Out and about

Sunrise over 24th Street on Wednesday morning. They say I can take a walk, so I've gone back to a practice I haven't done in years, perambulating a rapid 5K on Valencia and adjacent streets at dawn. It's not hard to stay a good distance from others; there aren't many others. Most runners stay on the sidewalks, but I can't or I'll risk activating my chronic plantar fasciitis.

I am a little distressed to see increasing vehicle traffic over the last few days. The flow is a lot like what used to be visible at a similar hour on Sundays. Don't know whether that's a sign we're not staying inside or this is essential urban life. A city sure depends on a lot of labor that is usually invisible to other residents who aren't doing it.

Over the weekend, people jammed the parks, enough to persuade our authorities to work hard to keep people out by closing parking lots. I was distressed to read that those who flocked to the out-of-doors took the opportunity to run off with the toilet paper and hand sanitizer from public restrooms.

Last week I continued my Walking San Francisco project. Ambling through neighborhoods with a camera is a form of going for a walk, isn't it? I drove to my starting points; in normal times I try to arrive by public transit. I encountered few people and avoided contact. I think I'll do a few more precincts this week and see how it feels. If walking about acquires a social stigma or there's an order against it, I'll stop.

The world seems to contract and yet we get by with a little help from our friends. A phone call from a faraway friend interrupted posting this. Yes!