We'll never forget what you're doing here
Apr. 4th, 2020 01:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brin_bellway[cw: illness, food, (mild) drugs]
(Edit 2020-11-12: WordPress-hosted backup version)
(Edit 2020-11-12: WordPress-hosted backup version)
(Unfortunately, background radios are often too distant to pick up very well. The first one is the few seconds I managed to catch of the particular ad I was thinking of; for the second one, I simply recorded an entire CHYM-FM ad break, to help give a more general sense.)
(I highly recommend the actual audio if you can, but there *are* transcripts available at the bottom of this post.)
Are you ever, just, *acutely* aware that someday they're going to make movies about your situation?
Like, does this not sound *exactly* like something they'd play in the background of a disaster movie for atmosphere?
(God, notice how *evenly* the COVID-19-related ads are spread amongst that ad break. Yes-no-yes-kinda-no-yes.)
---
I heard that first ad at the dollar store, where I was buying seeds. Scallions, zucchini, broccoli. Things that (in our particular microclimate etc) have a relatively good yield for the amount of effort involved, that we eat regularly, and that--unlike garlic--it is not too late to plant.
(I say "relatively". The main thing I learned from assisting Mom with gardening as a child is the importance of division of labour and economy of scale. 'I'm *so* glad we have specialists to do this now so I'm not stuck doing it for my food supply,' I thought. But we have fewer specialists than usual this year, and I suppose we must hedge our bets.)
I took the last packet for one of them: broccoli, I think. The cashier had a plexiglass panel hanging down from the ceiling over the counter, a (somewhat badly worn) surgical mask, and plastic gloves. I paid by tap, which little stores don't normally like for purchases so small (about $2.50 in total), but this is not a normal time: there was a sign on the door encouraging people *not* to use cash.
---
The alcohol store was very strict. They had a carefully spaced line out the door, limiting the number of people inside. They asked you if you'd travelled outside the country in the last 15 days (it would be illegal to be there if you had), or had any symptoms in that time, or been exposed to someone who had.
The store was small enough to be made effectively linear by the need for physical distancing. I walked the loop around the store, looking for the Merlot we needed for Passover and cooking.
Merlot was outside the main loop, and a pair of employees very kindly figured out for me which brand was cheapest (including putting back the first kind when they found an even cheaper one) and fetched me four bottles of it.
The drinking age in my jurisdiction is 19. I'm 26 and 4.5 months. I got carded for the first time.
They did not ask me to take off my surgical mask.
(Normally Mom is in charge of alcohol purchases, but that would require her to leave the house.)
---
The last time I did a grocery trip this big, I had two parents along to assist me, and each of us was pushing a cart. This time, as the person with the strongest immune system in the household, I went alone.
Do you know how hard it is to fit $450 of food into one cart? *Very* hard, as it turns out. Very hard, but not impossible.
*Just the checkout and bagging* took an entire hour: there was so much careful unpacking and repacking involved. For a while there, I was surrounded by piles of food overflowing off the self-checkout counter and onto the floor.
(Overall, the shopping trip--from leaving the house to finishing decontamination--took about five hours.)
Mom apologised profusely for making me go through all that: yes, the shopping list was nearly an entire two-column page, but she hadn't viscerally realised just how big it was in practice.
---
I tried to go at a quiet time of day, but either I failed or it would have been even worse otherwise: the grocery store was too crowded for proper physical distancing. People were clearly trying, but there was only so much they could do.
On the bright side, for the first time I was not the only customer wearing a mask. I saw several surgical masks, one cloth mask, one bandana, and one couple--the lucky bastards--had N95s.
---
The canned fruit (but not vegetables) and frozen vegetables (didn't check fruit) were nearly cleaned out. I managed to get a couple more cans of peaches, and they *did* have frozen cauliflower and spinach, which conveniently are the only kinds we were *dangerously* low on.
*Dried* fruit was fine. I bought a big bag of raisins.
---
Dad had to do most of the bagging (out in the parking lot), as I was exhausted and he has much more practice at it. And then he ruffled his hair during the drive home, and I don't *think* he obeyed me when I told him to shower. Well, I limited his exposure as much as I could. At least he didn't have to breathe the air in that crowded store. He has a beard, too, so masks don't really work on him.
---
The plan is to not go to the grocery store again until early May, 5 - 6 weeks from now. Here's hoping all goes well.
---
Late January 2020 sure was an *interesting* time to start wearing a microphone at ~all times, wasn't it?
Someday, decades from now, some student is going to ask me about [what it was like living through the emergence of COVID-19] for an oral history project, and I'm going to grin at her and say "I can do you one better than oral *history*: I've got oral *contemporary*!".
I keep being struck by the urge to take pictures of all the signs I see around town regarding COVID-19, to document them, and then remembering that I'm no longer allowing my smartphone to leave the house. (Mostly because the outside of its pouch is very hard to clean properly: *normally* I consider that vector to be small enough to be immaterial, since the *outside* of the pouch rarely directly touches anything outside my home except the back storage area at work. But if you're operating at a level of caution where you're showering every time you get home, you're operating at a level where that pouch shouldn't go anywhere.)
Probably I should take the pictures on Mom's phone, which she is allowing me to keep in my bag so that I can communicate with them from inside a store. (After all, what's *she* going to need it for anytime soon? She's not leaving her home Wi-Fi range, so she can just use the VoIP line on her tablet!) The camera quality is a lot less good, but it should suffice.
---
Transcript of first file:
[The sound is extremely muffled and has significant background noise, and I was only partially able to fix these things in post.]
Incredibly radio-announcer man: "We are as concerned as you are with reducing COVID-19--"
Transcript of second file:
Segment 1:
(Moderately radio-announcer) man 1: These are strange times, and we're relying on each other now more than ever.
Woman 1: Especially our first responders. Those of you working in hospitals, grocery stores, and making deliveries.
Chorus: We see you!
Woman 2: We appreciate you, and we understand the sacrifices you're making to help all of us.
Man: The long hours, the time away from family.
Woman 1: Putting yourself in situations where social distancing isn't always an option. We see your selfless acts, every day.
Woman 2: We'll never forget what you're doing here.
Woman 1: And we'll never be able to thank you enough.
Man: You're literally helping change the world.
Woman 1: Thank you, from all of us! At CHYM 96.7.
Segment 2:
Man 2: The world's biggest tennis stars battle it out this summer at the Aviva Centre in Toronto! Reigning champion Rafa Nadal, homegrown Canadian [unclear, and failed when trying to google it], with Felix [unclear 2], and four-time winner Novak Djokovic! With so much to love, don't miss the Rogers Cup, presented by National Bank! Single-session tickets on sale now! Book now at rogerscup.com.
Segment 3:
Man 3: *Everyone* can do their part to slow COVID-19. Wash your hands thoroughly and often with soap and water, practise physical distancing, and stay at home if you are sick! If concerned you have symptoms, take Ontario's online self-assessment. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, cough, and difficulty breathing. And if you've been exposed to COVID-19, have *any* symptoms, or have travelled outside Canada, you should self-isolate for fourteen days. Visit ontario.ca/coronavirus for more information. Paid for by the Government of Ontario.
Segment 4:
Woman 3: At Easy Financial, we understand unexpected situations can cause financial stress. If you are looking for a financial solution you can count on, we want you to know we're here to help. With loans up to forty-five thousand dollars, Easy Financial can help get you the money you need as soon as today. Our commitment to helping everyday Canadians has *never* been stronger. Apply in minutes at easyfinancial.com or call your local branch. Easy Financial.
Segment 5:
Woman 4: After twenty years of handing the Region a damn good deal, one lucky listener just got the deal of a lifetime!
Man 4: We are so excited to be the winners of Dan's Discount Windows and Doors' twenty-k giveaway!
Woman 5: Woo!
Woman 4: Congratulations to David Cotton, winner of Dan's Discount Windows and Doors' twentieth anniversary giveaway! David will soon be the proud owner of a house *full* of new Vinyl-Guard windows, and a Door-Plex front door system! It's a prize valued at over twenty thousand dollars!
Woman 5: Thank you!
Woman 5 and Man 4: Woo!
Woman 4: Thanks to everyone who entered, from Dan's Discount Windows and Doors and CHYM 96.7.
Segment 6:
Woman 6: At Tim Hortons, we're proud to serve all of our communities across Canada. So we've made changes to serve you better, in times like these. That's why our drive-thrus are ready to take your order, with minimal contact. Tim Hortons: proudly serving our communities.
(Edit 2020-11-12: WordPress-hosted backup version)
(Edit 2020-11-12: WordPress-hosted backup version)
(Unfortunately, background radios are often too distant to pick up very well. The first one is the few seconds I managed to catch of the particular ad I was thinking of; for the second one, I simply recorded an entire CHYM-FM ad break, to help give a more general sense.)
(I highly recommend the actual audio if you can, but there *are* transcripts available at the bottom of this post.)
Are you ever, just, *acutely* aware that someday they're going to make movies about your situation?
Like, does this not sound *exactly* like something they'd play in the background of a disaster movie for atmosphere?
(God, notice how *evenly* the COVID-19-related ads are spread amongst that ad break. Yes-no-yes-kinda-no-yes.)
---
I heard that first ad at the dollar store, where I was buying seeds. Scallions, zucchini, broccoli. Things that (in our particular microclimate etc) have a relatively good yield for the amount of effort involved, that we eat regularly, and that--unlike garlic--it is not too late to plant.
(I say "relatively". The main thing I learned from assisting Mom with gardening as a child is the importance of division of labour and economy of scale. 'I'm *so* glad we have specialists to do this now so I'm not stuck doing it for my food supply,' I thought. But we have fewer specialists than usual this year, and I suppose we must hedge our bets.)
I took the last packet for one of them: broccoli, I think. The cashier had a plexiglass panel hanging down from the ceiling over the counter, a (somewhat badly worn) surgical mask, and plastic gloves. I paid by tap, which little stores don't normally like for purchases so small (about $2.50 in total), but this is not a normal time: there was a sign on the door encouraging people *not* to use cash.
---
The alcohol store was very strict. They had a carefully spaced line out the door, limiting the number of people inside. They asked you if you'd travelled outside the country in the last 15 days (it would be illegal to be there if you had), or had any symptoms in that time, or been exposed to someone who had.
The store was small enough to be made effectively linear by the need for physical distancing. I walked the loop around the store, looking for the Merlot we needed for Passover and cooking.
Merlot was outside the main loop, and a pair of employees very kindly figured out for me which brand was cheapest (including putting back the first kind when they found an even cheaper one) and fetched me four bottles of it.
The drinking age in my jurisdiction is 19. I'm 26 and 4.5 months. I got carded for the first time.
They did not ask me to take off my surgical mask.
(Normally Mom is in charge of alcohol purchases, but that would require her to leave the house.)
---
The last time I did a grocery trip this big, I had two parents along to assist me, and each of us was pushing a cart. This time, as the person with the strongest immune system in the household, I went alone.
Do you know how hard it is to fit $450 of food into one cart? *Very* hard, as it turns out. Very hard, but not impossible.
*Just the checkout and bagging* took an entire hour: there was so much careful unpacking and repacking involved. For a while there, I was surrounded by piles of food overflowing off the self-checkout counter and onto the floor.
(Overall, the shopping trip--from leaving the house to finishing decontamination--took about five hours.)
Mom apologised profusely for making me go through all that: yes, the shopping list was nearly an entire two-column page, but she hadn't viscerally realised just how big it was in practice.
---
I tried to go at a quiet time of day, but either I failed or it would have been even worse otherwise: the grocery store was too crowded for proper physical distancing. People were clearly trying, but there was only so much they could do.
On the bright side, for the first time I was not the only customer wearing a mask. I saw several surgical masks, one cloth mask, one bandana, and one couple--the lucky bastards--had N95s.
---
The canned fruit (but not vegetables) and frozen vegetables (didn't check fruit) were nearly cleaned out. I managed to get a couple more cans of peaches, and they *did* have frozen cauliflower and spinach, which conveniently are the only kinds we were *dangerously* low on.
*Dried* fruit was fine. I bought a big bag of raisins.
---
Dad had to do most of the bagging (out in the parking lot), as I was exhausted and he has much more practice at it. And then he ruffled his hair during the drive home, and I don't *think* he obeyed me when I told him to shower. Well, I limited his exposure as much as I could. At least he didn't have to breathe the air in that crowded store. He has a beard, too, so masks don't really work on him.
---
The plan is to not go to the grocery store again until early May, 5 - 6 weeks from now. Here's hoping all goes well.
---
Late January 2020 sure was an *interesting* time to start wearing a microphone at ~all times, wasn't it?
Someday, decades from now, some student is going to ask me about [what it was like living through the emergence of COVID-19] for an oral history project, and I'm going to grin at her and say "I can do you one better than oral *history*: I've got oral *contemporary*!".
I keep being struck by the urge to take pictures of all the signs I see around town regarding COVID-19, to document them, and then remembering that I'm no longer allowing my smartphone to leave the house. (Mostly because the outside of its pouch is very hard to clean properly: *normally* I consider that vector to be small enough to be immaterial, since the *outside* of the pouch rarely directly touches anything outside my home except the back storage area at work. But if you're operating at a level of caution where you're showering every time you get home, you're operating at a level where that pouch shouldn't go anywhere.)
Probably I should take the pictures on Mom's phone, which she is allowing me to keep in my bag so that I can communicate with them from inside a store. (After all, what's *she* going to need it for anytime soon? She's not leaving her home Wi-Fi range, so she can just use the VoIP line on her tablet!) The camera quality is a lot less good, but it should suffice.
---
Transcript of first file:
[The sound is extremely muffled and has significant background noise, and I was only partially able to fix these things in post.]
Incredibly radio-announcer man: "We are as concerned as you are with reducing COVID-19--"
Transcript of second file:
Segment 1:
(Moderately radio-announcer) man 1: These are strange times, and we're relying on each other now more than ever.
Woman 1: Especially our first responders. Those of you working in hospitals, grocery stores, and making deliveries.
Chorus: We see you!
Woman 2: We appreciate you, and we understand the sacrifices you're making to help all of us.
Man: The long hours, the time away from family.
Woman 1: Putting yourself in situations where social distancing isn't always an option. We see your selfless acts, every day.
Woman 2: We'll never forget what you're doing here.
Woman 1: And we'll never be able to thank you enough.
Man: You're literally helping change the world.
Woman 1: Thank you, from all of us! At CHYM 96.7.
Segment 2:
Man 2: The world's biggest tennis stars battle it out this summer at the Aviva Centre in Toronto! Reigning champion Rafa Nadal, homegrown Canadian [unclear, and failed when trying to google it], with Felix [unclear 2], and four-time winner Novak Djokovic! With so much to love, don't miss the Rogers Cup, presented by National Bank! Single-session tickets on sale now! Book now at rogerscup.com.
Segment 3:
Man 3: *Everyone* can do their part to slow COVID-19. Wash your hands thoroughly and often with soap and water, practise physical distancing, and stay at home if you are sick! If concerned you have symptoms, take Ontario's online self-assessment. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, cough, and difficulty breathing. And if you've been exposed to COVID-19, have *any* symptoms, or have travelled outside Canada, you should self-isolate for fourteen days. Visit ontario.ca/coronavirus for more information. Paid for by the Government of Ontario.
Segment 4:
Woman 3: At Easy Financial, we understand unexpected situations can cause financial stress. If you are looking for a financial solution you can count on, we want you to know we're here to help. With loans up to forty-five thousand dollars, Easy Financial can help get you the money you need as soon as today. Our commitment to helping everyday Canadians has *never* been stronger. Apply in minutes at easyfinancial.com or call your local branch. Easy Financial.
Segment 5:
Woman 4: After twenty years of handing the Region a damn good deal, one lucky listener just got the deal of a lifetime!
Man 4: We are so excited to be the winners of Dan's Discount Windows and Doors' twenty-k giveaway!
Woman 5: Woo!
Woman 4: Congratulations to David Cotton, winner of Dan's Discount Windows and Doors' twentieth anniversary giveaway! David will soon be the proud owner of a house *full* of new Vinyl-Guard windows, and a Door-Plex front door system! It's a prize valued at over twenty thousand dollars!
Woman 5: Thank you!
Woman 5 and Man 4: Woo!
Woman 4: Thanks to everyone who entered, from Dan's Discount Windows and Doors and CHYM 96.7.
Segment 6:
Woman 6: At Tim Hortons, we're proud to serve all of our communities across Canada. So we've made changes to serve you better, in times like these. That's why our drive-thrus are ready to take your order, with minimal contact. Tim Hortons: proudly serving our communities.
