The Shopping Trip
With spontaneity effectively corraled by COVID-19 restrictions, the first major shopping trip to a large chain supermarket in six weeks took some planning. It began two days ago with research on face mask designs and patterns. While there is considerable debate about the efficacy of masks, the official health recommendation is to wear them in places where a 2 metre distance cannot be maintained such as on public transit and in some stores. A major chain supermarket, the one I was planning to go to, had just required that its patrons wear masks. I didn't need a fashion statement, just a simple covering that would do the job well enough. Having found just the ticket with a combination of
simple design and low skill level, I then set off to find suitable fabric and some elastic somewhere in the house. For the fabric, a few options readily came to hand mostly in the form of shirts that had seen better days. But the best was one of our dog's bandanas. The collar had worn away yet somehow the piece had yet to make it into the garbage bin and there was enough salvageable material to make the mask. Into the wash it went while I searched for elastic.
My late mother-in-law was a very accomplished seamstress. She sewed everything from pillowcases to tea towels, to jackets and skirts, dresses, blouses, shirts, and undergarments. I have her sewing basket.
It is chock full of notions and doodads, reams of seam binding, and spools of thread galore. The treasures in this box had rescued me from so many sewing failures, surely there must be some elastic in it. It's not like I need 500 metres of it, just 40cm.
Eureka!
Rotary cutter in hand and box of pins by my side, I set about preparing the fabric for sewing. Then came the scary part - making friends with my vintage sewing machine again. But I was on a mission. I wanted to go shopping and I needed a mask! I deplore the increased use of disposables that this pandemic has brought, so with great courage and determination, I hauled out the forty-year-old Kenmore.
Thirty minutes later, after finding the right thread, figuring out how to load a bobbin and place it in the bobbin case, preparing the needle and top thread, and then picking up the bobbin thread, my sweaty palms gingerly picked up the prepared fabric. Here goes nothing I thought. There were a few tense moments, a few tight turns, but I got a mask!
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This seamstress needs a haircut, but nice mask!
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I'm sure my mother-in-law would have suffered a fit of apoplexy had she witnessed my efforts and final higgeldy-piggledy sewing line, but still, when all was said and done, I had a mask and the confidence to make two more! And if anyone is going to study my stitching, they are standing way too close!
Have mask, will shop. A few phone orders - the pharmacy for prescription renewals, the pet store for dog biscuits, the feed store for 23kg of nyger seed - along with the compilation of a detailed grocery list, and by 11am today I was ready to head out. I haven't driven the car in three weeks. Will it start? Yes. Will I remember how to drive? Yes! But it felt weird. Oh wait, that's because the winter tires have been switched out for the smoother summer tires. Okay, I got this. Two curbside pickups and the pharmacy done, then I strolled into the supermarket. I have to say I felt a bit of wonder course through me, a bit of ooh and ahh. Wide aisles and so much colour! It was actually quite delightful. At least until I encountered folks traveling in the wrong direction along the oneway aisles. Yes, it was a bit tedious to have to take the long but compliant route back to an aisle when I missed something on my list, but I got everything I needed and all the staff was cheerful and helpful. It still wasn't a fun experience, but it was pleasant enough, mask and all. The only lineup I encountered was at the pharmacy where I had to wait about fifteen minutes.
Back home the prescriptions, groceries, birdseed, and box of dog biscuits were brought in and wiped down, left to air dry, and then packed away. By 4:30pm yesterday, I could celebrate "Job done!" The blogpost would have to be an "Or Thereabouts" one. I was knackered. And I know that if sometime in the next two weeks I awake to a passing sneezing or coughing spasm, or a scratchy throat, or just feel punk, I'm going to have to fight off a COVID panic attack all because I dared to go out shopping. Should I whine about this, would someone please remind me that it's pollen season?!
"Courage, my friends; 'tis not too late to build a better world."
Tommy Douglas (1904 - 1986) the father of universal healthcare in Canada.
Take Care.
Be well.
Together Apart
We can do this.
©2020 April Hoeller
