The main grocery stores are getting hammered here in Australia and instituting strict controls on certain items per person (including meat, starting today) as well as a specific hour each morning from 7-8 to let the elderley stock up before everyone else strips the shelves.

Apart from that i'm still at work, the Sydney traffic is still awful, the public transport i get to work still seems like a Corona-hive, but i work downtown near the central station where driving and parking simply isn't possible.

Enjoy my inner city life but i'll be honest the suburbs are better set up for social distancing right now!

^ any urban transit commuters who don't have the option to WFH should consider this as a prime opportunity to take up the noble activity of bicycle commuting.

All you need to get started is a working bicycle.

Not the worst idea, especially now that summer's wrapping up: maybe this will be the kick in the pants i need to get on that bike.

^ I've been at it every workday for the past 12 year.

Easily one if the best decisions I ever made. DO IT!

Ironically enough, I'll be WFHing for the next 3 weeks at least, and thus won't be bike commuting for the first time in a long time.

Gonna have to schedule in some fun rides to stay in good riding shape.

New Orleans is slammed with virus cases. Over 100 in the state, with 75 in Orleans Parish and most of the rest in the suburban parishes. Two deaths so far. There is one 45 y/o otherwise healthy man in critical care on a respirator. He had no underlying conditions. Was misdiagnosed and refused a coronavirus test earlier this week. Guess this means even healthy folks under 50 can be at risk.

https://www.fox8live.com/2020/03/14/...-cases-covid-/

https://www.nola.com/news/coronaviru...7f71d169a.html

Ha last Thursday I got in that train of thought, got my bike fixed which happened to be fine aside from no air in the tires.

LA is totally shut down now -- all bars, clubs, entertainment venues, and movie theaters are closed effective midnight.

The idea of living in Central LA, a city where God knows how many millions live paycheck to paycheck particularly within the service industry--take away their pay from one day to the next, how are they going to survive? Where will people go? I am dreading the pandemonium that may ensue.

My boyfriend and I are escaping to my Dad's in Coronado, San Diego tomorrow (my dad lives in Mexico most of the year currently). At least its connected only by bridge and there's a military base next door to where he lives. It takes very little for humans to be reduced to a survivalist, animalistic nature, and that scares me to no end.

Yeah, I don't really enjoy maintaining my bike though. Riding down King I always get flat tires. The Lakeshore path is better but that adds an extra 2 miles. I'll take the green line to Garfield (basically empty) then walk or divvy the rest of the way to campus. I bet campus will be closed soon though and our detector construction will be completely fucked.

Just got a notice from my HOA that their monthly meeting, open to all residents, is tomorrow. This is in AZ where the state Dept. of Health Services is advising all meetings of 50 or more be canceled or postponed.

#clueless

And the legs of person under 50 (or younger).

I know there are fanatical oldsters in their 80s who ride bikes and I know there are electic-assisted bikes, but I reject the idea this is a practical idea for the middle aged and older. Riding for fun and exercise--where you can go the distance that's comfortable for you--is one thing but riding several miles to work and back for those not in shape for it is just not in the cards and there will be consequences (oldsters having CPR on the roadside).

I was out buying weed and saw some guy walking down the street barking, growling and giving the hitler salute.

I guess its affecting him negatively?

I mentioned a week or so ago that my good friend had been laid off from his hotel job (not exactly laid off--just given no hours to work). Now I would guestimate that a good portion of San Francisco, which is a tourist town more than LA (let's not argue about that--just my impression), has joined him. Take hotels, bars and restaurants out of our economy and the techies working from home and basically the only people going to work are in city government (probably also working from home to a large extent), health care and first responders.

I expect the city has to respond in some way.

That would pass without notice in San Francisco. :shrug: First day I was house hunting in the city 4 decades ago, as I got off a city bus a guy in a chicken costume but carrying a briefcase was getting on. Nobody noticed.

Well you don't see that everyday here.

Edit: He was also kicking stuff and at one point a moving car.

I do that when they make a turn while I'm crossing the street and almost hit me.

Not challenging you. Just saying Montreal seems a civilized place compared to the zoo I live in.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/...n-15132049.php

Not too surprising they have the most cases in CA. Before we recognized the crisis, they had lots of travel to and from Asia including China.

Monday morning be like...

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...c9&oe=5E959481

Probably about a third of the traffic you'd normally see on the roads this morning. I stopped at my favorite coffee shop before work. There were two other people there in line, and we all stood the required six feet apart.

LOL! under 50?????? :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha:

my parents are both 73. they are not "avid cyclists" like me, but they both stay relatively active.

they can both ride a bike 10 miles with no problem at all. i did that with them last summer.

will bike commuting be a suitable transit replacement for every single last living soul on the planet? of course not, but there are literally millions of able-bodied transit commuters out there who could switch to a bicycle during these dark days to avoid crowded transit trains and buses if WFH isn't an option.

and every able-bodied transit rider that makes the switch to a bike makes the trains/buses that much less crowded, and hence safer, for those riders who have absolutely no other option to get around.

As things continue to unfold here in North America. 2 Scandinavian governments have unveiled their worker support plans.

Denmark:

- Full pay for those laid off for 20 days
- Self-Employed to get 80% of their 3-year average income for the period.
- Money for those caring for COVID patients

Sweden:

- Laid off workers to get 90% of their income
- Gov't will pay 50% of that, Employer other 50%
- Gov't will pick up the full cost of sick pay from business

Important to judge our own governments offerings.

^
Won’t happen here in the land of the free most likely.