Sunshine greeted the day, though cloud arrived by mid-day. Temperatures felt a bit brisk so I was thankful for the heavy fleece jacket. I headed out to run two errands, the first time I've been out of the house since the trip to do a grocery curbside pickup four days ago. The optician was alone at the office when I picked up my contacts. We discussed the new protocols in place for my appointment in early December. The plexi-glass at the front desk is delightful -- overlaid with the shape of a pair of glasses. That made me smile. The second stop was at the drugstore for paper products, milk and such. Even with two registers open, there was a lineup of 10 people. The aisle isn't long enough for more than three feet between customers, though. That was weird. Even with that, they were encouraging people to do a self-checkout with a staff person there to do it for them. Why not use one of the three other checkouts since there was one that was far enough apart from the others to keep people distanced? I've never seen it busy like that.
Sometimes it seems like we are becoming a bit more lax about distancing. Masks are required in public buildings, so that is happening, but the distancing seems to be less pronounced. I understand that we have very few regional cases, but that is due to the 2 metre spaces that have been marked on floors and sidewalks and takeout locations. Even with that, people seem intent on standing between the marked spaces to make twice as many 1 metre distances. I get a bit edgy when I feel someone encroaching on my 2 metres. It won't get them served more quickly, so why not simply back off? <smile> When business staff and managers fail to call people on this behaviour, it lets folks get away with it once or twice and then it becomes 'OK' to do all the time. <sigh> We need a new reminder. The floor markers are great, but we need something new to push us back into those social distances. I'm not sure what that might be, but some creative soul should be able to suggest something fun and not punitive. <smile>
Thinking of maintaining individual distances brought to mind a title and could of lines of a song. Two metres is not too far apart. Many people are separated from each other by miles. Maintaining short distances between people in social settings while wearing a mask will help everyone remain healthy. Stay safe. Enjoy!
From a Distance -- Nanci Griffith
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