Sunday, June 28, 2020

Toilet paper wasn't our biggest problem




     You never did run out of toilet paper, did you?
     Or know anybody who did.
     Or hear of anybody actually running out.
     Didn't think so.
     I was saving that first line. I thought it would sound an elegiac note when this whole COVID-19 crisis finally was over. Kind of a chuckle over the panicky hoarding instinct that first ushered Our Year of COVID in. 
     Now that seems optimistic—the idea that it might be over. This year. Or even the next. Sure, it has to end eventually. One hopes. And we're blundering by. At least Illinois is coping, for now. But our national government, spurred by the criminal incompetence of Donald Trump, has booted the pandemic so thoroughly, allowed Red State government to kick the can, that who knows how bad it will get.  Call it a hunch, but I'm thinking: real bad.
     I hope I'm wrong.
     Until then,  the system operates pretty well. There is food at Sunset—and the above wry t-shirts, which I admired, though did not buy. It's the first epidemic souvenir I've seen. There will be more.
      But stowing away souvenirs seems premature.  Save the victory lap for after the victory.

     

10 comments:

  1. I saw a woman with earrings made to look like little toilet paper rolls.
    For some reason, toilet paper is always the first thing people panic buy. I'm old enough to remember when Johnnie Carson managed to start a toilet paper run here, just by making a joke about a toilet paper shortage in Japan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw those online. My wife said she did NOT want them for her July birthday.

      Johnny Carson made a TP joke? What decade? He was certainly ahead of his time!

      There might have been shortages in the exotic East, but not in "East" Rogers Park!

      Delete
  2. Not surprised about the shirt. When the “sheltering in place” first started, my husband predicted there will eventually be an “I survived the COVID-19 epidemic“ teeshirt. Not out yet doggone it!

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  3. Very short column. Is that all you had to say or was there a link the remainder?

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    Replies
    1. That's it. I got to the end and stopped. If you feel cheated, there are seven years of previous daily posts. I'm sure you can find one to your liking.

      Delete
    2. or you could always read it again...

      Delete
  4. Yes. Much too soon for a victory lap. I keep coming back to the warning that we are all dry tinder on the forest floor.

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  5. "Brevity is the soul of wit." WS

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  6. No never cheated. Especially with today's particularly spot on observations. Pieces like this make a person want more.

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  7. I notice that Florida and Texas, whose leaders had loudly and stridently pushed against distancing requirements, are suffering huge spikes in COVID cases -- and those leaders are frantically backpedaling.

    It's true: A virus really doesn't care about your politics.

    ReplyDelete

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