Pandemic life

Things happen to the world when people stay home. Have you seen the pictures of the canal in Venice? This morning I saw a picture of a beach in North Carolina, overrun with sea shells because no one is there to pick them up. What about the average air pollution downtown Los Angeles?  In my home state, dairy farmers are having to dump milk because they have too much. I feel like they could figure out a way to give it to people. And there's a huge stock of chicken. Why? Because there were no sporting events so people didn't need to make buffalo wings or grill out on the patio! And beer! There's too much beer. And some potato farmers are giving them away before they go bad. Amazing.

But other things are harder to find. Frozen foods for one. I had to think about that for a second. Then I realized part of the toilet paper shortage was for the same reason...people are at home, kids, workers, parents, everyone is at home! You need a lot of frozen foods to feed those teenagers. You know, something they can pop in the microwave.  

Oh, but the bakery section of the grocery store is fully stocked! Guess nobody cares about cookies and cakes right now. 

It's a little better now but it's still pretty weird in the grocery store. All those empty isles and shelves. It was a lot worse in the beginning but still. Yesterday I went to the store for the first time in a month. I was surprised at how few people were there. It made me wonder, in the future, will people flock back to the grocery store to buy an abundance of things they don't need? Or will they just go when they need to and buy what they need to?

I took these pictures on March 13th, in the evening. I had to go to the store to 'see' it for myself.