Mistakes Were Made

[hils]

Ros texted me earlier and asked me if I wanted to start going for a weekly swim with her. My first thought was 'yeah, great, I really need to start doing some exercise' so we agreed to start when I get back from my trip to Scotland.

It was only about half an hour later that I suddenly remembered about the very much not over pandemic we are in. The world is doing such a good job of pretending the pandemic is over that I actually forgot about it myself.

I really don't want to share water and humid warm air with a bunch of strangers so I'm going to tell her I don't feel comfortable going when I see her tomorrow. I think she'll be fine about it.

Eventually, some day, I'll be at a point where I feel comfortable doing activities that involve being in indoor spaces around other people. Not there yet though.

Comments

[jomes]

I went to a shop today and only when I arrived I realized that with the weather so warm I was without my usual jacket and me wanting to just buy some drinks and hence leaving without my usual bags, I was there without any mask. I knew the shop is always pretty empty and indeed I was in there on my own and the cashier was behind a separating window, but gosh, I felt so weird and anxious the whole time and was very glad that I was out of there in less than 5 minutes.

Not sure I will ever be as carefree in public spaces as I was before 2020. (or at least just anxious about normal things lol)

[hils]

Yeah it would be really nice to go back to just being anxious about normal things

[dancing_serpent]

Ugh, no. As much as I would like to go swimming again, I'm not going to an indoor pool anytime soon. I might go in the late evening hours once the open air pool opens again (season should start in about a month or so).

Also, I went shopping today and it was so weird to see so many people without masks. Yikes!

[hils]

Yeah, I barely see anyone wearing masks anymore. I still wear mine when I go shopping and I don't really go anywhere else.

[naye]

YEeeah, I'm with you on not wanting to do the indoor swimming thing. And also on forgetting that there's a pandemic on what with nobody acting like it (not that they ever did over here).

[hils]

It's crap. I don't know if I'll ever get back to the way I was before the pandemic. No one seems bothered about doing anything about it anymore so nothing is going to get better.

[kazzy_cee]

I was disappointed to see that all the dividing Perspex barriers are coming down at tills etc in shops. Personally if I worked in retail I’d still want to be separated from the germ/virus ridden public!

[hils]

Yeah, and you can guarantee the retail workers had no say in it

[sunshine304]

Yeah, the politicians have decided that the pandemic is over because people were getting grumpy, and who cares about still high case numbers.
When I was at those work exhibits over the last week, I felt kind of uncomfortable about it all. I wore my mask, especially for that last exhibit because we were all in one (big) room there. Some people wore masks, some didn't. I think it was at least air-conditioned, because I feel it would've felt much stuffier otherwise.

I'm pondering a visit to the cinema for a movie that's been running for several weeks. It's unlikely that there will be many people. *checks website* Ah never mind, both movies are shown in the tiny cinema only, so nope.

[hils]

I keep vaguely thinking about starting to go to the cinema again. I went once last year to see one of Zhu Yilong's movies but I went during the day and on a weekday so I was the only person there :D

I do miss it but still feeling a bit wary about it

[sunshine304]

I went a few times last year, and mostly it wasn't crowded. Once, my friend and I were also alone there. XD
But yeah, the last one I watched was "Eternals" and that was when numbers were rising rapidly again, and there were... well, it wasn't crowded by any means, but roughly 80 people were there I guess, and that felt... not good.

I miss it, too. usually, I end up with about 40 cinema visits a year (often more). But I'm also super wary of it. :(