Dodging Zombies in the Grocery Store
Journal Day 13 (but feeling lucky): Life in my little corner of New York City in the age of the Coronavirus, Friday, April 3, 2020
I’ve been trying to avoid going to the store. My order of six boxes of Swiss Muesli cereal came in from Amazon — sent as a regular product in just a few days, not as part of Amazon Pantry (10-day delivery time) or Amazon Fresh (no delivery dates available here at all). As nutritious and filling as that is, I wanted to have more to eat than muesli and water (slight exaggeration, but soon that wouldn’t be too far off the mark).
I went down to Angie’s, a new market on Metropolitan Ave. I was there once before, a couple of weeks ago. It’s a beautiful store, with gorgeous fresh produce and amazing bread that they bake themselves. Unfortunately, this time there were more people there than before.
In the ancient days (last month), no one in NY would have called the store as it was today “crowded.” But now that I am being conscientious about keeping six feet away from every other human, it was hard to navigate the store’s narrow aisles.
I felt like I was playing a video game where I was trying to avoid zombies who were all lumbering after me. I would turn a corner, go into an aisle — yay, clear! — and then a zombie would enter the aisle from the other end, and I would back off. Turn the next corner — oh no! More zombies! Turn left — turn right — boxed in!
So it was stressful. It was impossible to keep the recommended 6-foot social distance. I have to hand it to the people who work there, though. They were smiling and friendly. I don’t know how they do it, how they keep their spirits up. Grocery workers and delivery people are the unsung heroes of this pandemic.
Anyway, it’s a fantastic store — with a Manhattan vibe in the middle of a sleepy section of Queens — and if and when this is all over, I hope to go there more.
The store is 1.3 miles from me, according to Google. I didn’t want to get on the bus, so it was a long way to lug groceries home on foot. I did bring my backpack, which made it easier to carry things, but between the extra exercise and only sleeping 5.5 hours last night, I ended up falling asleep for a 2-hour “nap” a few hours after I got home. My bio clock is totally messed up now.
I didn’t take any pictures today because I was talking on my phone the whole time I was going to and from the store. But I took a lot yesterday, so that’s what I’ve been posting here. Today, it was raining, so just imagine water dripping into the pictures to get a better idea of what my day looked like.
I had hoped to get home early enough to join a video chat with people from one of my groups, but the shopping excursion took longer than expected. Saying “Hi!” to anyone from that chat who may be reading this, and I hope to join you next week.
Last night, I used up the last roll from my original stock of toilet paper, and (drum roll please), I opened up the new package. I had never bought this brand before and was happy to see that the rolls really were “Mega,” as advertised. Hopefully, my nine rolls will last a while, at least until I can find a new supply.
Although I complain a lot about the difficulties of life now, I realize that I am really very lucky. I have good health so far (knock on wood), no one who I know personally has gotten sick (again, knock on wood), and I am privileged to have friends, the ability to isolate, a quiet place to walk, and running water to wash my hands, something I take completely for granted but that not everyone has.
