A Parlour for a Plague

The local indigenous people often go barefoot.

One of the police we went up with once was terrified of snakes at first...we had to walk her from one place to another.

Where I live now, they occasionally end up in the houses. A snake catcher pops over and grabs them. I certainly don’t want one in the house! I’ll be snake proofing the house before next summer.

When I was a little kid out bush once, I had caught a few horses to take them to be saddled.

On the way I saw a huge stick and imagined one of the horses stepping on one end and getting scared....one of them was an ex racehorse and a total idiot....so I picked up the stick in the middle to move it.

I had just realised that the stick was supple and scaly, when I saw the head of the six foot king brown I’d just picked up turn and look at me. I dropped it and it took off at a stunning speed. The horses ran off, with me desperately trying to keep hold of them.

Not sure who was more scared...the snake, me or the horses.

I’d never believed a snake could look like a stick until then.

Snowing this morning. The streets and sidewalks are too warm, but there's
an inch or so of it on the grass and trees. I went out for a walk. One family
was out in their yard. The little ones were bundled up and gleefully
throwing snow at each other and their parents. At least someone is enjoying
this.

We have had flurries all this week, George, although it is nice and sunny today. The joys of living in northern climes :-)
I am not surprised your company spoke before thinking about workplace changes. Everything seems up in the air. Last week I had my hours cut by 1 hour per day then eventually the company realized that some of the work-arounds developed by IT for those of us at home were actually quite time consuming. This week I am back to full hours.
It has been an adjustment working from home but I am now thinking I may never want to go back to the office . Head Office was almost finished a massive renovation to enable them to stuff 300 people in a building designed for 200 tops when the pandemic hit. Social distancing is impossible. Not sure I want to go back to that petri dish.

Back on Thursday I became mildly deranged depressed while listening to the mayor talking about the latest events with regard to the shutdown. He did the numbers and then talked of the near future.
Okay... Shakespeare In The Park is cancelled this year
Beachs and public pools will not be opened. Anything with crowds is not going to be occurring in May. (Governor extended through May 15. NYC gets the whole month...per, the mayor). High school sports... done for the season. The The more he said, the worse it became (in my quarantined, isolated existence).
Good news? Students are not having to take the Regents exams (big part of achieving graduation).p

This morning there was talk of closing 75 miles of streets from traffic so people can walk around freely (with masks and well spaced). A smaller version of this was tried earlier this month but crumbled due to lack of people. Well, what'd they expect? They told everyone to stay home!

Still enjoying the peaceful quiet which has taken over the city. Lack of air travel and vehicular traffic makes me happy. Cleaner air. Birds chirping contentedly...although they might be wanting some bread to be given them. Worms and bugs and visits to flowers just ain't as nice as a piece of fresh bread - properly broken apart for them.

Viewed the local news last night. First time after a few weeks. The The two anchors are in different places and there's a line down the center of the screen keeping them even more apart (they have different background scenes). The weather person was in his home, as was one reporter who did an interview with someone through a video conference call or whatever it's called.

All rather surreal.I

By mentally accessing the words of Crisis, I got my head back on track.
As Crisis said, "ya know folks, it is what it is."

Enjoying the vignettes.

this terrifies me. swimming is so essential to my mental wellbeing. nothing does the same thing for me. not walking, not dancing (though it's close), nothing. already trying to figure out if I'll be able to swim in lake in a few months . the parks are open as long as you keep moving, so I may have to rely on my ability to swim fast to keep me legal.

p.m. confirmed today that border with US will remain closed at least another month. premier announced yesterday that it is unclear if schools will reopen in September.

put my raccoon onesie on again. hope it will scare people away from me if I go outside. I should go outside.

my favourite little spark put a new sticker for our tablet in a baggie . it was the best surprise. sent her a message showing my startled and amazed face. love that kid.

Then send a message to our mayor! Make clear your case that places like the Y and other spaces are essential!

Hmm...
There was no mention of banning swimming in the lake in Central Park or Brady's Pond on Staten Island or other bodies of water in our parks....

I now pronounce you User 1 and User 2.
You may now social un-distance yourselves.

I couldn't get some things needed at the grocery store last Wednesday. WE waited until today and finally went to see if Walmart had any of it. That place was packed. It looked like a stirred up anthill. I did a lot of skirting, dodging and waiting. They did have everything I needed. I caught a look at the meat counter. It looked like a wall of red meat. No shortage there. I was unnerved. And here the governor is pushing for gradual reopening already.

Really crowded - here in MA they are very limited on how many can go into the grocery store. I plan my time grocery shopping very strategically.

I avoid the very early morning rush - go in right after that - did that today; got in - was not bad at all; checked out with no line at all - and as I left there was
a line formed outside. All in the timing.

In HEB Grocery store it looks like defending a mustard gas attack in WW I.

Don't you have any small independent grocers? they seem to do best with stock and with crowd control. Walmart and Costco have been just the worst around here. Even the tiniest stores - almost bodega size - are doing better - and have fresher produce and meat.

probably not able to get some of it across borders so they have to sell it comparatively locally (ie within state/country lines) . we're noticing a lot more localish produce and meat. which is brilliant for asparagus lovers like me

HEB, a large chain, is doing better than anybody else around here. The only local small stores are the kind attached to gas pumps.

Wow Sturgis. You’ll have wolves in NYC at this rate.

I mostly go to Central Market, which is owned by HEB, but they only have a bfew locations in the state.

They've limited their hours from 8a-8p

The best time to go is after 6 or 6:30pm, only a handful of people waiting outside.

I hate Randalls.

I haven’t seen a single roll of toilet paper on a shelf since this thing began! They tell us there’s plenty but people still seem to be panic buying.

I went to a birthday party on zoom last night, but got bounced when I was being moved to another room by the controller...self labelled the door bitch. She is my friends’’ partner. Ah well, nice to see him...he’s half the continent away, in Perth. I couldn’t make the link work again without a password which I didn’t have.

I'm likin' that.

For what it's worth, there were a few rolls on the shelf at Smith's in late afternoon, yesterday. First I've seen in about 6 weeks. Maybe people are coming to their senses.