I have to confess that I fucked up today. Went to the grocery store and was focused on what I needed and staying away from people. But, I failed to notice the arrows on the floor. This pissed off another shopper and he was right to be angry with me.
If this is going to continue, the grocery stores might want to make these lanes more visible. I was wrong and I will admit it. But, lots of other people were going the wrong way as well.
....the evidence seems to suggest that outdoor spaces like parks and beaches can be reopened, as long as people maintain social distance and wear masks while they're in those spaces.
Excrpt they can't because the fatal flaw in all if this is that"we" are not actually doing that (and indeed "we" actually seem hostile to the idea), which of course is one of the things that CLOSED the beaches and parks in the first place.
....the evidence seems to suggest that outdoor spaces like parks and beaches can be reopened, as long as people maintain social distance and wear masks while they're in those spaces.
However Americans are NOT responsible people and HATE being told what to do, so this WON'T happen.
Therefore keeping them in their homes (and they are already NOT listening to this) is still better.
I have been thinking and fixing landscaping with material on-hand.
Mother Nature gives me ground cover for free. She just puts it helter-skelter, so I do need to deploy it moar effectively. Wild ginger is an example. Flowers and grows in shady areas to a reasonable height. There’s another one, a wild violet (I think—that saucy minx Violet!) I’m in year two of a test patch in the back: bits of concrete cobbles with violet growing between. Zero maintenance all season. It has rhizomes, underground roots than can spread efficiently. I have tiger lilies that some consider invasive (also propagates via rhizomes). Just for kicks, I dug up a root cluster and stuck it in water—it bloomed inside a few weeks! And your favorite Big Box has ‘em. Also dug a bunch and threw a couple bare bulbs on the ground with no maintenance. The flowers are a little pissed, but still going. They bloom automagically during the blazing heat of July.
Because of my rickety heart, I walk for half an hour every day, with my Jack Russell (the cardiologist didn't actually prescribe the terrier, but everything is better with a pup).
One of the few joys of this whole situation is that the air where I live, in one of the most polluted counties in the US, is actually temporarily breathable, because most of the mills are operating at minimum capacity, and driving is way down. I can walk without my lungs burning and my eyes tearing.
Better than that, when I walk, I can smell earth and leaf and water and wind: I'm breathing air, instead of sulfur dioxide and benzene and lead.
I feel bad for the shift workers who have lost their shifts---if I lived in a sane country, the government would long since have segued them into jobs in green energy, but I don't live in a sane country. But God, I'm going to miss this breathable air when things get back to Republican Normal.
I feel bad that we haven't figured out a way to treat each other with fundamental kindness and tolerance, especially in these crazy times.
The other shopper wasn't right to be angry with you: he was right to be concerned that you'd missed the arrows, but he wasn't right to be angry. That instant, indignant rage---that "slow burn double take" that has become so characteristic of the American response to just about everything, left, right, and center---is such a waste of human energy and precious time.
Think how differently your day would have gone if he'd corrected you gently, with a smile. You'd have learned the same lesson about the arrows, but it wouldn't be eating away at you like it is.
I sand surfed at White Sands in 1979. I also drank a lot of beer and got pretty sunburned. The dunes were spectacular. It was an awesome day, one I will never forget.
Lots of good informatin there Dok. Thanks. I'm an old, and I go shopping for groceries or to the drugstore, masked, and I go hiking or fishing in our local parks, but stay my distance, and frankly as an old hunter, ironically like to keep upwind of others.
I went into a grocery store I don't normally frequent (it is near my job) and I was looking for a few things and was wandering. I walked the length of the store, up various aisles, before I looked down and noticed the arrows. I admit to being oblivious at times or stuck in my own head more often than not, but I agree-they should make them eye level or something more noticeable.
I found one, a really good one, that I had used years ago when I was finishing one of my harps with multiple coats of lacquer (lacquer bad). I had hung it up in my paint department, and now it is my go-to and resides in my car.
So maybe my having an outdoor job has helped keep me safe so far.
yes we are. thanks for the reminder.
I have to confess that I fucked up today. Went to the grocery store and was focused on what I needed and staying away from people. But, I failed to notice the arrows on the floor. This pissed off another shopper and he was right to be angry with me.
If this is going to continue, the grocery stores might want to make these lanes more visible. I was wrong and I will admit it. But, lots of other people were going the wrong way as well.
Still, I feel bad.
That’s a smart lass there.
OMG—I have the ingredients to make this right now!
....the evidence seems to suggest that outdoor spaces like parks and beaches can be reopened, as long as people maintain social distance and wear masks while they're in those spaces.
Excrpt they can't because the fatal flaw in all if this is that"we" are not actually doing that (and indeed "we" actually seem hostile to the idea), which of course is one of the things that CLOSED the beaches and parks in the first place.
....the evidence seems to suggest that outdoor spaces like parks and beaches can be reopened, as long as people maintain social distance and wear masks while they're in those spaces.
However Americans are NOT responsible people and HATE being told what to do, so this WON'T happen.
Therefore keeping them in their homes (and they are already NOT listening to this) is still better.
I figured masks were going to be a thing for awhile so I bought some super cute ones on Etsy.
I have been thinking and fixing landscaping with material on-hand.
Mother Nature gives me ground cover for free. She just puts it helter-skelter, so I do need to deploy it moar effectively. Wild ginger is an example. Flowers and grows in shady areas to a reasonable height. There’s another one, a wild violet (I think—that saucy minx Violet!) I’m in year two of a test patch in the back: bits of concrete cobbles with violet growing between. Zero maintenance all season. It has rhizomes, underground roots than can spread efficiently. I have tiger lilies that some consider invasive (also propagates via rhizomes). Just for kicks, I dug up a root cluster and stuck it in water—it bloomed inside a few weeks! And your favorite Big Box has ‘em. Also dug a bunch and threw a couple bare bulbs on the ground with no maintenance. The flowers are a little pissed, but still going. They bloom automagically during the blazing heat of July.
It is keeping me sane!
Because of my rickety heart, I walk for half an hour every day, with my Jack Russell (the cardiologist didn't actually prescribe the terrier, but everything is better with a pup).
One of the few joys of this whole situation is that the air where I live, in one of the most polluted counties in the US, is actually temporarily breathable, because most of the mills are operating at minimum capacity, and driving is way down. I can walk without my lungs burning and my eyes tearing.
Better than that, when I walk, I can smell earth and leaf and water and wind: I'm breathing air, instead of sulfur dioxide and benzene and lead.
I feel bad for the shift workers who have lost their shifts---if I lived in a sane country, the government would long since have segued them into jobs in green energy, but I don't live in a sane country. But God, I'm going to miss this breathable air when things get back to Republican Normal.
points for coining “Republican Normal”
I feel bad that we haven't figured out a way to treat each other with fundamental kindness and tolerance, especially in these crazy times.
The other shopper wasn't right to be angry with you: he was right to be concerned that you'd missed the arrows, but he wasn't right to be angry. That instant, indignant rage---that "slow burn double take" that has become so characteristic of the American response to just about everything, left, right, and center---is such a waste of human energy and precious time.
Think how differently your day would have gone if he'd corrected you gently, with a smile. You'd have learned the same lesson about the arrows, but it wouldn't be eating away at you like it is.
I sand surfed at White Sands in 1979. I also drank a lot of beer and got pretty sunburned. The dunes were spectacular. It was an awesome day, one I will never forget.
Lots of good informatin there Dok. Thanks. I'm an old, and I go shopping for groceries or to the drugstore, masked, and I go hiking or fishing in our local parks, but stay my distance, and frankly as an old hunter, ironically like to keep upwind of others.
I went into a grocery store I don't normally frequent (it is near my job) and I was looking for a few things and was wandering. I walked the length of the store, up various aisles, before I looked down and noticed the arrows. I admit to being oblivious at times or stuck in my own head more often than not, but I agree-they should make them eye level or something more noticeable.
I found one, a really good one, that I had used years ago when I was finishing one of my harps with multiple coats of lacquer (lacquer bad). I had hung it up in my paint department, and now it is my go-to and resides in my car.