I Went Outside Today (Quarantine Day 6)

I Went Outside Today (Quarantine Day 6)

Disclaimer: I am not in quarantine. The city or state I am in isn't locked down... yet. We are just sheltering in place/staying at home as advised.

Yesterday for the first time in a long time I ventured outside. Under normal circumstances I may occasionally check the mail, take the trash outback or walk the dog up the block. I don't go outside to just stay outside. I would require a reason like going to work, or shopping or having at event to attend. In Köln, I am surrounded by parks and popular places where people just go to be outdoors. I sometimes take a break when shopping at the local Real and just sit out front and pop open a bag of chips or a pouch of apfelmus. I wish to feel the sun on my face and neck. I like to people watch. I want to breathe real air. So going out in my mothers backyard is a rarity. Visting every acre in its entire perimeter was new to me. This was such an adventure the dog seemed skeptical. The goal was to scope out the topography and soil quality. I plan on doing a small garden, collecting rainwater and have a large compost. To start, I cleaned off the back porch collecting all the fallen leaves, placing my propagated vegetables in the sun and rinsing off the two benches back there we never sit on. I was quite dirty after and I worked up a sweat so I took a shower. Once dry I sat in the kitchen and assessed our pantry. We have plenty but I have been inundated with emails from stores asking with personal shopping. They all suggest that we stay at home and patron them using delivery services. Most of them offering incentives and waiving fees at this time. I download an app, I struggled with the registration, I carted up all this stuff and to find out only the fee is waived not the service subscription. I weigh the costs with my mother and we decided to spend $15 to keep her out of stores and both of us at home. We click the next button and then the app claims the store is too busy to fulfill the order today. To diffuse she says we should just go for a walk. This Saturday is one of the hottest days since my arrival and its a few days into Spring. I have on shorts and flip flops, we place pashminas on just in case someone sneezes next to us and we take the dog on a short journey. We witnessed about seven different cars driving in the neighborhood. It seemed like people were going about their daily lives. To us it was like any other Saturday. I asked her to go get the stuff from that store. She asked me to adjust the seat in her van and drive myself. Now I can't drive here so I attempted to negotiate further. She then offered to drive me. But she mistakingly mentioned there was a magazine she wished to read while I shopped. I explained that she shouldn't be going inside touching things especially reading magazines for free. So we ultimately compromised with a drop off where she would park far away from general public and only return after a text from me. We went back home, put on actual pants and drove to the store. We have been so bored we sat down and filled out Census 2020 forms the night before. She drives to the post office first  to drop it off. The entire front is covered in signs about daily lobby closures. No one can check their P.O. Boxes and homeless people can not loiter anymore to use the heating and electricity which is perfectly normal. The outbound mail slots at that time were open but who cares as the census is actually canceled now. The usual homeless man that acts as concierge opening doors for dollars wasn't outside. Driving to the store through downtown the streets were full of unsavories. All types of random people just wandering around like zombies but their were no cars and it wasn't an average Saturday. A lot of places were closed, sprinklers were shut off and the library was shuttered. The grocery store nestled in a strip mall of nail salons and clothing spots now all closed looked like an oasis. Pulling into the parking lot I put a mask on, took a single glove from my purse and grabbed multiple wipes. The cart pull required one wipe, the area to place my purse another and a last one saved for checking out. The goal was to get as much as I had already wasted carting in that delivery app. I however wound up with half. The store was not only empty but completely destroyed. There were plenty of people, definitely more than 10 but maybe under 100 not including the employees. The produce was mostly abandoned leaves, peels and dust. The bread aisle was depleted down to a few gluten free rolls. The seafood associate spoke with a man over the last of the weeks fish. The meat wall was only expensive slabs of ribs, delicacies and a few bags of beef bones for soup. I was able to get two canisters of oatmeal, minced ginger in a jar and a semblance of day old brötchen. These are the things no one is looking for. At least with this breakfast is covered, maybe some homemade cookies, Indian food can continued to be made and I can try to make Maultaschen in broth. People did stare and some even went out of their way to avoid me. I used one hand to navigate the cart and another to select items. I probably looked very strange. I kept repeating an elaborate story to tell others who offered their opinion. "Listen, my mother is 76 and in remission, I am the only one who can shop for both of us, I must do this". Instead no one spoke to me; the cashier said barely a word except the awkward exchange around her placing that receipt she held out into one of my bags. I met my mother outside between the closed office supply and clothing stores. I removed the glove and returned back to the stores restroom. I walked in using my back to open the door, washed my hands vigorously and exited the restroom like a surgeon entering theater only to leave. As we were in the area of another store I figured why not try to fulfill my list there. It was worse. There place was exactly how it was last Saturday with the holes now bigger than they previously were. I commend the lady who told me to get four bags of cat food instead of two. There was only six on the shelf and I was allowed eight. Now there is none. Enroute home we followed the latest orders placing my mask in a ziplock bag and fumigating it with Lysol spray. I could use it again if I had to. Then I took a reusable bag from home and filled it with all my plastic bagged purchases. I can't have those items touching the cloth bag and I can't allow our neighbors to see that we were out shopping. I would normally throw everything down and relax a bit first. Now I have to stand in the kitchen wiping off and cleaning each item, disposing of the outside packaging and washing my hands. Only then can I put my purse away, take off my shoes and change clothes. This is our new normal. This was after six days in the house. I guess you can say we have evolved. Our processes are more streamlined. Our fear more focused. Next week I will unpot my plants and go outside again to seed. Here's hoping to a virus free Summer and a sustainable living.

Keyword: Hoping.