Encountering Full Grocery Carts And Missing Socializing While Practicing Social Distancing
With bars, restaurants and nightclubs closed, there are some changes to my daily life and one of the first things is that I am now encountering the “normal” people in our society.
By “normal,” I mean those with 9-to-5 jobs, kids and a standard routine of doing things each day and each week of their lives. In the past, I managed to avoid them because I kept different hours. But now with offices and schools closed, they are coming into my world to do their errands, and that includes doing things such as going to the grocery store in the afternoon hours.
And it’s a fascinating thing to witness, too.
For starters, I am amazed at their ability to fill up a shopping cart. The thing has items sticking out of the sides with a mound at the top like a hiking hill. They even utilize the bottom of the carts – how interesting – and sometimes even manage to pull one and push another one at the same time.
Is this an acquired skill, or did they take some sort of parenting class to learn these techniques?
I have also noticed that they are more tense than the people with whom I normally associate. They walk around with a serious look on their face, never making eye contact. Several times, I’ve had to make a quick move, like a wide receiver in football juking a defender, to avoid getting run over by one of those full shopping carts.
In bars, restaurants and nightclubs, I generally get smiling faces and engaging personalities – real or otherwise – because at least half the people are there to meet other people.
I am also going to have to get used to seeing the doors to bars and nightclubs shut. One place I encountered even had its windows boarded up, as if the owners were expecting a hurricane to hit the place.
Another adjustment is not going to bars, restaurants and nightclubs. I’m a social butterfly, not a social distancer (that’s a new word I’ve created for these times, by the way) so sitting at home instead of being out is not something I’m looking forward to doing for any long period of time.
The hardest part, however, will no doubt come in being without female company for a while. I’m single with no girlfriend so not even having the opportunity to cuddle up with a lady, to carry on conversations with women, to flirt with a bartender or waitress, are all areas that are going to take a major adjustment on my part.
And when coronavirus is all over, will I quickly be able to get back my natural gift of gab? That’s something in which one needs practice. When the bars open again, I’ll be like an athlete coming out of the off-season. It will be like baseball Spring training; I’ll be taking a lot swings and misses.
But you know what – life is a series of speed bumps so we just need to smoothly ride over them and adjust to the circumstances.
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