Last Friday, I had lunch with a friend, eating out down at the waterfront. Then we ambled around the North End, and looked in at the Haymarket stalls (good deals on nectarines and blueberries).
Last Saturday, my brother (the first and foremost member of my covid bubble - remember them?) and niece came over for dinner. I wasn't feeling inspired, so I made a big salad and ordered pizza.
On Sunday, mask on, I worked the breakfast shift at St. Francis House.
And since Sunday, I've been pretty much shut down.
I'm heading to Ireland next week and, after 2+ years of being mostly but not obsessively careful, I'm not taking any chances that the day before, I end up down and perhaps even out with covid.
I'd almost forgotten what those early days of the shutdown were like, but it's all coming back to me.
As I did throughout the 2020 shutdown, I'm still taking my walks every day, but I'm a bit more conscious of who I'm walking around. So when I saw and heard the coughing woman strolling through the Public Garden, I took another route around the park. Yes, I know it's outdoors, but she had quite the hacking cough. And apparently she's the only person in the world who isn't aware that you're supposed to cover your mouth when you're coughing. I was tempted to tell her to cough into her shoulder, but I didn't want to get close enough to her to be heard without shouting.
Anyway, walks are a lot different then. During the early days of the shutdown, I often (scarily) found myself the lone walker in the Public Garden, along the Esplanade.
As I did throughout the 2020 shutdown, I'm still running errands. Admittedly, when covid was young and vaccine was still a twinkle in a Moderna researcher's eye, I was pretty much limiting my errands to essentials: groceries (sometimes even shopping during elder hours); drugstore for pandemic essentials: Vicks VapoRub, a pulse oximeter; hardware store for recycle bags...
These days, I'm a bit more elastic in my definition of what constitutes an essential errand.
On Monday, I went (masked) to TJ Maxx and Nordstrom Rack to see if I could find a new rain jacket for my trip. It's not as if I need one. I have several hanging in my closet. The turquoise North Face one. (Is it just my imagination, or is this jacket actually porous?) The purple LL Bean jacket with the zip out lining. (The color was advertised as Midnight Purple, which sounds like a really dark blue-ish purple to me. And looked like that online. But turned out to be more Barney Purple. Ugh!)
No luck at TJ's. No luck at the Rack. Other than a cute India-print shirt that was way marked down.
Anyway, when I got home, I dug out yet another old rain jacket. A little black number I got at Nordstrom's maybe 20 years ago. I haven't worn it in years. The last time may have been in Ireland in 2018. But it was still hanging there in the hall closet. It's probably of little use in terms of repelling the rain, but that's what umbrellas are for.
While I was in TJ's, I also looked for a bowl. Not that I exactly need another bowl, but last week my beloved blue and white striped bowl with the lemons on it fell apart in the dishwasher. When I saw it in two pieces, I gulped. I've had that bowl for 40 years or so. It's perfect for serving vegetables, or for a one-person salad. I use it all the time.
Alas, there was nothing at TJ's, as they have swapped out the everyday housewares for Halloween-themed stuff.
The good news: I can look for a bowl that size in Ireland. Come to think of it, if I'm still jonesing for another rain jacket, Ireland - land of a thousdand rainfalls - might be the place to look for one.
On Tuesday, I went to the bank.
On Wednesday, I took a non-destination walk with no particular place to go.
Ditto on Thursday, but Thursday definitely felt weird, as that's my usual long day at St. Francis House.
During the early days of the pandemic, I had stopped volunteering, but went back once I was vaccinated.
It felt strange not to be going in.
I'm leaving for Ireland next Thursday, so another week of near house arrest.
I'll take my walks, and I'm sure I'll be able to gin up another couple of non-essential errands, and convince myself that they're essential.
I'll get more reading done, and may organize a closet or two.
It won't be as crazy as it was way back in the spring of 2020, when I put on a mask when I went out to the front hall to get my mail.
But it will be odd not having any social contact, other than texting or an occasional phone call. (Zoom urgency seems to have fallen away once we got vaccinated and were able to get out and about more easily.)
I'm something of a loner. Not that I'm anti-social, but I like to have a lot of me-time. And I'm not someone who's in constant need of company. Still, I've found the past few days a bit weird. Not exactly unsettling. Just a bit off. Weird. If being a stay-at-homer means I don't come down with covid before I get on that Aer Lingus flight, it'll be well worth it.
If nothing else, it'll be good practice for the next pandemic.
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