A Parlour for a Plague

I need exercise but it’s hot. Maybe swimming tonight!

That's amazing. As they say, there's no cure for stupid.
We have Sprouts here too, although when I get into the mood for organic food, I usually go to Whole Foods.

Now you're pissin' me off. All the municipal pools have been closed. Lake Ontario is just a wee bit cold in winter.

Tuesday is my supermarket's senior discount day. I don't miss it.

Holy ****!

No tomatoes, few canned goods, I managed to get the last cucumber, no toilet paper, tissues, or paper towels. no meat, chicken or fish, no chocolate cake, one half-dozen eggs left, no milk to speak of.

So much for my shopping list.

Virus, shmirus. Get me some toilet paper!

Our local supermarket is a part of the Loblaws Companies Ltd., which are now offering seniors-only shopping from 7 to 9 am. Ordinarily, the store opens at 6 am, but they going to spend an hour cleaning the store, and stocking shelves, after which only seniors can shop for the first two hours. Shopper's Drug Mart is another Loblaws chain, and they are now offering seniors only shopping from 7 to 8 am. Their rationale is that seniors are the most at-risk group, and they want to give them the opportunity to shop freshly stocked shelves in a newly cleaned (and, they claim, disinfected) environment.

We had a lovely swim. The water is starting to get kind of cold....but it was almost like a mirror...the waves like ripples in silk.

I did get stung by a wee jelly...they’re like glass, you can’t see them. Nowhere near as painful as a bee sting but I gather I got off pretty easily. I have seen photos of people bleeding though.

Panic buying has really reached us. There are posts on local community forum of people helping each other out, which is great to see.

Oh no! Can you get tissues or even kitchen paper? Is there the beginning of neighbours helping each other out?

Older or unwell folk here now have sole access to supermarkets for the first hour after opening. Is that happening for you?

A goil has to have toilet paper!

What has this miserable city descended to? There should always be chocolate cake (as well as t.p. and paper towels). Isn't it a part of the NYC City Charter?

Well said sir!

BTW, just read that the 90 day extension doesn't apply if you are getting a refund.

So if you're expecting money back, get on it.

At least that's the latest I read.

Cover of latest issue of Private Eye.

drop the size by at last 75%. I cant make s ense of it at all

Free toilet paper.

about to venture out for the first time in close to a week. not sure I'm looking forward to it.

Good luck.

If you make a supply run, try to make sure you get enough so that you can wait awhile before another supply run. Though I guess I'm just saying the obvious.

Honestly?
Going out to get things done around here is marvelous right now.

It feels like the city is "right sized" the first time I can remember, as far as population.

The roads are clear, and driving is pleasurable. No traffic jams, crazy drivers, road rage, beeping horns, etc.

I went out to hand deliver a check to the title company about the house I've bought on contingency that that sale of my current one goes through, so I figured I'd stop at the grocery store after that.

All I needed was vinegar to clean the keurig.
You stand in line and they let, I don't know, 10 or 15 people in at a time. Didn't take long. In all honesty, that waiting time was recovered by the fact the store aisles were clear, no one having to wait for cart clogged intersections to clear, etc.

Of course I picked up a couple other things while in there. It was interesting what was gone, and what wasn't. I wanted tomatoes. Those little campari tomatoes specifically.
All tomatoes, except for roma were gone. But they looked really good.
I got the 1 of the 3 remaining gallon containers of vinegar.
While in that aisle, picked up a bottle of Braggs Amino Acids (yum, good stuff). Finally. got some Rebel Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, which is keto friendly.
As I circled around to the registers I can't name specifics, but I can say it didn't make sense to me what items were sold out, and which ones were plentiful.

Everyone, both in and outside the store, were accepting of the situation. No chatting, and people kept an extra couple of feet space between each other, but it was totally civilized. On walking out, one woman was asking the security guy at the entrance "what's that line over there for?" and seemed very mildly suprised she couldn't walk in that door, and had to wait over there.
When driving off, I saw a guy walking up, realized there was a line, kind of paused, and turned around and walked away. His face didn't express anything negative, more like an "oh" look.

In a little while, I plan on going out to a furniture store (or 2) I like the fact I know I'm going to be left the **** alone so I can sit on stuff, take pictures, etc.

I decided to clear work off my schedule this entire week. I realize now I'd gotten in a rut with it, and am finding time to do other things that need, or I want to get done.

I'm vaguely hoping that this same adjustment is going on with other people. It's freeing to get off the hamster wheel and not feel this nagging idea that you've got to be out, and moving and constantly doing.

It's a pause. What needs to get done, can get done.

Tomorrow I'm planning on trying out the relatively new drive-in liquor store. You phone them in advance with your order, pick it up at the window, and pay with plastic. I drove by this place multiple times before and always thought it was a dumb idea, a gimmick — suddenly I'm very appreciative of their foresight! They're well-stocked, too, with a great selection of labels.

definitely not an option here

furniture shopping is considered non-essential. the stores aren't open and even last week, you wouldn't have been able to touch stuff, let alone sit on it

_

it turned out to not be too bad. walked to the Danforth, hit up the $ store, which turned out to be nearly 100% stocked. picked up some cash at the bank next door for the places that still prefer/accept cash, went to grocery store which was a bit worked over but I got the balance of things I wanted.

the only place people weren't keeping the full 6' social distance was in the cash out line at the grocery store. that was a bit weird. after spending so much time distancing, all of a sudden people were squishing in. Most stores have thought this part through but Doug missed this bit. I'm sure it will get sorted soon. Next time I'll do the seniors's hour shopping.