Diary 52

Saturday, May 9th

Even the skies seemed to weep today, as wet snow (that did not settle, at least here) arrived throughout the day, and winds tossed the tree tops about. Almost 80,000 deaths so far in the US didn’t cheer us up much, either.

People seem to be their usual inconsistent selves, though. At one store in my neighborhood the restrictions are clear: no mask, no service; no more than five people in the store at one time; keep six feet apart; only one person per aisle. A couple of doors down another very similar store seems to be good about masks, but it regularly allows more than five people in, and they all tend to bunch up around the till, push past each other in the aisles and so on. I’m not faulting the store owners. The store is that shape it is. I’m just astonished that people, when called on to behave thoughtfully, will do so — and then less than a hundred yards away they (and I) will totally forget.

As humans we tend to think we can get away with all kinds of stuff, that the laws don’t apply to us, really – like those speed limits that seem to be suggestions rather than laws. Guess what, folks? That doesn’t apply with a virus.