Another kind of new year

Saturday was officially the day to mark the Lunar New Year. Because I knew the restaurants would be crowded with people wanting to celebrate, I stayed home.

But staying home doesn't mean going without yummy treats. My local produce store has a freezer filled with ready-to-steam dumplings and lotus-wrapped packets of sticky rice. So, a little feast at home serves as a nice appetizer -- just a taste to encourage me to gather a crew for a trip into Richmond for a proper feed of dim sum.

I'll admit to having mixed feelings about this being called the Year of the Rat. According to tradition, it's the first of the twelve animals depicted in the Chinese zodiac. First or not, my associations with rats are less than savoury. Especially now that coronavirus is making the news.

Even though I understand it's passed by contact with fluids (mucus, etc.) and isn't an airborne virus (which sounds promising for not having it spread more than it already has), it's causing me some concern, as it's hard not to think about SARS, which initially didn't seem like such a big deal. I remember having to pass through Toronto's Pearson International while that epidemic was raging. Many people were wearing masks. My paranoid reaction was keeping my ears covered, as I'd somehow got it into my head that ears were a forgotten point of entry (not the usual mouth, eyes, nose).

So, we're being told that this one isn't airborne, and not like the Great Plague with the fleas from rats serving as carriers. Still, this morning when I brought my empty garbage bins back in, it was disconcerting to spot a rat slinking along the neighbour's lawn. I can only hope he was there on invitation to celebrate this new lunar year.