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I figure nothing is going to change in the near future--possibly not for more than a year. So the question is...what is it like out there? If California reopens on 5/15, how do we alter our behavior so our world is safer than it might have been otherwise?
I donned my homemade mask (two layers of quilting cotton and one thin interfacing between), stuffed latex gloves into my bag, and headed out.
I caught the #222 bus north to Pacific and Hollywood Way. All buses are free at the moment, and able-bodied passengers can only enter and exit through the rear door. There were only three passengers on the bus, all keeping their distance. All wore masks.
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Lowe's was...not empty. It wasn't crowded, and everyone had on masks, but the number of shoppers was disconcerting.
I headed on to Target, but the line to get in was kind of nutty, so I walked over to Walmart. There was a queue there too, but Walmarts have actual sewing sections, so I was interested in stopping there. The line went quickly...but apparently so did the fabric. I haven't seen shelves this empty since my last look at the toilet paper section in any major grocery store. I bought the last fat quarter of fabric--it has tacos on it. (Not sure who will want a taco mask, but someone will.)
I left Walmart, passing a tremendous queue of cars all waiting for their curbside pickups. The line to get into the store stretched around the block now.
I caught the #94 bus to downtown Burbank. The bus was not the comfy experience I had on the #222 or was about to have on the #155. This is a bus that goes all the way to DTLA, and had about 12 passengers, mostly laborers and service industry men with varying degrees of mask-wearing, and a homeless man who boarded and then immediately took off his mask and started rambling loudly.
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In downtown Burbank, I switched from the #94 to the #155, which is a mellow line with well-behaved passengers, not many of them, all in their masks. That took me back to Riverside and Hollywood Way, where I picked up a panini and iced latte, and had an itch on my eye that drove me nuts for at least 20 minutes until I got home, dropped everything on my doormat, and scrubbed my hands furiously with soap and water, by which time the itch had vanished.
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What's the verdict?
I was feeling pretty good about the future up until I left Lowe's and went to Walmart. The square mile of Burbank I roam around feels so easy. Vons doesn't always have what I'm looking for, but then it will a few days later. I'm a few blocks from Vons, from CVS, from carry-out restaurants, from the post office, FedEx and UPS Store for printing, and if I want to punish myself, I can go wait in line at Trader Joe's.
But I feel like I just had a glimpse of how other people might be living.
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