Monday, March 16, 2020

Sh*t Got Real

My friend The Archeologist posted a photo of long lines at the corner market yesterday.


She went on to say shoppers were granted access in waves. Then, when people left, they let that amount in. They’d run out of carts, so the market had workers escorting, providing extra hands.
All of a sudden, sh*t felt real.
It’s not that I’d taken a cavalier attitude to it all previously. Au contraire, I’d employed common sense, taken the proper precautions. It’s just that I didn’t overreact, and definitely did not expect the food lines and closures, prevalent in other areas, to come to town, and it now has.
Granddaughter sent me a photo of her mom (Twin 1) in line at a market in Long Beach, 4:00 a.m., in the morning.


The market did not open until 9:00. Twin 1 was the first one let in. She was shopping for herself, her outreach organization, veggies for her daughter (my granddaughter), turkey for her sister (Twin 2) AND her ex-husband (father of my grandsons) who’d not prepared ... not at all ... had “nothing”.
MEN!
Hope he doesn’t need toilet paper because Twin 1 could get him groceries, but TP is not to be found.
Granddaughter herself is self-isolating and sent me a photo, taken from her balcony overlooking the ocean in Long Beach, of the cruise ship where passengers are being held for Covid testing.



Management has taken additional measures here at the complex.
The Community Room is now closed altogether ─ doors are locked, as is there now a chain locking the pool/ spa areas. Computer area is closed, as is the game room and the office ─ closed to us as of last week, is now also closed to the public.
It’s a complete lockdown, except “The laundry rooms will remain open for now”.
That “for now” spurred me to get laundry out of this way this past weekend, just in case management changed its mind and locked those as well.
The Governor is calling for home isolation for seniors 65 or older.
I don’t think that’s going to be difficult for our seniors, many of whom haven’t been out of their unit in years, others who’ve gone no further than the Community Room (which closure might be a challenging adjustment).
As for me, except for the Pain Cave, market, craft store, my life IS mostly self-isolation.
In fact, last time I checked into the Community Room, one of the residents said people had asked about me, saying they'd not seen me in a long time ... "What happened to Shirley? Did she move?". She’d replied “No, she’s probably upstairs working on her crafts”.
“You pretty much nailed it”, said I. "My life is needlepoint and working out".
So,"self-isolation" ─ in my book, is a regular day of living a peaceful, drama free existence.

6 comments:

  1. Ah, I wondered whether you were still going to the Pain Cave. We have walked every second day in the Mall. It's always clean but now super duper clean- and dead. The Canadians are not supposed to come south unless they have a really good reason and nobody seems to be shopping for clothes. We have the place virtually to ourselves with yards and yards between people.

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    1. Yes, still going because our session is one-on-one, not a room full of people like the group sessions. I have, however, added the extra precaution of wearing surgical gloves so as not to be touching equipment others have touched. I am wondering now if his group sessions have been impacted. If I remember to ask, I will.

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  2. We got the same closure memo from apartment manager yesterday, including they are not making repairs unless absolutely required. I liked it better when I self-insolated and the rest of the world was still in action around me. I feel like a Zombie attack is imminent.

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  3. Extreme measures in other communities makes me wonder what could be coming in the way of extreme measures here eventually. For now we have enough Grocers in this Metropolis that they're busy, but not the long lines and controlled access I'm seeing elsewhere in America and most especially in Europe where Military are now enlisted to keep Order at necessary shopping places. Stay Well and I agree that Life can go on Peacefully and Drama Free if we remember to stay Calm and sensible.

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  4. This situation is an introverts dream come true. I see introvert memes that say 'we've been preparing for this our whole life!'

    I have a friend that used to own a laundromat. He walk in one day to find a homeless women washing all her clothes. ALL of them. She was standing by the machine in her birthday suit. She was the only one in there so he just went back to his car and called the police.

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    1. I'll have to look up those memes, and what's with these homeless women getting naked. I'd just posted earlier today about a similar incident.

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