Had to buy groceries today.

Stocked up. Stocked so much up that I ended up paying $10 for a car to drive it home. The groceries and me, I mean - though if he'd known how to find my street I'd've told him it's close enough, I'd walk and meet him. It's a seven minute walk, maybe a two minute car ride. I didn't think it was that much riskier than the actual time in the store.

Also ended up screaming at somebody. She didn't actually deserve to be screamed at, but to be fair, I didn't deserve to be accused of rudeness (or "attitude") because I waited for her to move away from the eggs rather than asking her. First off, it's 50/50 which one of those two actions will get the right response in a person (and I'm not convinced that the people who complain about you not asking them to move aren't often the same people who act put-upon if you DO ask them), and secondly, there's lots of reasons somebody might not speak to you - maybe the mask impedes their speech, maybe they have a physical, psychological, or learning disability that keeps them from speaking in some or all circumstances, maybe they did speak and you didn't hear, maybe they don't speak your language, maybe they don't want to talk to you. (Maybe their capacity for coherent speech has deteriorated to the point where "SHUT UP AND GO AWAY" is the best you're gonna get. Crude, but effective. She did shut up and go away.)

Seeing empty places on the shelves was stressful even when it was for things I didn't want. Somebody on line suggested that Shop Rite is mostly stocked up in everything, the only store she's been to that consistently is, but I can't get to Shop Rite without a car, it's a 4 mile walk down Forest! (Well, I could manage a 4 mile walk easy, it's the walk back that concerns me.) And I'm not going to take the bus to the supermarket unless I have no choice.

I did mostly get everything on my list, spent all my grocery money, but I managed to forget garlic so I'll still have to go back, probably Monday or Tuesday. I can't cook without garlic, so that's a non-starter. If I get there first thing in the morning, or last thing at night I should be just in and out.

Most of the NYC covid-19 update texts are a bit useless

But I'm interested at the angle they're taking with this one.

"Show your support for NYC's grocery workers: Only shop when you need to, wear a face covering, and keep at least 6 feet from others."

It's clumsy, but it's a change from "Do those things to save generic lives", which is what their previous messages sounded like. Now it's not generic people whose lives I'm saving, it's grocery workers whom I support.

The stores are a bit surreal - sneeze guards at the supermarket, makeshift sneeze guard at the corner store (a shower curtain, plus milk crates around the counter to keep you at a distance). I approve of the sneeze guards for the psychological benefit, though I bet even the shower curtain actually does more good - they don't have much coverage. I wonder if they'll take them down once this is all over.