Pandemic Journal: Week Four, a Walk in the NH Woods

Pandemics, who even ever thought that this would be what we would be afraid of?  Not me. Not even in my fear radar.   But ok ok, now we are coming up to the part where it’s a hockey stick curve, it’s going to be worse and worse this new few weeks.

We have to go through this to get to the other side. Already I have noticed that the death toll is high among musicians, men in their 50s and 60s and that they die fast. Just get admitted to the hospital and poof….they can be dead.   It makes this quarantine even more important, and I’m proud I”m staying strong and doing all the right things, keeping my bubble sealed.

We took a ride up north, somewhere to go, we picked Winchester New Hampshire.   It’s a run-down little roadside village and the road winds through by a river. The first business you pass as on you drive Route 10 is Cha’s.  Here is the discounted cigarette ‘superstore,’ it’s also pretty run down.

We approached the store and outside, a woman was on the phone. “It’s bad, I mean, really bad, these drugs are just killing him, it’s so hard….”  I overheard her sad conversation with a friend about a tough home life.

Inside the store, I donned my cloth mask, and a woman wearing a regular 95 mask was buying cigarettes. Three cartons, with the beer in her hand she spent $172, which seems like an awful lot for cigarettes, but they were only $7.75 a pack.  She hacked a smoker’s wheeze as she got into her pick up with Mass plates, full of about three other people.

One feature of our Saturday drive was a walk by a beaver pond to the top of Gardiner mountain. It’s a nice stroll but it started to get too steep for Mare, she felt out of breath, so we didn’t go to the very top.  A nice hike, a nice little setup, along route 10. a good diversion for a Saturday afternoon.

I want to keep taking our drives, and using the safety of our bubble to get out of the house. I will keep our social distancing, and I will wear my gloves and slather on sanitizer, but this is part of how we will all cope until this ends. And this WILL end.