The Illusion That Everything Is Normal
Journal Day 6: My little corner of NYC in the age of the Coronavirus, Friday, March 27, 2020
I almost didn’t go out again today. We’re heading into the home stretch of the worst of the pandemic here, and I’m trying to be extra careful. But it was a beautiful spring day, sunny, with temperatures in the 60s, and I couldn’t resist going out.
This time I didn’t go into any stores. I went straight to the Gardens via the back way. Many other people were out enjoying the weather there, but it was easy to spread out and walk,when necessary, in the street.
The Forest Hills Gardens is a private community. You could say it’s like a gated community, except without a gate. The streets are private, and the community’s private guards do boot cars of non-residents who park there.
As far as I know, though, the sidewalks are public and belong to the city. In any case, no one has ever hassled me for walking there.
Because it’s a private community, it is strictly residential without any stores or restaurants. So I didn’t see anything that was closed up, the way I would only a few blocks away. That gave the illusion that everything was normal, like it was just an ordinary spring day with people out enjoying a stroll.
I put on Cuomo’s press conference this morning, but I just had it in the background for the first part because the news has been basically the same for the last few days: The number of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths is increasing, but the rate of increase is slowing down. We need more ventilators, and the state needs Congress to give it more money.
I paid more attention to the inspirational stuff he did at the end. It may be corny, but it’s touching. Today, he talked about how we are tough because we are New Yorkers, and as tough as we are, that’s exactly how loving we are. He spoke to the members of the National Guard listening to him, praising them for their courage, talent, intelligence, and heart, telling them this was a historic moment and that all New Yorkers were proud of them.
This is how a leader should be. Encouraging, inspiring, and getting everyone to be on mission. He ended by saying, “Let’s go kick coronavirus ass!”
In the Gardens, there was a noticeable increase in blooming flowers, and leaf buds were starting to appear on some tree branches. I only took one picture (posted above) because I was talking on the phone while I was walking and didn’t think I could use the phone to take a photo at the same time, though maybe I can. Someday, I’ll figure it out. In the meantime, here are some more pictures from a couple of days ago that I hadn’t yet posted:
