Life In COVID World: Part 2 Driving Miss COVID

 

One of the strangest aspects of COVID/quarantine has been driving. Let me know if any of you have experienced how odd it feels to drive pretty much anywhere. What I used to take for granted and kind of enjoy- the simple act of driving- has become yet another alien sensation. Whether it was driving to work, or to the store, it was not a big deal. Now it feels exotic and almost forbidden.

This is especially true if you are going to a more distant location. I find myself ascending a highway ramp and having the feeling that I'm escaping, or running away or venturing into unknown territories; and we're not talking about crossing state lines or traveling to Canada. This happens on what used to be a mundane trip to Trader Joe's- a mere two towns over. An illicit adventure!

I've been out more than Bob. Here's his truck, with the windshield wipers up since the large snow event we had... last week. The truck hasn't left the yard since. 

And now we have more snow and even less reason to go out! One week, I realized as I motored off down the road that I hadn't driven in... about seven days. The whole foreign-ness of driving reasserted itself: is this how one steers? What is that third pedal for? Am I doing it right?!?!?

The upside is that we are consuming way less gas than ever before. I can't even remember the last time I filled the tank and it's still 3/4 full. We heard earlier on in the pandemic that the environment was benefiting from all of us staying home. Here we are, ten or eleven months into this quarantine and I don't for a minute think that most people are staying home anywhere near as much as they should. The parking lot for the gym is always full and I see plenty of cars on the highway...

I wonder if post-pandemic all of this falls away and getting in the car and taking off seems "normal" again. We keep talking about The New Normal; perhaps that consists of driving less. That would probably be a good thing!

Checking In During Quarantine

More precious than gold... rarer than emeralds... more in demand that contemporary art! Toilet paper! the stuff of dreams!! A friend dropped two rolls in our mailbox; it was like Xmas. In fact, I confided to Bob that despite it's being on our toilet paper dispenser, I've been afraid to use it. I feel like I should save it for a special occasion. *1.)
Anyone else suddenly sick and tired of COVID 19? It's sort of like the Donald Trump of pandemics. Every time you turn on the news or look at the Internet... or decide it would be a nice afternoon to visit a museum or go shopping, there it is, being awful and you wonder what did we ever do to deserve this!!?!?!?
And it's been a boring slog having to wade through unemployment applications on line, arranging for simple shopping trips that used to be a cinch. Wanting to go some place else, but having no place to go as most destinations are shut down. And going to the store is scary stuff: everyone masked or now wearing those plastic face shields*2.) and furtively eyeing each others carts to see who got that last roll of toilet paper. Some odd price gouging going on: ice cream (for which I've had a hankering) is over $5 a pint (fuggedaboudit!!) and eggs are over-priced and tiny. But gas is ridiculously cheap! I marveled at a sign advertising $1.89 a gallon and then saw another station offering gas for $1.79. Those cynical rethuglicans again. There's some price was going on in OPEC and we have no where to go so our prices come down. We're no doubt bailing out EXXON and Shell...
Bob and I finally got around to cleaning (a few parts of) the house today. I keep reading about people who claimed to have immediately set to cleaning their apartments once the quarantine was announced. I kept feeling like I had better things to do, but today- maybe in advance of the holiday to which no one can come, we cleaned.
So tomorrow is Easter, a good pagan holiday of earth reawakening and fertility. It will be quiet and I miss my family members not coming. Hell, I miss everyone right about now. Talking on the phone is one thing but I wish friends and family could see how nice our gardens look. (I promise to post pretty flower pictures next time.)

  

1.) This is what has been starring as toilet paper at our house. My sister Beatrice asked if it was "septic safe". How the hell should I know??! It's what we have. But it's time to admit that I've always suspected I'm either a bit on the Asperger's scale or mildly OCD. Even as a child, I searched for patterns where there should have been patterns (like on kitchen tiles or ceilings.) I found it alarming when none was discernible and kept looking, hoping I'd missed the pattern somehow. Well, as an adult, this behavior still dogs me. The damned pattern on the side of this particular kleenex box is driving me bonkers. Every time I look at it, I insist there must be a reason they blocked in the deep orange and paler orange and beige in the way they did...


*2.)But there are a few cavalier, no-doubt-rethuglicans striding through the stores with no protection of any kind, wearing a disdainful "look at the bunch" of pussies expression. They make me so angry, but their fearless Orange leader has decried he will wear no mask!