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Unfortunately, I wore the dress to work the other day. So I settled on wearing another outfit to work that I bought at the same time - an aqua gauzy shirt, with a breezy patterned skirt with aqua as its dominant color. (Sorry I didn't get a picture of it before going to work.) And this is what I wore before dinner with Vicki in Connecticut.
As virtually everyone is aware, the recent Quarantine has gotten in the way of everyone's lives. My former girlfriend has had to make major changes in how she runs her small business, and she no longer has the physical endurance she had before contracting the virus and having places where she could regularly pursue her favorite exercise routines. As for me, I've tried to go for walks on the days I have free from work, and am gradually building up the endurance I'll need to go on hikes with meetup groups in the region.
Back to dinner with Vicki....
We had different, but compatible, reasons for "chancing" this dinner. I figured that going out in the early stages of reopening would result in the least risk of catching the virus before the second wave hits. She believes that we must get back to living our lives, knowing that this wave will come, and that the hospitals should not be overrun with new admissions, now that the first wave has passed. Both are likely to be true. And I'm also at the point where where I think we should gradually reopen the economy until the second wave hits - then deal with that wave when it comes.
Our first problem was choosing a place to eat. We needed an inexpensive place which had outdoor seating. This meant looking through all of the options available to us in a google search, specifically noting "outdoor dining" as a requirement. And we settled on Southwest Cafe in Ridgefield, CT as our choice. Our next problem was seating. We had to be sure to get a seat when we arrived. The place took no reservations, but noted that they never reached their capacity limits. And the third, but minor, problem was my work schedule - I got out of work at 5:30,. This left us a short time to make it to the restaurant on time to enjoy a leisurely meal.
Of course, it would have been easy for me to have stayed late at work. As a non-manager, I am prohibited from doing so. This made it ethically possible to rush out the door at 5:30 and head over to Vicki's. After picking up the money I'd need for the night, I had to take Route 129 to Vicki's and pass by the Croton Dam Park area. In one sense, I'm glad that they have closed the park - the "tourists" will be taking their walks elsewhere. However, we still see people wanting to talk with the cops policing the entrances, getting in the way of people (like me) who have places to go. And yet, I made it to Vicki's by 6:00 pm.
After picking up Vicki, we got to the restaurant by 6:30, and were seated by 7:00. Everything that came to the table was disposable - the plastic cups, the plastic tableware, napkins, plates, etc. were all disposable, according to guidance from Connecticut's department of health. Yet, this wasn't an issue. Both my drink and my dinner's portion size made up for everything. I was glad to help a restaurant stay open in these hard times. And I am looking forward to the days where Westchester will be allowed to reopen as well.
I won't go into the details of what Vicki and I discussed over dinner. A casual reader of this blog will take things the wrong way. But I can say that we had a great time, finally achieving some normalcy that we haven't had since Mid March. One minor drawback was that she misgendered me in public. It seems that I'll have to watch out for this in people now that things are returning to a new normal. It took a long time for a former friend to get used to correctly gendering me when presenting as female, and I think that Vicki made a casual mistake of someone finally being able to relax in public for a change.
