I took Friday off work. I was worried that it wouldn't seem like a day off but it actually did. Only issue was that I kept thinking it was Saturday instead of Friday. Oops.
Started my day by sleeping in, then had a late breakfast and did two load of laundry. Kristina came over and we went for a walk in the gloriously awesome sunghine, maintaining a good distance. After the walk, it was too nice out to go inside so we sat across the street from my building (a meter a part) and chatted for almost an hour. We talked to an elderly woman who lost her husband in January and she's been dealing with suddenly being alone and now the whole social distancing thing. She decided that going for a walk was a good idea and we told her it was. Yes, I'm alone but I've had years of practice at it. Being alone was very new to her. I think she appreciated having someone to talk to, even just for a few minutes. I'm glad we were able to make her smile and even laugh a bit. I hope we brought a bit of joy to her day.
After Kristina left, I read for a bit and then ordered pizza for dinner as a treat. I've got to say, my bank account is looking a whole lot better since this social disancing thing started. I'm resisted the urge to shop online and I'm only ordering in once or twice a week. And I have enough pizza now to feed me for three days!
A lot of perfomers have been doing live online video steaming performanaces. One of my favourite bands, the Barenaked Ladies, performed one of my favourite songs, Lovers in a Dangerous Time (their version) the other day. It was awesome. Made me smile and think back to a few summers ago when I saw them perform live. It's awesome how music works as a time travel device. You can see the performance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DbChOUotfo
The weather wasn't as nice today. It was supposed to be sunny but that never happened. It stayed overcast but it was on the warm side and no rain so that was nice. I spent my morning doing more laundry and baking birthday brownies for Kristina (from scratch!). My apartment still smells like brownies, which is pretty awesome. Her birthday is tomorrow and I know it sucks that we can't all get together and go out to celebrate. Heck, I couldn't even get out to buy her a gift, but I could bake her brownies so that's what I did. I have a stash of birthday cards here so I was at least able to give her a nice card.
I've been going out only once a week, to stock up on groceries. Kristina asked if I wanted to go with her today, so that I could go to different stores that I've been hitting up. The trick was how to do that while keeping our social distance. Being that we both live alone and have both been following the government's call for social isolation, we figured that the risk to each other was minimal. But we still took precausions. Public Health says for those taking a Taxi or an Uber, you should ride in the back seat and keep the window down a bit to ensure fresh air is moving. So that's what we did. Kristina drove and I sat in the back passenger seat. It seemed a little silly at first but we got used to it pretty quickly. We both had hand sanitizer and used it as soon as we got back in the car after shopping. I had lysol wipes in my purse so I gave Kristina one when she stopped at the Costco gas bar to get gas for 59.9 cents a litre! As soon as I got home, I washed my hands and used a wipe to disinfect the tap, door handles, my cane, my keys and my phone. The ritual continues.
Today almost felt like a normal day. Except for the riding in the back seat, not being able to go out and eat and not being able to give my friend a birthday hug part. And now I'm re-stocked and will stay away from the stores for another week, possibly longer. All depends on how long my milk lasts.
I've got to give credit to all the people working in grocery stores. We stopped at two different stores for groceries. Both places had people spraying the carts and wiping them down for us. Both stores had tape on the floor near the cashes to help with social distancing. Both were wiping down the cash area after each person. Both places had plexiglass to protect the cashiers. I have to wonder if this will become a new norm gong forward. I can totally see the plexiglass being left up at the cashes. Kind of makes sense really. And I didn't feel like it took away anything from the interaction or made it less "personal". All the employees we encountered were quite cheerful (except one but I'm noing to dwell on the negative) and I thank them for that. We're all stuck in a tough situation and seeing that others are still being cheerful and helpful is heart warming.
Not sure what I'm going to get up to tomorrow, but I do think some folding and putting away of clean laundry is in my furture. We're in for a lot of rain and a possible thunder storm tomorrow. Sounds like a good day to curl up with my book and a nice cup of tea.
"Our greatness has always come from people who expect nothing and take nothing for granted - folks who work hard for what they have, then reach back and help others after them." - Michelle Obama
