Free Food and a Good Night’s Sleep
I slept 7.75 hours last night, and I feel like a different person! I can’t remember the last time I slept that much — probably after an all-day walk back in the olden days. I’ve been averaging less than six hours sleep, and some nights it’s been as little as four.
I did two things differently. First, I listened to some of the “sleep experiences” on Headspace’s NY State of Mind page (which is open to everyone, not just New Yorkers) when I was going to sleep and again the first time I woke up (it’s normal for me to wake up a couple of times during the night, even in regular times). I think those put me into a deeper state of relaxation.
Maybe even more effective was that the second time I woke up, I listened to a very soothing track of nature sounds — rain showers, thunder, waterfalls and birds — on my mini MP3 player, wearing one ear bud (I sleep on my side). I used to listen to this track a lot years ago as I was falling asleep, but I fell out of the habit. I’m pretty sure the track is what took me all the way to almost eight hours last night, so that’s one habit I will revive, now that sleep is so important both for my mood and to build up my immune system.
New York City has been providing free grab-and-go meals to school kids since the schools shut down. Last week, they started offering them to everyone, with no application or ID required. Not sure why they did that. Maybe they had excess food because not many families were picking them up?
I went today to check it out. The walk there took me in the opposite direction from my usual route. I went up Queens Boulevard, where there was little vehicle traffic but more people walking on the sidewalk than I felt comfortable with. There was a space in the road, almost a lane, which I had never even noticed before, between the bicycle lane and the center dividers, so I walked there instead.
The walk took me past Stix, which used to have great lunch specials — shish kebab, rice or salad, soup, soda, and homemade bread for about $10. I hope they are able to reopen when this is all over.
Then I turned down 102nd Street, into a neighborhood I’m not super familiar with. The route took me past the Emergency Room entrance of the Long Island Jewish Forest Hills Hospital. This is probably the hospital where I would be taken if I ever get very sick. It’s closer than the now unfortunately famous Elmhurst Hospital, which Google told me was 2.8 miles away. I read a couple of days ago that the ICU unit in LIJ Forest Hills was full, and they were taking patients out to Long Island.
At the school where they were distributing food, there was a double door. The outside door was open, and the inner door was closed. A couple was waiting in the small space between the doors, so I waited outside. They were waved in one at a time to pick up their food, and then I went in after they left.
The one thing I was most hoping to get was milk. They gave me a box of chocolate milk. I’ve never used that in coffee or cereal before, but anything with chocolate has to be good, right?
I wore my gloves for the first time today, and I was glad because I had to push a metal handle to open the inner door. I think they look very chic:
I came back on a different route, on Yellowstone, which was better.
I would love to be able to relax and not take so many precautions, now that the very worst may be almost over. But my television boyfriend, Saint Andrew of the Albanies, said we must not let down our guard, so I will stay vigilant.
