a cure for the cold

This morning, I headed into the great white unknown.  Weather people said we got 12.2 inches of snow.  Important to carry out to that first decimal place so we can say, "OVER a foot!"




I've been using public transit off and on all winter.  I've mentioned here that I'm not a fan of contributing to traffic congestion.  It's one of the reasons I commute on my bicycle and plan living/working locations accordingly.



Yes, I have a car.  Yes, I have a driver's license.  I just don't particularly like driving in order to transport only myself if not necessary.  Plus, riding a bike is so much more fun.  On days when it's not, there is a very convenient bus route to/from my hospital job.






As I suspected once the lockdown order was given, ridership has gone way down, so I wasn't worried about being trapped on a bus with a bunch of breathing humans and vice versa.  This being a college town, the public buses are quite popular, and a good portion of the regulars were students.  All the schools and colleges are closed now, and I don't think there's ever been a time since when there were more than 4 riders on the bus.  Plus the buses are so clean! Grocery shopping causes more angst than riding the bus.

So anyway, there I was on the bus this morning.  I was the ONLY patron.  The driver was a trainee, possibly driving her first real route.  There was also a supervisory person riding along and offering encouragement.

It just felt kinda surreal.  There we were, three ladies on a big old bus, lumbering down the road in all it's frosty snow-covered glory with hardly any other apparent souls in the world.

As we approached my stop, I felt rather silly pulling the signal cord.  Like I should simply state, "This is my stop up next".  But I played along and pulled the cord.  We three acknowledged our appreciation for each other and wished each other health and safety.

I entered the hospital, met as always in the new normal - the nurse standing by to take temperatures.  The whole day, so far, felt like a dystopian novel.  I usually turn down the temp check, lying to them by saying I'd checked mine already.  But they've often joked that I'm taking their jobs away, so I decided to go full on dystopia and get the temperature swipe.

Nothing.

She looked at the readout and gave a little laugh.  Like, "PffffffT", then determined that my skin temperature was too cold to register.  She fanned my face for a while, strangely seeming to cool me down, then swiped again.

98.3 F and holding.

Later, in the kitchen, someone delivered a gift from Starbucks for everyone on staff.  We're a relatively small hospital, currently with reduced staffing, so this was ample:

Coffee and danish varieties all around - speaking of taking away our jobs...

But seriously, it was a much appreciated gift.  Each bag had some positive affirmations written on it.  Some might find that sappy, but it was with warm fuzzies as our small crew of four stood reading the bags...

...right before we snatched first dibs on one of the pastry bags before they headed out to the floors.