You have my empathy. Next door in Idaho, the “second wave” seems to be spiking worse than the “first wave”.
For the first time ever, I saw a sign on a store (at a convenience store)saying masks were mandatory to shop inside. I saw more masks in stores today than I think I’ve seen since this all started.
For the first time, I too have seen a business with a mandatory masks sign, warning that masks will be required starting July 13. Progress!
ETA: I expect there will be idiotic protests on Facebook, calls for boycott, et cetera one week from now…
I’m in the Idaho portion of the world (ID/WA boundary) as well. When we last went to Costco (masks required) I saw an entire family of four with the mask begrudgingly wore but all their noses proudly sticking out of the mask and sticking it to the “man”. Fucking morons!
My wife and I will continue to seclude ourselves as much as possible.
I’m in a very red area of a rather blue state. My BIL is a fervent MAGAt. He was OUTRAGED the other day when going to Menards (hardware store), where they require masks, and enforce it. It’s an affront on his freedom! He called my son, who works at another Menards, to find an email account or address to send a nastygram. My son, who has asthma, restrained himself from telling his uncle to piss off. Menards is a privately held company, and them requiring a mask is not government stepping on your rights, it’s a business owner actually listening to medical experts.
Hey, the local Menards is actually the store I was referring to!
And, what’s more, John Menard Jr. (owner of Menards) is a conservative, and has served on Trump’s economic council. So, it’s not like this is some flaming liberal business owner making that wise decision.
It just shows her far-reaching and insidious the Black Communist Antifa Muslim atheists are! They got to John Menard Jr. too!
Do you suppose there’s a schism between those who prefer alfredo versus red sauce?
Alfredo is the work of the evil Non-Flying Spaghetti Monster. I would never allow alfredos to marry marinaras. His Noodly Appendage always works with tomatoes.
Naturally, the White House has latched onto this and expects Donnie to be vindicated.
There shouldn’t be any mystery, Mr. Hanks. The White House is occupied by an enabler of idiocy.
Is that why all the shops sold out of pasta when all this started? Is there a church of the holy bog roll as well?
I’m not convinced we’re doing a drastically better job in the UK; hardly anyone is wearing a mask. I wear one in shops, not outside, and often I’m the only one in the store doing so- even the pharmacy staff in town weren’t bothering last week, and they sell masks. We’re running #3 globally for official death toll, we’re #21 by population, and the pubs and all the tourist places just opened up this weekend. I’m guessing we don’t count for EU stats any more though…
How does the FSM feel about vodka cream sauces?
I think the UK is doing pretty poorly, and will do worse with the pubs opening. You shut down too late, for sure. Your lockdown, or at least the one in Scotland where my daughter has been for months, was better than just about anything here, though.
(S)he likes the vodka part, no doubt!
It keeps getting worse!
I live in a rural area where there haven’t been many cases so far, but the last few days, the tourists have been flooding in to the newly opened hotels and holiday parks. People are acting like it’s all over and done with, barely playing at distancing. The lockdown was pretty strict (though barely enforced in rural areas), but we seem to be determined to throw away any good that did now, because wahay! Expensive beer with a side of virus!
I’m seeing plenty of idiot ‘it’s all a hoax- masks kill you with CO2- this is all about gummint control’ posts on the local facebook page, interspersed with casual anti-Asian racism, so you don’t have a monopoly on that either, incidentally.
Well, you do have your own right-wing idiot as the PM, although Johnson is miles and miles better than Trump. At least Johnson isn’t encouraging his own people to rise up against his own government.
ETA: I wonder if Ritter Sport has any chocolate bars with filberts.
ETA again: Apparently, hazelnuts and filberts are the same thing, so here: https://www.ritter-sport.de/en/products/detail/Whole-Hazelnuts
I wonder who wants a new American actual President more, the rest of the world, or sane Americans?
Sane Americans, I’m quite sure. You’re watching the neighbors’ house burn down; we’re watching the flaming rafters fall down all around us.
We’re more watching flaming embers wafting toward our own roofs. (Either because there are frigging plague rats using loopholes to avoid travel restrictions, or because the inevitable economic fallout of the US government mishandling this shit is going to have knock on effects on everybody.)