Stayin' Alive by Staying at Home (updated May 21, 2021)

[Evil Penevil]

Be forewarned:  this is possibly the most boring trip report you've ever read.  No adventures with girls; no booze or bars; no exotic settings; not even many food reviews.  It will be a dull account of my day-to-day life in the U.S. under a stay-at-home order.  In fact, the only thing that might be of passing interest is to compare your situation to mine.  Do you have it better or worse where you are right now?

Before the outbreak of the current pandemic, I had already planned to remain in the U.S. from late January until the last week of April. I'd been living in Pattaya for 11 months a year since I retired in 2011, but needed a lengthier period in the U.S. in 2020 for personal and family reasons. Avoiding the madness of Songkan in Pattaya was an added advantage in my planning.  I usually travel somewhere else to avoid all but the last day or two of the local water-tossing.  Whether it was pure coincidence or the hand of Buddha, I had booked my return flight to the U.S. in September but hadn't bought a return ticket to Thailand.

When I boarded my flight to Newark Liberty on Jan. 23, only one case of the coronavirus had been diagnosed in the U.S.  Everyone still considered it a localized "China thing" and there were no health checks or questions asked at Swampy, Narita or Newark airports. I didn't see more surgical masks worn than was common in Asia during the winter. However, the United biz class lounge at Narita seemed emptier than usual.  

The flight from Bangkok had been full, but from Narita to Newark only about a third of the seats were occupied.  I don't know if this was due to the customary post-Christmas and pre-Chinese- New-Year slump in travel or somehow connected with the corona virus.  

Since I'm enrolled in Global Entry, it took about 10 seconds to clear the U.S. Immigration process. The kiosk used facial recognition technology, so I didn't even have to answer any onscreen questions. I hadn't checked any luggage and I was out of the Customs area in another couple of minutes.  About 30 minutes after I stepped off the flight from Narita, I was stepping into the shuttle bus to my motel.

But before I go any further will my U.S. non-adventures, I'll post the pictures I took in Pattaya in the last few days before my departure.  These are from Walking Street on Jan. 19:

And these were from the Made in Thailand beer bar complex on 2nd Road  and Soi Buakhao on Jan. 22, the night before I departed:

Pattaya wasn't exactly heaving those nights, but it warn't no ghost town, neither! What was most notably was the sharp increase of the number of Indian visitors visible on the streets and in restaurants, but also in the bars.  I look forward to day when I can be taking pictures of post-corona Pattaya nightlife.  It will be interesting to see which bars survive and what customer group is most prevalent.

I'm going to divide this report into easily digestible sized chunks for members with slow Internet connections.  The pics from the U.S. will begin in the next post.  One teaser:   a "truth-in-advertising"  name and theme for a post-pandemic Pattaya go go bar.

Evil

Edited May 21, 2021 by Evil Penevil

[Evil Penevil]

To give some context, I began my U.S. trip by spending  two weeks (Jan. 23-Feb. 7) in the New York City area taking care of business.  Nothing much was different from any other visit to the U.S.  Everyone went about as usual with no thought of face masks or social distancing. Restaurants, bars and public transport were as crowded as ever.  Pres. Trump had imposed some travel restrictions on foreigners' arrival in the U.S. and had placed in quarantine U.S. returnees from Wuhan and cruise ships, but the coronavirus was still thought of as something that mainly affected China, other Asian countries and maybe Italy.  It wasn't yet regarded as a major concern in the U.S. The World Health Organization had declared COVID-19 a world health emergency, but Trump was confidently claiming the U.S. had the situation under control.

On Feb. 7, I took the train from Newark Liberty Airport to Philadelphia, where one of my nieces picked me up.  I was to stay with another niece in Delaware who had a big house from which she worked. This had been planned all along, as she needed extra help with a big project she had gotten from a large corporation.  I was going to help with the written part of the project, as writing wasn't her strong point and she was facing at least 250 pages of text.

Throughout February, news coverage and Internet chatter increased about the coronavirus increased, but life went on as normal.  There were few restrictions and people ate in restaurants, visited malls, had parties, etc. On February 29, I went with relatives for dinner at a popular restaurant. 

As you can see in the pic, it was packed.  We had a reservation, but still had to wait 30 minutes for our table. 

The food was very nice.  I had a Maryland crab cake ...

and the grilled swordfish with shrimp over spaghetti.

A side salad came with each man dish:

However, this is the restaurant I really want to visit:

 

I may have to wait until December, but I am determined to try the Muskrat Dinner.

It wasn't until mid-March that the governor of Delaware declared an emergency, including the closing of schools, most public facilities and non-essential businesses; the banning gatherings of more than 10 people; etc.  Only then did the shortages that had plagued some other parts of the country show up here as people rushed to stock up on staples. Here's the obligatory shot of the toilet paper aisle in a supermarket taken March 21:

Water and food items were in good supply, although I did see occasional empty shelves. There were limits in all supermarkets on purchases of water, toilet paper, frozen meat and vegetables, rice, spaghetti, etc. Shoppers learned to respect social distancing. The only items which were impossible to find were hand sanitizer and surgical masks.

 These shots were taken at BJ's Wholesale Club, a popular regional chain that offers a wide variety of items, including bulk food:

 

The store had set up one "feeder line" for the 15 or so checkout counters. The process actually went quite quickly.

The line didn't start there, though.   It started all the way at the back of the store: 

Aside from food and cleaning items, there didn't seem to be much going on.  The non-food aisles were mostly empty of people.

A couple of weeks ago, my niece and I went grocery shopping at a nearby Safeway supermarket.  

The layout of the store didn't allow for a single feeder line, so the cashier-manned checkout counters and self-checkout areas each had their own lines. How fast the lines moved depended on the speed of the people ahead of you. Etorre's Observation on Murphy's Law, "the other line(s) always moves faster," definitely applied.  The lady ahead of us wasn't familiar with self-checkout and needed a store employee's help with almost every item. She had a cartful of fresh produce and it was taking her forever to get them scanned and bagged. She then argued with the customer service employee about coupons and weekly specials. We waited nearly 30 minutes for her to move on.

BUT, the experience on whole wasn't worse than on days before major holidays or weather events like snowstorms and hurricanes. There are always people who have trouble checking out and it's just luck they always end up ahead of me. Anyway, here's what we got:

Anyway, here's what we got:

My niece's fridge and cupboards were already full.

 We could have eaten for three months, not just 14 days, from what she had on hand.

My niece's kitchen doesn't have enough cupboard space for everything.

 

 Even if a full lockdown is ordered, we won't go hungry.  If we ever get tired of our own cooking, there are any number of restaurants that deliver everything from pizza to sushi. Tonight we ordered from an Italian restaurant.  I had the spaghettini scampi and Italian wedding soup,

... while my niece went with the cheese tortellini and a side salad.

My most recent visit to a supermarket was nearly a week ago to get fresh meat and veggies. It was a bit different than earlier visits. I saw fewer elderly and children in the store than normal. Social distancing was more strictly observed, about half the customers wore masks and 25% both masks and gloves. Checkout was still the choke point, but more customer service staff had been assigned to deal with the can't-do's and contrarian coupon clippers. From what I could see, everyone was doing their best to follow the "best practice" recommendations.

The only shopping-related inconvenience I've had to endure came when I needed to buy a new laptop to replace an old one I used when traveling.  Thanks to the shift to work from home, all the stores like Walmart, Best Buy and Staples were sold out and there were delays when ordering online.  After several hours of surfing on my niece's computer, I finally found one online that met my specifications at a price I wanted to pay. It arrived after seven days. Under normal circumstances, I could have popped over to a big-box electronics store, bought a new laptop and been back home in an hour.  Ordering online for in-store pickup or home delivery doesn't usually take more than two days.

Edited April 18, 2020 by Evil Penevil

[Evil Penevil]

Otherwise, the self-imposed isolation due to the COVID-19 outbreak hasn't been onerous for me.  I'm living in a comfortable house well-stocked with food. I have access to a high-speed Internet connection and a 55-inch HD TV.  

The TV has 1,500 channels and countless movies and TV shows on demand.  I've been able to watch newly released movies as well as many of my all-time favorites.

Besides all the entertainment possibilities, I help my niece with chores around the house and yard as much as I can.  I've also begun re-reading some of my favorite books on Kindle. She has every sort of kitchen appliance and device imaginable, so I've also done a lot of cooking.

I made beef stew in the slow cooker the other night. 

with buttermilk biscuits:

My niece also has a dog that I take for walks or play with it in the spacious back yard.

 In moving from Pattaya, I've traded pussy for puppy.  The dog is an American foxhound, which is a powerful and energetic breed that needs a lot of stimulation and exercise. It also has a strong instinct for tracking and standing guard.

 It sure alerts us anytime she sees something she regards as suspicious, whether a squirrel or delivery truck.

I can use my niece's Ford Escape if I feel a need to get out of the house.

The local and state parks are still open and I can take the dog there for an extended run.

It's not a bad life and time goes quickly, but I would trade it in a nano-second for pre-corona Pattaya. Given the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, I can't complain.  Compared with millions upon millions around the world, I have it pretty easy. 

 

How about you?

Stay healthy, stay safe.

Evil

[thegrogmonster]

That soup you had, if my missus served me that it would be called divorce soup.

Thanks for the trip report.

[forcebwithu]

15 minutes ago, Evil Penevil said:

Thanks Evil for the "No adventures with girls; no booze or bars; no exotic settings" TR. Got a good chuckle from the Hungarian version of True Grit.

[Binlid]

Nice report Evil, reckon the wife and I  could lock down at your nieces place quite happilyfor the rest of our days.

[Krapow]

Be forewarned:  this is possibly the most boring trip report you've ever read.  No adventures with girls; no booze or bars;

 

Sounds exactly like all my Trip Reports in VIP 😬

[fygjam]

2 hours ago, Evil Penevil said:

Be forewarned:  this is possibly the most boring trip report you've ever read.

I'll post the pictures I took in Pattaya in the last few days before my departure.  These are from Walking Street on Jan. 19:

And these were from the Made in Thailand beer bar complex on 2nd Road  and Soi Buakhao on Jan. 22, the night before I departed:

Evil

I'm tempted to report this post.

No photo (that I can see) of the erection of the year which took place on the 22nd of January.

Mr Egg's sign. Unfortunately now only attracting moths with it's green energy solar cells.

 

 

[Evil Penevil]

6 hours ago, thegrogmonster said:

That soup you had, if my missus served me that it would be called divorce soup.

  How about if she served you muskrat?

6 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

Thanks Evil for the "No adventures with girls; no booze or bars; no exotic settings" TR. Got a good chuckle from the Hungarian version of True Grit.

John Wayne would have disliked the nasty little b*stard more than I do. G is the definition of True Git.

6 hours ago, Binlid said:

Nice report Evil, reckon the wife and I  could lock down at your nieces place quite happilyfor the rest of our days.

Yes, after two months, I fear I'm getting too hooked on creature comforts.  In terms of enduring the coronavirus restrictions, I'm better off here.  But in just about every other respect- one in particular-  I'd rather be in Pattaya.  

Evil

Edited April 18, 2020 by Evil Penevil

[thumper63]

Great boring report Mr Evil. I'm pretty much in the same boat as you and your niece.  Very well stocked with all the essentials. My lockdown cells are very comfortable with many niceties already built in. Although I did just order off of Amazon a new Samsung 65 inch flat screen tv for the house in town. Should be delivered in 7 to 10 days. My old plasma tv is at least 10 years old. So I'm all excited about that. 

The panic buying was fast and furious a few weeks back but has settled down now. Like you, our stores are stocked on a regular basis and for the most part the shelves are full. No hand sanitizer, Clorox, rubber surgical type gloves, Lysol disinfectant wipes or face masks. Because of my job I already had plenty of " dust masks " used on construction sites and a couple boxes of the thin blue rubber gloves. I use them for when I am staining furniture. 

My area has take the stay at home request very seriously and there is no dought that it is working.  Although we do have 51 confirmed cases in the county.  It has been steadily increasing over the last 2 weeks. My personal opinion is that it's a fools errand to lift these restrictions too early.  But time will tell.

Thanks Evil for starting this thread and also giving us a chance to share how we are doing at this critical time. Look forward to hearing more about more of your boring stay with your niece...lol 

 

 

[Lemondropkid]

Thanks for the thread. Lovely looking digs, you've got enough food in to feed an Army.

[farangme]

Great stuff rob. 

Looks like you have a fantastic life Home as you do in Pattaya. 

[KWA]

10 hours ago, Evil Penevil said:

How about if she served you muskrat?

I don't know about thegrogmonster, but I don't suppose Deputy Dawg would be too pleased.

[Evil Penevil]

My niece and I did our weekly grocery shopping at 6:10 a.m. EDT (nearly 24 hours ago) at a local ShopRite supermarket.  The store is open between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., with the first hour reserved for seniors (over 65 years) and others most vulnerable to COVID-19.

• Not many people, seniors or otherwise, were in the store.  I kept a rough count in my head and saw about 50 in total, customers and employees, during the 30 minutes we were there. 
• Forty-five of them (all store employees and most customers) were wearing masks. That's 90%. Of those wearing masks, about half were also wearing gloves.
• The aisles had been made "one-way" to limit potential contact from shoppers passing each other.
• Toilet paper was in  short supply even though the store had just opened and customers were limited to buying one multi-pack or four individual rolls.
• Hand sanitizer and some household cleaning products were out of stock.
• Fresh milk and certain other dairy products were also in very short supply, as was fresh orange juice.
• The fresh meat and fresh produce sections seemed to be normally stocked.
• I saw no empty shelves in the sections for frozen foods and staples like bread, water, rice and beans.
• Customers have been recommended NOT to bring their own shopping bags to the store, which had been very much the trend in the U.S. There was no queue at the manned checkout counters.
• ShopRite was out of the fresh orange juice my niece likes, but we found it at a nearby Safeway store.  Safeway had more overall product shortages than ShopRite, but could just have been a matter of re-stocking. 
• Most people in Safeway were also wearing masks and gloves.
• Social distancing was strictly observed in both stores.

Bottom line: Stores and customers seem to have adapted to the realities of food shopping during the coronavirus restrictions.  This, of course, is my personal observation made on the basis of very limited anecdotal evidence.

I'm also well-aware I have an easier time of it than millions upon millions of people in the U.S. and elsewhere.  Any complaints I have or inconveniences I endure are NOTHING compared to the Thais who have to line up for food and water.

Evil

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Evil Penevil

[Evil Penevil]

Sign of the times-  social distancing replacing the speed limit.  From the AP:

[Evil Penevil]

Link to source articles on 

Strip Club Changes Post-Pandemic Include Gloves, Masks, No Lap Dances
STRIP CLUBS: Big Changes Post-Pandemic- 
GLOVES, MASKS, NO LAP DANCES?!?

 

Lap dances from strippers could go the way of the Dodo bird due to the novel coronavirus ... strip clubs are bracing for some major changes in the future.

Our strip club sources tell us the industry is going to look a whole lot different when the dust settles on the coronavirus pandemic and gentlemen's clubs open back up for business ... gloves and masks are on their way in, and lap dances are on their way out.

One source tells us strip clubs are preparing for some sweeping changes ... anyone entering the club will be required to wear a face mask and gloves, even the exotic dancers. Bummer for those of you who were actually looking at their faces.

We're told club capacity will be limited, from the number of dancers working the poles, to the number of customers seated in the audience.

And, the biggest change ... NO CONTACT ... so say goodbye to lap dances, motorboating and whatever goes on in the champagne room.

STARS MAKIN' IT RAINLAUNCH GALLERY

Of course, club owners tell us they have not heard anything official about rules and regulations for getting back to business -- but things are not looking too promising.

We're told club owners are in a waiting game ... they're making contingency plans, but are essentially at the mercy of local governments and will follow guidelines put in place by governors, mayors and the CDC.

Bottom line ... folks in the industry are worried about the future. It's simply too hard for customers to have fun, and dancers to make money while everyone's social distancing.

 

MAGIC CITY ATLANTA STRIPPERS STILL ON THE JOB ...
LapTOP Dances, Anyone?

3/21/2020 10:58 AM PT

TMZ/Getty Composite

10:58 AM PT -- We're hearing from our Magic City sources that their digital dance room is being met with resistance from none other than Instagram itself -- who's trying to shut the whole thing down.

We're told Instagram has told Magic City's IG operators that they can't make money off the site -- not in the way they're trying to, anyway. There's a solution though ... Magic City says it's going to have its own livestream site up and running by Monday.

Coronavirus is the mother of invention -- just ask the exotic dancers at Atlanta's Magic City, who've found a way to stay on the pole through the pandemic.

The world-famous strip joint closed its doors last week -- like most strip clubs in the ATL -- but Magic City's keeping its strippers employed through a Livestream. On Friday, the club went live with a deal regular customers have gotta love.

For $20, online patrons get 24-hour access to watch strippers do their thing onstage. Once you're virtually in, you can switch between each dancer who's on the clock. As the club reminded its nearly 100k Instagram followers ... "Who Checkin In For DayShift Action 👀 🤑"

Not exactly the same as "Gentlemen, coming to the stage ... " but these are weird times. We're all adjusting.

Btw, $20 is the usual cover charge just to get inside the club. You'd end up dropping way more in real life on lap dances and -- for you ballers -- champagne room dances.

If you've got the time -- and we know ya do -- they've got dancers who still gotta get through school. Just sayin' ...

[Evil Penevil]

I guess you have to tailor your message to your audience.  This is a sign on a liquor store in Bronx, New York City:

SOURCE

[KhunDon]

Feck off with that Muskrat, even if it's smothered in gravy or BBQ sauce. Only in America, you Heathen! 

 

[Evil Penevil]

13 hours ago, KhunDon said:

Feck off with that Muskrat, even if it's smothered in gravy or BBQ sauce. Only in America, you Heathen! 

 

How about raccoon,  possum or beaver?

   

 

 

Edited April 30, 2020 by Evil Penevil

[fygjam]

1 hour ago, Evil Penevil said:

How about raccoon,  possum or beaver?

   

 

Desperate times in the absence of any bacon calls for desperate measures.

 

[Horizondave]

3 hours ago, Evil Penevil said:

How about raccoon,  possum or beaver?

   

 

Those photos would be enough to make me go vegan if that was all that was available.

[KhunDon]

I’ve had plenty of Beaver over the car bonnet, but never over a BBQ. Must be another heathen American ritual that you have adopted.  🤣

[Evil Penevil]

My niece and I did our weekly grocery shopping last night between 8.00 p.m. and 9 p.m. at two places.  One was a "big box" wholesale discount club (BJ's), the other a supermarket chain (Acme).  Both stores closed at 9.00 p.m. and there were few shoppers while we were there,  around 40 in BJ's and about 20 in Acme.  Every person I saw, whether customer or store employee, was wearing a mask and maybe 50% also had gloves. 

The Acme store had adopted one-way aisles to promote social distancing, but it wasn't strictly followed  as there were so few people in the store. 

At the checkout counters, social distancing was observed.  Both stores had plenty of toilet paper and BJ's even had single-use face masks in stock, but hand sanitizer wasn't available in either store.  

At BJ's, the shelves for fresh and frozen meat were nearly empty, but Acme had no shortages of any type of meat, nor was it rationing meat purchases.  Most of the "one-per-customer" had gone and remained on only a few products (cleaning items, butter, water and toilet paper).

Overall, grocery shopping isn't taking longer than normal, nor has there been any problem getting everything we wanted with the exception of hand sanitizer.

And for those of you who have extra time and want to use by doing some cooking, here are some crisis recipes. 

7 Historic Dishes Born From Tough Times That You Can Make at Home

Even More Historic Dishes Born From Tough Times to Make at Home

It's interesting reading, even if you don't try any of the dishes. I remember Mock Apple and Sugar Cream Pies from elementary school lunches.

Times weren't particularly hard back then, but those desserts were cheap, easy to make and kids loved them.  They are way too unhealthy for any school to serve them today.

Evil

[Evil Penevil]

I went with two of my nieces to the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery on Sunday afternoon to pay our respects to my late sister and her husband. The surroundings are beautiful and it's a very calm and dignified final resting place.

The cemetery has strict rules about floral arrangements and no raised headstones. It has a pond, so some wild geese were wandering about.

The previous Friday in the same cemetery, an elderly couple (85 and 86 years) was shot and killed by a 29-year-old man. A policeman was by chance at the cemetery at the time or arrived very quickly, as he chased the shooter into the forest behind the cemetery.  They exchanged gunfire, but the shooter escaped. The cemetery is only four miles from my niece's house and the State Police sent out a reverse 911 message with a "active shooter, shelter-in-place" alert to area residents. Four hours later the police found the shooter dead in a different part of the forest. Whether he had died from a wound he received during the shootout or killed himself is not yet clear.

It's a sad observation on American life that a place intended as a peaceful resting place for men and women who served their country became the scene of such a violent and senseless act.  So far, the very few details have been released and there's been no suggestion as to a motive for the shooting.  Local Internet chatter claims the perp had intended to go after more victims, but the fortunate appearance of the police officer thwarted a mass shooting.  The authorities refuse to comment about motive.

This had been a true "shelter-in-place" situation.  Used correctly, the term means those warned should stay where they are and not proceed further.  Such warnings are primarily issued for weather events like snowstorms, floods and hurricanes or tropical storms, but also for active shooter incidents. Strictly speaking, shelter-in-place should be used about remaining in the open (indoors or outdoors) because of an imminent danger of physical harm.  It's not the same thing as a "stay-at-home" or lockdown order.

 

Evil

[Evil Penevil]

Greta Thunberg will be happy.  But this raises are interesting issue.  It would take enormous restrictions to lower carbon emissions from motor vehicles by a significant degree.  The U.S. public would never accept it under normal circumstances.

Evil

Pandemic leads to drop in traffic and pollution along I-95

Associated PressPublished 10:55 a.m. ET May 12, 2020

 

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland's Secretary of the Environment says that the coronavirus pandemic has reinforced the need to transform transportation in the state. 

Secretary Ben Grumbles tells the Capital Gazette that Maryland environment officials have had an opportunity to measure diminished traffic and its impact on air quality. He said the results could serve as a guide for the future. 

"The hope here is that the silver lining is more than just a lining, that it becomes an opportunity that is institutionalized and built upon," Grumbles said.

Usually busy with rush hour traffic heading between Wilmington and Philadelphia, movement on the I-95 near Delaware's border is light as residents shelter-in-place during the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday, April 8.  (Photo: Jenna Miller/Delaware News Journal)

The newspaper reported Monday that traffic from light-duty vehicles such as cars and SUVs is down by more than half along I-95 in Maryland. Satellite observations have also indicated that levels of nitrogen dioxide in March were 30% below the average along the corridor between Washington and Boston. Power plant emissions also appear to be down. 

Grumbles said that air quality benefits could come from half of light-duty vehicles being zero emission vehicles. Teleworking is another practice that could reduce traffic-based emissions.

"Reducing the pollution from tail pipes and smoke stacks translates into cleaner water for the Chesapeake Bay," Grumbles added.

(LINK)

Edited May 13, 2020 by Evil Penevil