G: Groceries, Gas, Gender Reveal, Ghost Town, Getting Out, Grounded

 

Groceries, Gas, Gender Reveal, Ghost Town, Getting Out, Grounded

Getting groceries is never fun, and having to go to the store during the pandemic just made it even more not-so-fun. Having to go slowly through the store, following the "One-Way" signs on the floors (which have since disappeared), and trying not to literally bump into others. Even running into others at the store in the figurative sense seemed rare. Whenever I saw someone I know at the store, it was never more than a simple exchange, rarely the "reunion" depicted in the video below:

The worst part about grocery shopping during the pandemic was during the first weeks of March, when store shelves were empty. It was hard finding milk at first, but the lack of milk did not seem to last as long the lack of toilet paper or pasta (more on this to come). Before the pandemic, people were always bringing in bags to the store, after stores began charging for plastic bags. But now most of us are getting more bags now, both plastic and paper. And for more than year now, my mom and I have been frantically wiping down our groceries when we get home.

Gas was still necessary to get, but initially having to stay home required less of it and getting it less often. 

I must admit I did not drive when I was 16 and rarely did anything from which to get grounded. Just the same, I did find this funny. 

A gender-reveal party. This annoyed me to no end. I've never had children, but if I had, and had chosen to have a gender reveal party, I would have just settled for pink or blue frosting inside a cake, or for just dumping the appropriate color of confetti from a box or jar. The annoying part was that this was during the wildfires that struck California in late summer. The fires were hard enough, along with the hot weather and the pandemic. This was one of many things that occurred this past year that made me think, "What were these people thinking?"

At first getting out of the house other than going to the store was limited to just driving around. With empty school yards and other empty business, the town looked like a ghost town. And a  fire downtown destroyed five adjacent buildings in the middle of  summer. In November, our main street was made into a one-way street with parklets. Now the street is less busy, still seeming rather quiet, if not still like a ghost town. 

One thing I missed about having to be home was getting out to look at stores. In March 2021, I made my first trip to Barnes and Noble in Gilroy, California, in more than a year or so. This was after going to Lane Bryant to get some clothes. And in January, after getting a $100 gift card for Target for my birthday, I used to to get some books. Only doing this every so often and still following protocols.

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Concluding for today.