Went grocery shopping today during the day, rightly (I think) figuring that fewer people would be out shopping during the work day than before or after. I knew most of the local jurisdictions were requiring face masks, so I brought a homemade one (T-shirt method). What I was not prepared for was the metering to get in the store.

There was a line around the corner to get in (spread out because people were mostly staying away from one another; stickers on the pavement helped with that), and they were only letting a certain number of folks in at a time. As a result, it was busy inside, but not crowded. People were fairly good about keeping away, no inadvertent brushing, and no crowding in aisles.

But it was still stressful as all fuck. Glasses kept fogging up from the homemade mask; sort of got it fixed for most of the trip, but any time I had to talk they fogged right back up. And I just wanted to get in, grab the things on my list, and get out. There was no lingering, no real shopping for things I might not have been looking for when I came in. And of course every other human comes across as a threat, because who might have the bug? Who knows. And you can't use facial expressions to indicate anything. No smiling, no looks of shared hardship, just masks and gloves.

So the whole experience just shook me, I think because it was the first time under the new face mask thing, with a store that was really trying to make the whole thing safer for everyone.