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after eating some pizza and socializing around the fire pit for a bit, the host had an outdoor movie screen and projector set up that we watched Ghostbusters on. people were so in to it that it got parlayed into a Rick Moranis double-feature with Spaceballs as an encore. even though it was only 43 degrees, it was fun as hell to laugh with good friends at two of the finest comedies of the 1980s. |
I CAN GO TO THE PUB ON WEDNESDAY!
Two days of donuts! The Victorian Premier announced the easing of all our stage 4 restrictions yesterday, most come off tonight (Tuesday) at midnight for a Wednesday open and the last of them come off on November 8th. https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1320839207644995584 Lockdowns suck but they work really well. Other background/analysis: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-...ourne/12815330 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-...ement/12815424 |
Life in my city sucks. It was just about manageable when the weather was nice and restaurants, at least in East London (aka Euro-Brooklyn) were being creative and doing a lot of takeaway food that you could enjoy in nearby parks. Now it’s dark, rainy, and impossible to get into a pub/bar/restaurant on short notice, you can’t go with people in other households, and you can’t meet or interact with anyone there.
Life is on hold and if they close the gym I will lose any social interaction at all. |
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Australia will find it easier to limit re-introduction of cases from elsewhere given isolation and distances internally, but it’s not like the virus has been eradicated from the continent and cases will rise again. You guys might be fortunate enough to have a vaccine available before the Southern Hemisphere winter, but that’s just down to timing. |
Some more Bay Area counties are loosening restrictions.
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this video shows what Seoul has been experiencing, a lot of retail closures and less crowded streets
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^ And that’s meant to be “success”. Ridiculous.
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In London right now, and much of the signage is either ads for testing or descriptions of new measures with consequences of non-compliance emphasized.
It's grey, tense, wary and feels like "Children of Men" or something. |
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Milan seems... tense. |
Where I live life is pretty normal , except everyone is wearing a mask and nobody is taking the train to the city
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The whole Chicago area has moved back to disallowing indoor dining and bars
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We went back to that about two weeks ago now I think.
I'm basically resigned to the fact that I'm just going to move back to my parents and grind out work all winter. Servers and bartenders are even more fucked now. It makes me furious seeing people in my situation, who can work from home (but are also homebodies who don't want to do anything in normal times) playing the moral superiority card. "No one go anywhere or do anything until the virus is completely eradicated!" |
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I've said before that the overwhelming feeling is people existing as opposed to living. Plus the ubiquitous pandemic messaging everywhere you go plus everyone wearing a mask gives an Orwellian or Blade Runner feel to everything. (If you can stomach two more cultural references.) The near-total absence of anything visibly fun is subtle but I think it takes a toll. There are no noisy joyous kids' birthday parties to overhear two backyards away. No more bumping into packs of giddy 19-year-old girls running through the grocery store picking up wine coolers and munchies before driving up to the lake. No more bike rides where you stumble upon a wedding party taking pictures in a park along the river. No more drunk bachelorettes and friends accosting you on the street and asking you to perform some dumb trick. No more crowds of parents at local parks cheering their kids on in their sport of choice. No fun, really. Just basic "existing". |
:previous: I wish things felt like Blade Runner right about now!
All of those things were still happening up until a few weeks ago though (just more muted and cautious compared to normal times, of course - but it was still a fun summer). Which makes it feel like a bit of a double whammy with lockdowns and the arrival of November gloom coming at the same time. I actually normally like this time of year, when life starts to move more into cozy indoor spaces (the hygge vibe, if I were Danish), but that's not at all how I feel right now. The recent closure of restaurants, gyms, and theatres feels more like a punishment handed down by the anxiety-riddled COVID-puritans than it does a necessary, evidence-based defence against our growing, but still-very-much-under-control outbreak. There weren't many cases tied to any of those establishments where proper protocols were followed. Thankfully there are still a bunch of covered patios with outdoor heaters here! |
I am currently in Spain and can say that local people are panic-stricken despite the fact that Spanish health care system is very developed and is considered to be one of the best in Europe (here is the proof https://virtoproperty.com/info/spanish-healthcare-system-for-expats. We are going to face the 2nd wave of Covid which is supposed to be even more vicious than the 1st one. No one knows what to expect.
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We had some sucky things going on in our family (not really COVID-related, but made more complicated by it) but even for the people I know who did not have those challenged I still don't get the impression they would have said their summer was "fun". Everything was way more subdued and limited. But yes, definitely better than the spring and this fall. |
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Might not have been ideal, but you could still make the most of it. I mean, I still got to travel (just within the country), I still got to spend time with friends & family (just with a little more distance), I still got to go out to bars & restaurants, still got to go the beach & enjoy the heat, still got to go hiking & biking & do outdoor activities, the city was still vibrant & lively, and I got 3 or 4 day weekends - it might not have been the best summer ever, but one would have to be pretty precious to not be able to have any fun because of slightly sub-optimal conditions. Didn't get to do any international travel or go to big parties & shows, but I think that's a reasonable sacrifice given that we were still in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. But now, things just look pretty bleak all around with none of those things really possible anymore, and little respite visible on the horizon. I recently got a kitten though, so at least that's something going for me! |
Most of Portland appears to be getting back to life. Outer neighborhoods feel pretty peppy and vibrant. I took a bike ride downtown last weekend and I'll only rate it 4 robocops/10. Much better than June's 8 robocops. Downtown retail is improving but the dust is still settling. Teenage combatants continue their anti capitalist revolution but even that has mostly lost its steam. My entire office of 1000 people is coming back in two weeks so uncle Warren (Buffet) seems confident we've rounded the bend.
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There are a lot of Chicago area bars and restaurants that are openly defying the indoor ban.
I have mixed feelings. I know they are desperate, and I feel for them. But I also think that Governor Pritzker is genuinely trying to get this pandemic under control. What can I say. This situation just royally sucks so badly..... |
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