here.
This is it, I expected no less - really - and while CERB will have me covered for a bit - in theory until next spring when the restaurant reopens - I better start searching around in different industries. Restaurants are going to be done for a while, and I need work - if not for the money then for the social interaction; the idyll of writing all winter loses it's luster without interaction with others, the impetus to have something to write about.
So on to the next steps of finding a couple of Volunteer positions and maybe work in another field. Or maybe just stop procrastinating and finish off a few other lucrative projects that seem to have fallen by the wayside.