The title of this post gives voice to what is going on with me in the fifth month of the pandemic. Instead of being in Sointula this summer, enjoying afternoon temperatures of 70 degrees, I am here in virus central, New York City, during an extended heat wave. It might be said that the lockdown has actually provided the conditions that attracted me every summer to Sointula: a place to work without the distractions that invariably exist in a big city. Indeed, the first two months were truly empty of distractions. When the extent of the hospital and medical overload in New York City became evident, it was easy to resist going outside. How wonderfully quiet the streets were! The constant sound of car horns was history, as well as construction noise. On the downside, the parks were packed, and New Yorkers are poor at social distancing, which was particularly irritating for me, since I do not wear a mask in public -- only in enclosed spaces, like stores and, now, the subways and busses -- and I had to put with dirty looks from people who think you can catch the virus from six feet away. I tried to turn my park-walking experience into a simulacrum of the Thursday morning rambles in Sointula: instead of following the paths, I would stomp through the more overgrown and also hilly parts of Riverside Park.
By the third month, noise was on the rise. Riverside Park abuts on the West Side Highway, with the traffic heading upstate and across the Hudson River to New Jersey returning to pre-lockdown levels. Mask-wearing also began to fall off, by which time I had started hooking a mask to my ears, but slung below my chin, when out in public. I wanted to give the impression, after all, that I was not ignoring the wisdom of the herd. Mask-wearing has come back with a vengeance lately on the Upper West Side -- even when people are driving their own cars! I trace the day when people who otherwise would not dream of voting for Donald Trump started wearing masks full time to the day the president recommended that people wear them in public. Go figure.
The heat wave that started about 20 days ago curtailed by daily walks, but, to compensate, I joined the Manhattan Kayak Company and have been doing some kayak tours and standup paddleboarding on the Hudson River. The past few days we are having a respite. Today, my windows are open!
While I truly miss the companionship of my friends in Sointula, I have been fortunate during the lockdown to have become better friends with several neighbors. One is Elaine, who lives two doors down and who has a small backyard. I am often welcomed there for a barbecue. That's me in the green jacket in the photo at the top, and Elaine in the flowered pants in the bottom photo.
I continue to go out shopping every day -- wearing a mask when inside a store, of course. I have eaten out a few times, in the new arrangement of outdoor (i.e., on the street) cafes, but have more or less got used to my own cooking and have had the pleasure of saving some money. It will go into my fund for Sointula 2021!
More New York news in the next post.
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