shopping in person

[redbird]

This afternoon, I went to Davis Square and bought a chicken and some frozen ground lamb, then walked a few blocks to Mass Ave. and bought some lettuce plants for my garden. That's two stores I hadn't been to in over a year, MscKinnon's and Pemberton Farms, which were both basically as I remembered, and I will be able to roast a chicken for cattitude and adrian_turtle while they're recovering from their second vaccine doses.

I wanted to do my own shopping for the chicken, rather than chance an Instacart shopper picking something that needed to be used right away. The original plan had been to go to Star Market, which is closer, but some of their delivery drivers are on strike, and shoppimg there right now would feel wrong even without a physical picket line. So, bus and subway to Davis, rather than just a shorter bus trip. The advantage of this is that uncrowded subway trains let me do a bit of balance practice, which isn't formally PT but which the physical trainer I was working with for a while agreed was useful as a balance exercise. (When I was 15, standing on a moving train without holding on was just for fun.)

Mostly this trip felt refreshingly normal, though passing through the Harvard Square subway station and seeing almost nobody in the normally crowded area between the escalators and the turnstiles, fare vending machines, and busway was weird.

Comments

[athenais]

I haven't yet taken public transportation here because it's been severely limited due to lack of ridership during 2020. Trains and buses are only running once an hour. But I do look forward to actually taking the train into town this summer.

[redbird]

They've reduced transit service here, but not to that extent. That's partly because enough people yelled at the MBTA about the fact that they'd gotten federal money specifically to pay for transit service during the pandemic, not to tuck away for a rainy day, because dear gods, this is the rainy day.

[anne]

Thanks for the heads-up about the Star Market strike--on Saturday I'm working at the duck stop next to the Back Bay one, so I'll have to remember to take my snacks instead of getting something on a break.

[redbird]

They are back at the bargaining table, and have gone back to work.

[anne]

Oh that's good to hear! Because it's the closest restroom, too.

[otter]

I went to the neighborhood meat market this morning, and the woman that works there (yes, only one does), is horrible about mask wearing. When people are in the shop, she wears it under her nose, and even before I left, she'd whipped it off her face. Yes, I did mention my distress to the person helping me at the counter. I've known these folks for decades, yet have never connected with her. She's making it obvious why I feel that distance. Ugh. I used to shop there weekly, but have only been in a few times in the past year, mostly because I noticed her poor mask compliance right away last year.