Accounting for Taste

On the weekends, DW and I like to stray from our neighbourhood and go for walks where we have a strong probability of avoiding people. And those people we encounter share our efforts in maintaining safe, physical distancing.

A few weeks ago, we parked at the Central Experimental Farm and walked to Dow's Lake, via the Arboretum. We stopped every so often to capture the spring flowers that were blooming under the bare trees. I shared some of those images a couple of Photo Fridays ago.

As we got to Dow's Lake, we decided that we'd go as far as the Parks Canada Muskoka chairs that overlook the lake, looking across to the Arboretum and pavilion. These red chairs can be spotted along various Parks Canada venues: we had also spotted them along Lake Ontario and along the Rideau River, as well as in Montreal.

Being the time of COVID, we weren't looking to sit in the chairs: we simply wanted to use them to indicate our turning point.

As we approached, it appeared that someone had recently sat in the chairs. A small, empty bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label Whisky lay underneath one. "Somebody was having a party," I told DW, adding, "No accounting for taste."

I like single-malt whisky. Notably, from Islay.

I also noticed that a couple of the chairs themselves had that I first thought were notices: giant stickers on the sides. When I looked closer, I discovered that those stickers didn't belong. They were actually labels, meticulously peeled from beer cans.

Tooth and Nail Brewery, to be specific.

"I guess someone had taste, after all," I said.

That said, DW and I both agreed that it wasn't cool to litter and deface the park chairs. Just because we're in unprecedented times doesn't give us rights to be assholes.