And it was a thrill, once again to enter the small salon where Laura does her work, and even more of a thrill to look like myself again. I feel light-headed.<\/p>\n
To get down and across to Broome Street, I had to take the D or B train. Since I was traveling toward the end of rush hour, I wondered how jammed the subway and the stations would be.<\/p>\n
Not at all. In fact, I figure the NYC subway system is probably the safest indoor place in the city. Everyone wore a mask, everyone spaced himself. The platform wasn’t crowded. Neither was the train — which was, as I’m sure you’ve heard, so gleaming clean, sunglasses are advised. By me.<\/p>\n
Walking from the Grand Street station to the salon, I saw numbers of (young) people sitting around in parks, yammering, maskless. The area was, if not jumping exactly, moving around. One guy on a skateboard took a really bad spill on Allen Street but got up, okay.<\/p>\n
Numbers of the small restaurants on the streets were open, tables on the sidewalks and streets. And, of course, no one eating and drinking was wearing a mask. Some restaurants’ interiors were open for business.<\/p>\n
A neighbor recently suggested going out to dinner at a neighborhood restaurant with tables out on the sidewalk. I am not yet comfortable with this. I think: no mask, servers getting close enough to give us plates of food and take them away, where will I wash my hands frequently, per Dr. Rob<\/a>? And I just read there might be a spike in COVID-19 from restaurants because of the physical exchange of credit cards.<\/p>\n Since Laura comes from an Apache reservation in Arizona<\/a>, and I know reservations have been especially hard hit by COVID, I asked how her family was doing.<\/p>\n “So-so,” she said. That isn’t good. I was really sorry. There wasn’t much more to be discussed about this; she wanted to get on with the business of cutting off my mop. Which she managed to do even as I wore my mask.<\/p>\n The Lower East Side is acting as if all is OK.<\/p>\n It isn’t. Someday it will be but not yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" And it was a thrill, once again to enter the small salon where Laura does her work, and even more of a thrill to look like myself again. I feel light-headed. To get down and across to Broome Street, I … Continue reading