Letters from Lockdown: Farmers Market Sadness

Tuesday is the cruelest day. 

It reminds one of the Saturday farmers market which one does not visit, a weekly event for years. Instead one shops on Tuesday to avoid the lines and crowds. 

One misses the conviviality, the information from farmers, the experts on produce. One had favorite vendors, and favorite stands for specific fruit or vegetables.

Now one dodges a few people who are browsing and they may perhaps buy a bunch of basil. Conversation is hurried with farmers, or nonexistent. Move along. Stay apart. 

The regular shoppers are not there. The favorites are not there. Instead one chooses among a handful of stands. Items may be bundled, since we cannot choose for ourselves. Perhaps with a hand inside a plastic bag one could. However, the policies change each week. 

One discovers the taste of food purchased at home, and is happily surprised, or not.

Yet one is safe. One could be outdoors briefly. One could eat well. One is alive.

Letters from Lockdown: COVID-19 Parkour

Up and down, back and forth one walks. One is transported to the board game Chutes and Ladders, although in real life. 

We have to keep our distance. In order to do so, one may have to walk into the gutter, cross the street, wait for others or even walk to the next block, up a hill. 

Don't complain. At least one could have exercise.

Yet one has difficulty with the dog walkers. So slow, an impediment. The dogs have a great life, since they could take their time. The sidewalk is fascinating to them. Why?

In order to have exercise, one learns the empty streets. One learns the empty times. One could go faster without others to go around. We will not reveal these secret places. It is for others to discover themselves.

Parkour: The word derives from parcours du combat (obstacle course). Now one knows what it means. Other pedestrians are the obstacles in this course. Oh, to be a runner! One could quickly detour around the obstacles.

Oh, to be a flậneur, as in the past, strolling through the city, stopping and looking in store windows, at buildings, at flowers, at whatever, just avoiding bumping into others, without a care. How one longs for those days, pre-COVID-19. Will they return?