I had some things to take care of out and about today, and I couldn't help but notice a number of things while doing so. Since it's now several months into the epidemic, I thought it might be nice to record them - no knowing what might be considered "the new normal" eventually, and I might come back here looking for the comforts of "a simpler time", and there's no better antidote to that than reminders of the times you lived through, as you saw them.
So, in the order I saw things... first, traffic has returned to the same levels as it was pre-pandemic, implying that people by and large have come to terms with the new uncertainty in their lives. Whether their degree of comfort is in any way reflected in the realities of the situation is another matter entirely, but at least infection numbers seem to be headed down for the time being, which is a good sign.
I had cause to visit two different post offices, the first one being closed for lunch when I hit it. That first one is small enough to only have one customer service desk, so all I recall seeing there is the now more-or-less-standard plexiglass plate between the customer and the employee. The second one, however, was set up for three service positions down the length of a long counter... so the individual stations were also separated from each other on the employee side, but, rather than use plexiglass, it looked like a similar material to what transparent plastic trash bags are made from. I can only imagine that's a ventilation nightmare, but whatever gets the job done, I suppose.
Lunch was a sandwich, chips, and some apple juice from a deli inside a green grocer - and not some "been there forever" joint, but one that opened within the past few years and has, somehow, made a go of it. It will be interesting to see how it fares long-term.
Lunch obtained, I took it to a neighborhood park in the vicinity. There was a small group of people there, in the vicinity of the play equipment, but they left soon after I arrived with my lunch. It was a bit disturbing to see multiple RVs parked around the perimeter, but neither was it entirely unexpected... I can only imagine the direction things might take if/when foreclosure/eviction protections are relaxed, supposing things don't change significantly for the better with the economy.
On my next leg of driving, businesses, particularly restaurants, are what I was noticing. Unlike past recessions and the like, I didn't really see much in the way of vacant strip malls or anything like that. There were a couple of notable closures, including the Burger King in my area, and a buffet that looks to have decided that opening under likely present and near future conditions is so not happening that they've given up their lease and removed all of their signage. On the other hand, the off-brand Mexican drive-through still looks to be making a go of it, and the Longhorn Barbecue in my area just opened back up, so it's a bit of a mixed bag there.
Finally, my last stop of the day was for groceries at the local supermarket. Our state has been under a mask order from the Governor for months, but that hasn't stopped all sorts of unsavory behavior from fervent anti-maskers to date. This supermarket's response at this point has been to station an employee at the door, tasking them with handing out disposable masks at the door and disinfecting shopping cart handles... and I saw two men need to take advantage of those disposable masks, one of whom decided the best way to do that was to come in close from behind the poor employee and ask him for a mask from just over their shoulder - I still haven't decided though whether that individual was just being unthinking or outright malicious, though. I did get to see a new form of "mask evasion" while I was in the store, though... some lady was pushing her cart through the store with one hand while pulling her mask away from her face with the other hand.
So, yeah, long story short, people by and large are doing what they feel they need to do to get through this unpleasantness... but, people being people, whether that's helpful for everyone around them is a very open question.
Edit: And oh yeah, I forgot... last day of August, and there was already Halloween candy stocked at the store!
