FOGO? What FOGO?
May. 15th, 2020 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
msconductAs anticipated, I had another bad night while my brain urged me to consider the certain death that lay beyond my property, but I went out anyway. Back in the Before Times, my business partner T (who is also my best friend and housemate) used to go out to a cafe for a miniature board meeting every Friday. And given that our scientists are saying the chance of community infection is "very low", today was the day to resume that.
It was very weird. Just getting ready to go out was strange. I was a bit more used to it as I've been visiting my mother, but T hasn't gone further than the end of the driveway for more than seven weeks. She was all "Argh, I have to wear a bra!" and "Shoes feel funny!". It was also strange going out when it's close to the official start of winter when the last time we were out it was a warm sunny autumn. Fortunately it was a lovely day, so I wore a summer dress with a cardigan to slither more easily through the transition. It was pretty head-snapping nevertheless.
The cafe we went to is in a building just behind a shopping centre. It was good to see that most people were observing the Level 2 restrictions. People were queueing 2 metres apart to get into the shopping centre, which is only allowing a certain number of people in at once. A minority, maybe a quarter, were wearing masks. (Can't say I'm fussed about that, as all the studies they've done about whether they're useful have concluded that nobody has a clue.) On the other hand, although the cafe had correctly spaced out its tables, they're also supposed to have a compulsory register to sign for contact tracing if necessary, and you're not supposed to go up to the counter but be seated, and they weren't doing either of those. However, people were sorting this out themselves, standing well back from the counter to order. Fortunately we have a very high usage of contactless payment in New Zealand, so there was no cash changing hands. Still not right, though. And while we may not have squadrons of Covidiots demanding their "freedom", needless to say despite an overall high compliance level there are still many victims of moronavirus deciding that restrictions are for other people. All we can hope is that transmission levels are so low we'll get away with it. We'll see.
All in all, despite my trepidation, it was sheer bloody exhilarating sitting outside in the sun, drinking the first blessed, heavenly coffee I've had in seven weeks and eating something I didn't have to produce myself. If we get a second wave and have to go backwards up the alert levels, it's going to be exceedingly annoying.
It was very weird. Just getting ready to go out was strange. I was a bit more used to it as I've been visiting my mother, but T hasn't gone further than the end of the driveway for more than seven weeks. She was all "Argh, I have to wear a bra!" and "Shoes feel funny!". It was also strange going out when it's close to the official start of winter when the last time we were out it was a warm sunny autumn. Fortunately it was a lovely day, so I wore a summer dress with a cardigan to slither more easily through the transition. It was pretty head-snapping nevertheless.
The cafe we went to is in a building just behind a shopping centre. It was good to see that most people were observing the Level 2 restrictions. People were queueing 2 metres apart to get into the shopping centre, which is only allowing a certain number of people in at once. A minority, maybe a quarter, were wearing masks. (Can't say I'm fussed about that, as all the studies they've done about whether they're useful have concluded that nobody has a clue.) On the other hand, although the cafe had correctly spaced out its tables, they're also supposed to have a compulsory register to sign for contact tracing if necessary, and you're not supposed to go up to the counter but be seated, and they weren't doing either of those. However, people were sorting this out themselves, standing well back from the counter to order. Fortunately we have a very high usage of contactless payment in New Zealand, so there was no cash changing hands. Still not right, though. And while we may not have squadrons of Covidiots demanding their "freedom", needless to say despite an overall high compliance level there are still many victims of moronavirus deciding that restrictions are for other people. All we can hope is that transmission levels are so low we'll get away with it. We'll see.
All in all, despite my trepidation, it was sheer bloody exhilarating sitting outside in the sun, drinking the first blessed, heavenly coffee I've had in seven weeks and eating something I didn't have to produce myself. If we get a second wave and have to go backwards up the alert levels, it's going to be exceedingly annoying.
