Tag: Scenes from a Pandemic Shutdown

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sign saying the park is closed, caution tape, and ducks out away from the pond

Three ducks on the grass.While some cities around here have only closed playgrounds and sports facilities at their parks, Manhattan Beach has closed their parks outright. Polliwog Park has a large pond year-round that attracts ducks, geese, coots, herons and more, plus the local gulls and pigeons that wander by. But the park has been literally wrapped in caution tape for a month, and the ducks that normally stay in and around the pond have come out to the edges by the sidewalks — where people can still walk by and feed them.

On a related note: iNaturalist’s City Nature Challenge for 2020 is underway. You can join the project to photograph the wild animals, plants, fungi and other lifeforms you see around your home or neighborhood (depending on how far you can roam in your area) this weekend. I’ve already posted the ducks, as well as a finch, some phoebes, a blackbird, a wasp, and a bunch of random plants found in the yard. Well, weeds, anyway, but the whole point is to post (and later identify) the wildlife in the area.

(And yes, you can obscure the location info. When I’m at or near home, I mark a wide circle around a major intersection and choose the “obscured” option, which further hides it from anyone but project admins and curators.)

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Sidewalk chalk writing: Don't Worry, Be Happy (okay you can worry a little)

Spotted on a walk around the neighborhood yesterday.

Actually I’ve been seeing a lot of sidewalk chalk messages lately, some written by adults, others clearly written by kids. Starting about a week into the shutdown, when I went out for a walk and found a note from one of the kiddo’s former classmates saying hello. As I walked around the block, I found more notes to other kids – clearly he’d left them at every house where he knew someone. Since then I’ve seen drawings, birthday greetings, stay safe messages, and more.

It’s sort of like texting without phones.

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I wore a mask to the bank today.

Nobody batted an eye.

They probably would have been more concerned if I hadn’t worn a mask, since they’re now required for anyone working at or visiting an “essential” business that’s still open to the public.

A month ago, when I first went outside after recovering from the flu, only a handful of people were wearing masks. It’s still not everyone, but a lot more people are masking up these days.

Bandanas mostly, and pleated cloth masks. At the grocery store I saw a few people, mostly older, with more serious filters.

Maybe half the people I see walking around residential areas. It’s not required in this area, at least not yet, if you’re going for a solo walk, just if you’re going to be interacting with people. And if you’re out with someone from your own household, it’s not like you’re endangering each other. And yeah, I get it: it’s a pain to grab a mask just to walk around the block.

More people along bigger streets, where they might be on their way to or from a store or restaurant that’s still open, or a bus.

Everyone doing construction or landscaping or gardening.

Someone standing on a street corner selling masks for a few dollars apiece. A sign on a telephone pole advertising hand-made masks by someone in the neighborhood. Parked cars with cloth masks hanging from the rear-view mirrors.

And scattered around, the occasional discarded masks. I don’t understand: They’re not easy enough to find that you can just toss one and replace it on a whim. What’s the story? Did someone rip another person’s mask off and throw it in the dirt as a form of bullying? Throw their own mask away in frustration?

A discarded face mask in the dirt.

Update 4/25: Found another one that I thought made for an interesting image, though the previous one’s still better. I don’t think the plants need the mask.

Weeds by the edge of the sidewalk and a discarded face mask.

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Sign saying Open for Takeout on the sidewalk

I’ve been seeing a lot of these signs in front of restaurants when I go walking in the neighborhood. Most restaurants in the area seem to be trying to keep going as all-takeout/delivery, at least for now. A couple of small chains have closed some locations and are continuing to operate take-out from others. The county “Safer at Home” order has been extended through May 15, so I guess we’ll see how many places can weather that long.

Restaraunt take-out window with sign: Food and Beer To GoThough I’ve got to say, I’m still not used to restaurants being able to offer beer to go.

Most people have been really good at maintaining social distancing while out. The group in the distance seemed to all be one family.

Except for runners. Runners passing me from behind, where I can’t see them to move out of the way myself, have a 50/50 track record of detouring around vs. just zooming past me at a distance of a foot. Maybe they think they can outrun the virus, but if they’re the ones who have it (asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic), it certainly doesn’t help the people they’re rushing past.