Day 49 of Family Quarantine
Captain’s Log 29 April 2020
Life on the Outside
Yesterday I went out. Those four words are like a triumphant anthem to me. It had been more than 40 days since I left my house for more than a walk in the neighborhood. I took SIP to mean, stay home if you can and I could, so I did.
I finally left the house because I have been getting 3-4 migraine-like headaches a week for the last few weeks. They have been debilitating. I knew it had something to do with my neck and so I made an appointment with my chiropractor. He fixed me right up, thank God, because I wasn’t functioning very well. I told him it was my 1st time out since mid-March and I was thinking about going to the grocery and Target. He laughed and asked, so is it like a diet—you cheat and eat ice cream so you may as well eat the whole container? I said, exactly!
Pre-covid, I was in and out of my house a hundred times a day. I went to the kids’ school, the gym, the grocery, hardware stores, and anywhere else I wanted without a thought. Some days I took myself to lunch with a good book and a glass of wine just because, other days I would meander through the book store for literally hours, I volunteered, I took my work with me to any quiet public space and never thought, I should really just do this at home. Now, it takes debilitating pain to make me go out. But that is what Shelter in Place is, I think.
I was a bit apprehensive and also curious to see how our little corner of the world had changed in the last 6 weeks. The first thing I noticed was less traffic, obviously. By my own unscientific estimation there were probably less than half as many cars on the road as there normally would have been. The other crazy thing I noticed was that people were driving much closer to the speed limit than usual. You know how in some towns, the general speed of traffic is at or near the posted speed limit and in others it is well over? Our town happens to be one of the latter with people regularly driving 5-10mph over, but not yesterday. Everyone was driving the speed limit or maybe 5 over. That was unexpected.
My chiropractor is located in a cute little shopping center in the middle of town. It has a few specialty food shops, several ladies’ boutiques and a men’s store, a home design boutique, and a couple of eateries. It also has notoriously small parking spaces and is generally well populated. I pulled in and had my choice of parking spots well away from others so as to avoid door dings (seriously, I’ve gotten half a dozen dings in that lot in the last few years). That was pleasantly new but also sad. Many of the shops were closed due to covid. Others were open but with just one or two cars in front. The lone Open sign that was lit seemed to be to be a sad little beacon in a desolate landscape. I’m making a point to order something from those open shops this week.
Inside the office both of the assistants were wearing masks, as was I. Most of the chairs in the waiting room were gone and the ones left were sitting 6ft apart which reinforced that lonely feeling the shuttered stores had given me. As I waited for the doc we girls chatted amiably, but muffled, through our new face fashion. They said Mark and I had the most fun masks they had seen, mine has a cartoon bear’s mouth and Mark’s has a handlebar moustache. Not a usual compliment but, it made me laugh. Between clients they sanitized the room, wiping the adjustment table and counter where clients set their keys etc. I think I saw her wipe the door handle too, though they always open the door for you anyway. So, even a place I have always thought of as immaculate is being wiped with disinfectant every 5 minutes.
From there I drove, more leisurely than normal as we have all picked up the habit of driving the actual speed limit, to Target. But along the way I saw that big orange Home Depot sign and thought, oh some potting soil! And maybe a few herbs! As I drove in the lot, I was struck by how many cars were parked with a space between them. Seriously, it was like all the sedans, trucks, and SUVs had decided they too wanted in on the social distancing. I attempted to go in through the garden center entrance but it was newly marked as, Exit Only. They had strung together grills as a means of controlling egress. Apparently, one entry/exit prevents spread?
Most of the people I saw there had masks—except the employees. Weird. You’d think Home Depot would have masks for employees, as a home improvement store and masks being one of the things they sell. Anyway, the clientele in the garden center was the usual demographic for this time of the year, about half retirees and half childrearing age like me, but there were far fewer of us than usual on a sunny, 75degree day in late April.
Only half the shoppers had masks, and I’m not counting the sweet lady who chatted with me about strawberries whose mask was hanging off one ear protecting absolutely nothing. I did take a big step back from her as she kindly told me the best berries for jam—I felt like an absolute ass in doing so, but fortunately she didn’t seem to notice. In other social news, I got hit on. Seriously. I haven’t been outright hit on in a dog’s age but this guy tries to pick me up in the garden center, during a global pandemic, wearing a mask. Mark and I had a good laugh about that later.
I went on to Target with the sole intention of roaming those comforting aisles for an hour. I did that successfully and ,believe it or not, only bought 2 things I did not need; a new cheery doormat (you know, for all those people coming to my house during the Shelter in Place order), and a face mask (the kind you smear on for 15mins, not the kind you wear) that promised relaxation. I’m pretty sure a Tequila and Cranberry juice will give me more relaxation but, at least I only blew 2 bucks on it. I needed 15lb dumbells and went to get those to no avail, the whole flippin exercise section was basically bare. I mean there were some foam rollers and a couple of other things I have no need of but not one weight in any size. I can’t wait to see all these buff people after the covid is over!
Out of curiosity I peeped the TP and cleaning aisles. The toilet paper aisle actually had a few rolls. Just 2 months ago my boys would try and ‘scare’ me by hiding in ‘forts’ made behind the mass of TP at Target. Now there isn’t enough TP to build a fort big enough to hide a chihuahua behind let alone two boys. As for Lysol or Clorox wipes, you’re out of luck at my local Target. Not a one to be found. But there are plenty of environmentally friendly cleaning supplies. I guess if it doesn’t specifically say, effective against coronavirus, people aren’t buying it? I noticed several other areas had low stock too, video games and accessories as well as children’s books. They have them, just not as much as pre-covid.
As to my fellow shoppers, there were significantly less than normal! Far fewer of the Target aficionados were wearing masks no matter their age. Less than half had masks but at least most of the employees did. There were noticeably more young people, early 20s, than there were moms. Usually Target is full of legging-clad moms with kids in tow. I only saw 2 moms with children yesterday.
The most positive thing I noticed was people were more friendly than usual. Having lived in the South, I have been used to everyone speaking to everyone else. In the South, you never pass by someone without a ‘Hey’ or a smile and you damn well better strike up a friendly conversation with the cashier and people in line or you’ll spontaneously combust. Where I live now, people aren’t unfriendly, they just don’t generally strike up conversation with strangers and kind of look at me funny when I do. Well, they did yesterday. I thought for sure being my first time out I would be rather more chatty with strangers than usual like, maybe I should have had a t-shirt made that said, ‘Excuse my chatter. It’s my first time out of quarantine’. But most people spoke to me before I spoke to them. Pretty sure that has never happened at my local Target before.
I drove to the grocery in record slow time and passed our local nursery and garden store which was packed. Packed as in, the whole lot was full. I can’t imagine how un-social distanced people would have to be in that store. But then I felt guilty for having gone to a chain store for my potting soil rather than a local business.
The coolest thing at the grocery store was the guy wiping down the handle of every cart. They used to have wipes for you to do that yourself but now they are doing it for you. I actually felt relief at that. I got what we needed in my usual meandering fashion. I am never very efficient in that store as they tend to rearrange the store once a year so I have to hunt and gather. I almost ran into a guy at the end of one aisle and said, excuse me. He replied, no problem, I was going the wrong way in the aisle. My eyes must have bugged out of my head when I looked down to see blue arrows on the floor of every aisle directing traffic. I practically shouted, oh my gosh, I had no idea! He and the other 2 people nearby laughed at my ignorance. No wonder the guy stocking things looked at me funny when I tried to pass him in the last aisle—I’d been going the wrong way. Oops.
No wipes or Lysol and little TP was the theme at the grocery store along with very little white rice. Loads of wild rice and aborio (the rice for risotto) though. There were a few other areas that were markedly more bare than normal but the sign limiting you to 2 dozen eggs that Mark had seen recently was gone. I have been used to bare sections or semi-bare shelves in grocery stores around the world. It isn’t that unusual outside of the United States but, here it throws you off a bit. I wonder about the supply chain and how things will look in the future. We Americans are so used to having everything we need, or frankly want, at our fingertips I wonder how that will affect us in the future.
Overall, yesterday was awesome. It felt good to simply get in my car and do normal things even if things weren’t quite normal. Face mask fashion is becoming a thing, people are slowing down, and most everyone has a new personal space of 6-8ft. I felt like my normal self, minus the mask, and thoroughly enjoyed my leisurely 3 hours alone.
Until next time…
Jocelyn