April 2020: Month Two of COVID19 in Southern California

Just dropping off some photos from my various essential trips out of the house (we are still under 'Shelter In Place' order, and so are to stay home except for short essential errands or to exercise in the immediate neighborhood).

The last week of March and the first week of April saw us hit with a series of soaking rain. Our road ways have gone quite holey, and the bike lanes full of gravel and other debris. There are a lot of downed trees, and not enough city public works crew around to get them all quickly fixed up.

Social distancing with people staying at least 6 feet away from each other is the rule, so stores are marking their floor with tapes to help people visualize how far a distance 6 feet (or about 2 meters) is. Many stores have also marked their narrow aisles for one-way traffic flow. I'm afraid not a lot of people are paying much attention to it, though, and there are a lot of salmoning against traffic.

It's also curious to observe that a lot of people seem to think that the virus can only go forward or backward, but not sideways, since they aren't staying 6 ft away from the people on their left or right... just in front and behind.

The paper products and the disinfectants shelves are still mostly empty all the time, of course. But now, so are the ones for pasta, rice, flour, and even eggs.

I'm grateful that I had a haircut in March, just before all the salons were shut down. It is now mid-April, and my hair is still short enough to not be too annoying during our first heat-wave of the year. Most of us are growing quite a mop over our head, though. I've really got to remember to beat everyone to the phone to schedule a haircut when salons are allowed to open again. Everybody will be wanting a hair cut at the same time!