Yet I have a trick
Of the old rage. Bear with me, I am sick;
I'll leave it by degrees. Soft, let us see:
Write 'Lord have mercy on us' on those three.
They are infected; in their hearts it lies;
They have the plague, and caught it of your eyes.
These lords are visited; you are not free,
For the Lord's tokens on you I do see.

Love's Labour's Lost- Act 5 Scene 2 as said by Berowne- Shakespeare



Leave it to Will to compare love to the plague.

Shakespeare lived through the plague, though he really doesn’t make it a main theme in his works. He does make some references, but for the most part, his work is plagueless. What do you think about his decision to limit discussion of the plague?

Personally, I don’t want to see, read or hear about our plague as a storyline. I am living through this: when I watch a movie or tv show or read a book, my goal is to escape the COVID storyline.

Newsflash: we all lived through this in one way or another. We are going to continue to live through this…While it is a sad fact of our daily lives, is it mentally healthy to keep reliving it over and over again?

Shakespeare, when he did speak of it, used the plague is a joking manner, or like the comparison to love I cited above. As stated by Steven Greenblatt in THE NEW YORKER- ” Plague constantly appears throughout Shakespeare’s works in the form of everyday exclamations. But this is a sign less of existential horror than of deep familiarity, the acceptance of plague as an inescapable feature of ordinary life.”

Is it wrong to make light of our current situation? Is it politically incorrect? Or is it just how some people need to get through this crisis?

What do you think about the future narratives and whether or not they should revolve around COVID?

Do you think it is insensitive to speak of it in a light manner?

How many of your daily conversations revolve around COVID?

I am trying to avoid COVID conversation as much as possible, even though it has wreaked havoc on my life, the life of my loved one’s and my mental health. I just can’t wrap my life around it any longer.

Do you think there should be a statute of limitations on COVID speak?

I call canned tuna with mayo “tuna salad”.

My Husband calls it “tuna”.

If we are ever to divorce, I can assure you this will be one of the reasons. My Husband becomes irrationally angry when he hears tuna with mayo called a salad. Seriously. It is his Number One Pet Peeve. I know very few things in life that make his angrier.

Though I know my husband BELIEVES THAT TUNA SHOULD JUST BE CALLED TUNA (seriously- he will not change his mind about this) what do all the rest of you think?

What do you call tuna when mixed with mayo?

If you add celery or onion along with the mayo, does your answer change?

Where do you stand on the uber important tuna/tuna salad debate?

I am grateful that the three people in my household are all registered voters.

However, does my household need to receive THREE voter guides. Three 80 page guides.

While I get that everyone should be respected as an individual, and therefore should receive their own guide…is it ecologically responsible to print out these guides and send us three separate ones? Is it economically feasible to spend the money printing and mailing them?

Is my daughter, who put in for an absentee ballot going to now receive a voter guide at her temporary address?

Does anyone actually read the Voter Guides?

Isn’t this something that should be available online only? Or is there some sort of prejudice to that?

Can I vote for no more money spent on mailing me anything political?

I would be eternally grateful to any politico who can stop the madness.

Once upon a time, I wrote in a blog that I bought my cat litter off Amazon. Someone snidely commented:

What? They don’t sell cat litter in supermarkets in New York City? he he he (Ok- I just added the villainous he he he…)

To which I replied-

“No. Space is at a premium in Manhattan. Cat litter is too bulky for most markets to carry it. They’d rather stock food. I would need to go to a pet store which is a fifteen minute walk, and carrying home twenty pounds of litter is just a little too much for me.”

That reader stopped reading my blog after that…

But it basically underscores a point: as an urbanite without use of a car, my day to day life is probably quite different than most.

One of my friends always wondered how I actually do my errands…So today, I’m going to give you a glimpse into how I do the normal things that most people get into a car and do.

I food shop at least four days a week. I consider myself very French when I head to the farmers market to look for the produce that looks nice. My local green market is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I try to get there on those days- it’s a fifteen minute walk from my house, so this is often the first walk that Betty and I take on those days. I only buy what can fit in one reusable shopping bag. It used to be two, but as I now have a hernia, I decided it was best to carry less… I do try to buy as much as possible from the farmer’s market.

When the green market is abundant, like now, I only visit the supermarket once a week. I normally pick up beef, chicken, pork or fish that can be put in my freezer. I also try to get staples like oil, flour etc., but I don’t buy more than one really heavy item at a time- just too heavy. Less stuff at green market means additional trips to supermarket- fifteen minute walk which I can’t bring Betty.

I buy almost nothing in boxes, cans or frozen. My exceptions to this are frozen peas and fruit, canned tomatoes, canned tuna, some canned beans and condiments. this is twofold: I don’t like to eat processed food and I don’t have the space to keep things. I have two shelves in which to keep things that are not condiments/staples like sugar, flour etc.

I do not buy things like laundry detergent at the market. First off- too heavy to carry with groceries. Secondly- they probably cost twice as much as the supermarket. I do separate trips to pick up these items at stores like Harmon or Target. Living in the city means knowing which items are overpriced and where you can get cheaper. The moisturizer I use is seven dollars cheaper in one store as opposed to another. On an item that costs less than twenty dollars, this is a substantial difference in price.

I usually order my pet supplies on line. Litter and bags of food are heavy. Though these days there have been shortages of pet food, so I’m grabbing it when I see it.

My dry cleaner is across the street. Shoe repair down the block (though business has been slow so I don’t know how long that lasts) Post office is across the street. Having these things within a block of my house is a life saver.

I tend to build my errands into my daily routine- walk the dog to Target and Farmers. Hit the market on the way home from someplace else, etc. As I walk everywhere and don’t have the ability to put things in a trunk, I need to plan out my route and when I can get things.

I am not really a shopper of other things though- I rarely hit a store to make a purchase that isn’t household related. I do admit to bookstore and stationary store browsing however. They are places I just love to wander, with little intention to actually purchase.

My errands are set into my planner. I need to think about what I need and how much I can carry and if the dog is allowed somewhere and what the hours are. I do not want to be one of those people who relies on 24 hour delivery services to get things like advil. While you can do that, it’s not how I choose to live. I choose to support my local businesses, both small and large, as much as I can.

I know the way I do my day to day life seems odd to many, but it’s how I’ve learned to operate. This is your day to ask me any questions about living in a city…

I needed to refill my metrocard (the card needed to get on mass transit in NYC)

Normally, this is not difficult. Most subway stations have at least three machines with which you can refill your card.

One day I descend into the subway. I see that there is a train two minutes away, and the next train is fifteen minutes after that. If I don’t make the first train I will never make it on time to where I am meeting my friend.

This shouldn’t be an issue, as really, it only takes about thirty seconds to put money on the card…

First machine- the screen isn’t working so I can’t type in my billing zip code…

Second machine- eats my metrocard

Third machine- I. Can’t. Get. It. To. Work. It’s taking forever to process BUY NEW METROCARD…I see those flashing dots meaning its still thinking…

At this point I can see the lights illuminating the track on the other side of the turnstyle, I am BEYOND FRUSTRATED at this point…

As the train lumbers into the station, I think about how my daughter gets into the subway: she taps her apple watch onto a screen on the turnstyle. Now I don’t have an apple watch, but I do have a credit card with the “TAP” feature…which I pull out and scan on the machine…

BEEP

It allows me to get through the turnstyle and onto the train…

So what was the purpose of telling you this story?

I was so frustrated with things that were out of my control, I wasn’t considering what was in my control. True, you can’t be in charge of every single thing in your life, no matter how well you plan and coordinate, but running around cursing is probably not going to solve any situation.

Sometimes emotions get the better of us. This is not usually a good thing. When you are beginning to get frustrated, you have to take a breath, even if your train is coming in two minutes…Over reacting is almost never going to lead to a viable solution.

Am I going to handle all the events in my life with calm and grace?

What do you think?

But…

I am going to actively try to take a breath when I feel my blood pressure rise…

FYI- If anyone says that mass transit should be free, I want you to spend an hour googling what mass transit in NYC entails, and then we’ll have a discussion about it…