This weekend was pretty darn close to a typical "before times" weekend for us. We went to a comedy show on Friday night, got our hair cut Saturday morning and a Timbers' match Saturday night, grabbed breakfast out this morning then went by the grocery store to pick up a few things before heading home to relax in our cool house before the heat wave hits.
I wasn't sure how I would feel going back out in the world after 14-15 months of really limited contact. Would it seem really weird or would the fact that I've had over 50 years of the other world just override the last year or so? The answer is...yes.
Mostly it was pretty normal. But there was the mix of we are still in a pandemic even though we are on the trailing edge of it instead of the middle. Or at least it seems like the trailing edge. We will see what happens as those that aren't vaccinated get exposed to the new variants out there and they continue to mutate. But for now, it seems like we are almost done.
So, anyway...there was a mix of before times and Covid times and new times out there. At the club you wore masks anytime you weren't seated at your table, but if you were at your table masks off was fine, unless you were talking with your server then masks back on. So on, off, on, off, but mostly off. Haircuts we have gotten really used to the mask protocol there. Though I am looking forward to getting my hair cut and colored without the mask on. Mostly because I wear my hair in a style that is shaped to my jaw line. Hard to see exactly what I've got going on until the mask comes off.
The game was maskless for the most part. There were some people there still wearing theirs, and I had debated if I would wear mine or not, but it was HOT last night and to get in the park you had to show proof of vaccination, and it's mostly outside so I never even put mine on. I figured that there were some unvaccinated people there who used bogus cards to come in, but that the most part would be people who were vaccinated. The odds of getting a breakthrough case was small. So no mask, which made it seem pretty normal. Not quite as crowded, the food was all isolated instead of being tossed to you at your seat, but other than that pretty normal.
Restaurant and grocery store were the same as they have been. Masks on unless you are eating or drinking at the restaurant and always masked at the store. Crowds are starting to come back so you aren't alone most of the time but not as crowded as before so you aren't shoulder to shoulder with people either.
Parts felt really normal and before times like. Parts did not.
Like the cough.
Part way through Tom Papa's set someone in the audience coughed. Not a little dry patch, tickle cough but are really full throated phlegmy thing. The audience went silent. Like everyone just went still. Tom Papa got a horrified look on his face and said, "Well that cough was disconcerting." and he lost his rhythm for a moment while we all sat there thinking...AAAAHHH!!! and then he got back in the flow and kept going. But it was an odd moment. And one that I wonder how long it will take to get back to just mild "oh great, now I'm going to get sick" annoyance over "WHY ARE YOU OUT IN PUBLIC WITH A PHLEGMY COUGH??!??"
Brent will probably be back in the office by August and we were talking about that being when all of us will start getting colds again. Over a year with no cold has been really nice. But being around people again, and without masks, the colds are coming. Will we (we being Americans) actually start to stay home when we are sick instead of going out and infecting everyone else? Or will we put on our masks when we do feel a little under the weather and go out? Will there be a sea change in how we act? I'm just not sure.
The Timbers' match would lead me to believe that things are going to get back to the before times normal pretty quickly, as soon as we reach 70% vaccinated in Oregon all of our restrictions are lifted. And we are close to that right now. But that cough...well that makes me think that maybe we aren't really ready yet to just dive back in. That there is a part of us that will always be a little different. I'm just not sure how it will break.
For me? I'd love to see some of the changes stick. I've really liked having a bigger personal space bubble without having to keep subtly moving away from people. I've liked having assigned seating places, and timed entries. I've really liked having Brent work from home. It's so much easier to plan meal times around a 2 minute commute than a maybe 20 maybe 45 and maybe off at 5 or 5:30 possibly 6 if the meeting runs late...
I know that piece is going away no matter how nice it was. Boo. But maybe a few of the other things will stick? Though I'm afraid that the only places we will see permanent change are in the areas that save companies money. If they discovered they could save a few bucks during the slow down they aren't going to want to give up those savings now.
It will be an interesting transition for sure.
On to the new normal...
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