H: Home, Holidays, Heatwave, Hoarding, Hand Sanitizer, Harry and Meghan

 

Home, Holidays, Heatwave, Hoarding, Hand Sanitizer, Harry and Meghan

People have said there is no place like home, but just how did this old expression apply to most people in 2020, being forced to stay home most of the time? There are those who have to be away from home, even me, though I am more of an introvert (more on that one tomorrow). I did get sick of being at home all the time, and taking a drive around town was worth it just to get away.

Holidays were a lot different this past year. Some people seemed excited by the fact that Cinco de Mayo was on a  Tuesday, and that 4th of July and Halloween were both on Saturdays. Many knew this before the virus hit, before the year even began. 

Holiday items turned up at stores months ahead of time. It was clear the pandemic would not be up before the year was over, and people were encouraged not to celebrate in large groups. Celebrations at bars and clubs were cancelled. Nevertheless, some people did not listen. And the corona cases just grew. Photos like this didn't seem to stop people from gathering.

As always, a bunch of topical Halloween costumes appeared this year. Since bar celebrations were cancelled and Halloween parties were discouraged, many of us did not get to see others in these costumes. But I have a feeling these would not have been popular in my neighborhood. 

Along with the Corona costumes seen in this post, other 2020-themed costumes included these hand sanitizer ones. It seems no costume ever escapes being made  "sexy." I am glad not to have seen anything like this.

I was uncertain about Halloween in 2020. Usually I go looking at costumes online and try to decide on one. Yet this year made dressing up seem uncertain. But then I thought I could redo one of those I still had from prior years. Since we had a small social-distance celebration at work I pulled out my tropical depression costume. I was one of only three at work in costume. On the night itself I redid this one. Very few kids came to get candy, but that has always been true in our area. And my family has not been doing anything big for Thanksgiving or Christmas in eyes, so having to stay home was not hard on us at all.  And I've pretty much given up on going out on New Year's Eve.

Hand sanitizer was one of the many items hard to locate in stores at the beginning of the pandemic. But for me, I had already gotten a three-pack of hand sanitizer from Dollar Tree. This was for my coughing tendencies  that seem to strike at the beginning of allergy season. I was this prepared for something I did not know would happen. I mainly used the sanitizer after being out in public. In order not to use it all at, I mainly washed my hands using soap and water. 

 

And hand sanitizer was just one of many items that people began hoarding at the start of the coronavirus. When there was some at the store, signs were posted on shelves limiting the number of items per customer, something that continued even after it became easier to find the stuff. After a while, my mom and I were able to find spraying sanitizer at Safeway. It's been easy to find for sometime now. I currently have several bottles of hand sanitizer at home, both the gel and the spray kinds. There were at least two times I grabbed more than one bottle at a time. I'm trying hard not to hoard stuff. And since I have enough hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol right now, I won't be needing to buy anymore for a while. Here's hoping the hoarding tendencies don't start again!

My carts never got as full as those seen above. And I was glad this never came to be true:

Heatwaves hit my in neck of the woods several times last year, beginning as early as the end of April. In May, the heatwave came again, along with Memorial Day, the first legal holiday during the lockdown. I'd nearly forgotten that it was Memorial Day at the store that day, as I attempted to pick up a prescription from the pharmacy and saw it was closed. Such holidays normally feel like an extra Sunday, but the lockdown felt like a year of Sundays! And the heatwaves struck along with the wildfires in California in late summer. Ash and haze from the fires made the skies look dreary in an already dismal year. And it was just more difficult having to stay at home when it was at or nearing 100-degree heat. This also made me dread the beginning of fall, since as the photo below says, fall in California is still 97 degrees out--or even more!

Two names I got sick of hearing in 2020: Harry and Meghan. Hearing about them was inescapable, as they stepped away from their royal duties. And now they're having a second child. Just how much of this did we need to hear? And that's all I'm going to say about this one...

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This concludes today's post.