Jogging on the Terrace
Journal days 76 and 77 — Life in my little corner of NYC in the age of the Coronavirus, Thursday, June 4, and Friday June 5, 2020
The weather sites were predicting that there would be intermittent thunderstorms all day. I didn’t want to risk going out and getting caught in a storm while in the Gardens, a 20-minute walk from home under big lightning-attracting trees.
On a friend’s suggestion, I tried taking a walk on my terrace. I don’t know why I never thought of that before. From one end to the other was 10 steps. I jogged back and worth for a while, then slowed down to a walk. I felt like those animals you see in the zoo pacing in their cages or in their small outside spaces. I did meet my daily step goal, though, while listening to a Selected Shorts podcast and watching a spectacular sunset:
There was supposed to be a church-organized Black Lives Matter march down my street today, but it got rained out, postponed until tomorrow. On my walk yesterday, I saw the police station down the block had stockpiled metal barriers (the kind usually used at parades), so it looks like they will be closing the street to car traffic:
Also on my walk yesterday, I saw some flowers that I don’t think I’ve seen before:
I have a new exercise goal of walking up a hill on most days, and yesterday, I walked up this one. For some reason, it looks flatter in the photo than it actually was. I’ll have to ask Google if there is some way to correct that, so I can get better bragging rights:
We’re supposed to start Phase 1 of the reopening on Monday, which allows construction, manufacturing, curbside retail, and hunting — though I assume there will be no hunting in NYC, not even pigeons or squirrels.
I doubt that any of the Phase 1 changes will affect me directly, unless I decide to buy a dress or a lamp on the street.
A couple of days ago, there were no Covid deaths in New York City, which is amazing. On the infection-rate curve, we are just about back where we started when this all began. I hope that continues, and I hope that the rallies and marches don’t spark new virus outbreaks. We’ll find out in a week or two.