TomFlannery.com

I’ve been walking a lot. Alone. Just to not feel the ever-present four walls. Four, five miles a day. Maybe more. Wandering to and fro. Sometimes it’s a left out my front door. Sometimes it’s a right. There’s not much happening outside. Cars, yes. People, no. Last night I saw one. Today I exchanged socially distant greetings with a man and his dog. Otherwise, I had my corner of the world to myself. I saw a few things that caught my eye. That’s where these pictures came from. And so that’s where I’ll start. I’ll try to frame what I saw with 150 or so words each. How’s that? I really need to keep my brain from atrophying. Last night I actually sat through a Grateful Dead documentary, despite considering them the worst band in the history of the world. Mentally, I’m fading fast.

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What I really want to know is…..how has this not been stolen? I don’t mean the entire thing. Just the mask. There’s shortages all over the place. I figured this would have been picked clean in a matter of minutes, but I’ve seen it for at least a week. Undisturbed. I suspect crime is down everywhere. It’s no fun being a criminal when everybody is home. (Although it is a good time to find those who have been hiding from you because they owe you money.)

The first time I rounded this corner and saw this….I got a bit freaked. It’s life sized…..and it’s Eynon, so nothing really surprises anybody up here. I damn near said hello. Today he looks to have clorox wipes on his lap. Last night he was definitely holding a red solo cup, so he’s clearly been monitoring the situation and adjusting his behavior accordingly.

If tomorrow he’s holding a rosary I’ll know we’re fucked.

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This has to be the most NEPA thing ever.

It’s Dawn of the Dead-ish. I get it. We’ve got a well earned reputation for…er….imbibing. I recall a local documentary where a kid said “there’s only 2 things to do here….work and drink….and nobody works so…”

That seemed a bit harsh but then..well…there you go.

Still, the only message something like this sends is….”if we don’t do this you’re gonna throw cinder blocks through the front windows and steal all the Captain Morgan because we know that you are all brittle savages”. Either that or they suspect a category IV hurricane is imminent.

Don’t get me wrong. Our assholery frequently knows no bounds, but I’m not sure we’re quite at the level of violently looting liquor stores, especially when the beer distributor a quarter mile down the street is open. And places like Wegmans have an entire section that caters to our inner-alcoholic.

But thanks for planting the seed anyway.

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Again, not sure humanity is being given enough credit here. Maybe I’m just hopelessly naive.

It’s been 2 weeks that most of us have been in isolation. Doing our best to be socially distant while still trying to earn a living. Heroes are literally everywhere. Working the registers and stocking the shelves and cooking the take-out and delivering the packages and tending to the elderly and taking care of the sick. Much of what we’re finally noticing now we took for granted before this all started. Many of these folks we didn’t even notice when they were standing right in front of us. And now, they’re the ones holding anarchy at bay. Here’s hoping when this is over they all get a pay raise.

There’s all sorts of light being shone on the occasional asshole among us, and rightly so. But they’re the distinct minority. As they always are. They’re just louder. Don’t mistake amplification for anything other than what it is.

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I was up on Route 6….and in the Sugarman’s Plaza there is a discount food store. Folks were coming in and out with supplies…..which were being re-stocked at the same time by these trucks and drivers. All the supplies we need right now, are being delivered by trucks. Trucks don’t drive themselves. These folks are out every day. Enabling us to take care of our families.

Even with this pic, you can’t see the drivers. They’re always anonymous. It’s Sunday. Is this the end of a long night for them? Or the start of a long day? Where do they live? When will they be home again? How are their kids coping? Are they scared? Is anybody asking them how they are coping? Will their be well deserved extras in their paychecks for this type of quiet heroism?

It’s weird….because we say we all want things to “go back to normal”, but actually that’s not at all what we want. We want this virus gone, but it exposed that “normal” needs to be revamped. Here’s hoping things never go back to normal.

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Well, cross this one off the list. I don’t care where you plant me, but if dogs ain’t allowed, I’m gonna do my best to haunt your ass forever.

If I could find any eggs I would have thrown one.

I mentioned above that I passed a man and his dog today. We exchanged greetings, and he told me he was going stir crazy. But his dog (a gorgeous golden retriever….I wish I got that pic) seemed absolutely ecstatic with the current situation. I was once told that dogs only understand time to mean “forever”. So when we leave they think we’re gonna never come back. And when we’re home, they think we’re never going to leave. So when this all passes, we’re gonna have some serious explaining to do.

We’ve got all this time now. And lots are thinking about the first thing they’re gonna do when we can all re-gather safely. I’m pretty sure mine is gonna have something to do with grabbing all my friends and all of us taking our dogs to this cemetery.

Thanks for coming on my walk with me.

Stay safe. Stay home.

In a bit..

–tf