CoronaQuarantine, Day 68
Another Social Review point for someone yesterday! And this one for in-person (social distanced and masked) social interaction, as Alexia texted me mid-afternoon to ask if I wanted to walk that evening. I said, sure! So long as she was up for walking to my office and back again, and she was.
I had been going back and forth in my mind about whether to ride my bike there and back before Shobhit got home from work, or just wait and let him give me a ride there on our way out to go grocery shopping. If I biked there, I didn't want to leave too early, as I'd get there as early as 5:00 and most of the (few) people actually working in the office would still be there; I prefer to be there definitively outside regular working hours. Also the office recently mandated that anyone working in the office wear a mask the entire time they're there. I'm apt to be less concerned about it if I'm there when no one else is.
I liked this new idea of walking, as Alexia was not expecting to be available to leave until 5:00, so it would be close to 6:00 by the time we got there, and also this way I didn't have to make Shobhit drive three miles out of the way before we went shopping. So, that's what we did. It was nearly 6:00 when we got to the building, and as usual Alexia waited for me in the courtyard on the south side of the building. I did still keep my mask on maybe half the time I was inside; the receptionist was still there when I arrived, and so was Scott M, one of the new Directors of Operations (and who had been the Store Director at Columbia City when I volunteered a couple of half-shifts there during Thanksgiving Week last year). The receptionist had a mask on but Scott did not.
I worked as fast as I could to get the paperwork swapped out, grab a quick snack, fill my cup with flavoring syrup for my eventual Friday London Fog tea latte, and get back outside so we could get headed back. This was effectively efficient, and Alexia and I returned to our building literally within minutes of Shobhit getting there and I just came downstairs and got in his car to drive up to the Greenlake Village PCC for shopping.
Unless Laney and I manage a socially-distanced Happy Hour at a park in June, these walks with Alexia are destined to be the only examples of socializing with anyone besides Shobhit that were not virtual this quarter. It will likely be very similar for the Social Review I eventually have for summer as well.
Speaking of PCC, we are re-ramping up the plans for opening the Central District store, which is now slated for mid-June. I only learned recently that, although a lot can change at any time these days, currently the expectation is for the Bellevue store to open less than two months after, which I had not realized—of course, it makes more sense when I remember that CD was supposed to open in April, and that obviously got put on hold. Now, CD and BV openings will be much like last year's openings of West Seattle and Ballard, which were also only about a month and a half apart. And downtown? I'm betting that won't open until at least next year now.
Also, all this time I was envisioning my Thanksgiving week volunteer shifts in 2020 will be at the downtown store, and now that's clearly not happening, I was beginning to think maybe I would wind up at Columbia City again. Except the Central District store will be open then, duh! That's obviously where I'll be. I mean, assuming things are working in any way the same as they usually do, as opposed to the same level of social distancing attempted right now. Still, that store is just under three quarters of a mile from home, 0.7 to be specific, which is fully half a mile closer than Rainier Square where the downtown location will be, albeit in the opposite direction and so not nearly as convenient to my regular commute to the office.
Of course, I can envision working from home until at least early next year anyway. But, who the fuck knows? Only time will tell.
[posted 12:38 pm]