[Genuine Realist]

I'm just back from two days in Santa Cruz, the first trip away from Mountain View since March. Normally I would have taken younger daughter to Disneyland in mid-May. Obviously, that disappeared. We've also canceled out on the Kauai timeshare. It's pretty much a stay-at-home summer. 

The hotel was interesting. Masks are required in all public areas, and compliance was as near 100% as makes no difference. There is no daily maid service.  The room is made up, and you take care of it yourself. I suppose you can get towel and sheet changes, but we weren't there long enough for it to matter.  Most of corridors were compliant, but I did run into one beer-bellied, thirtyish slob carrying a mixed dink in his hand, unmasked as he got into the elevator. 

'What do you think of this coronavirus sh!t?' he asked, rhetorically. 

'Pretty serious stuff,' I answered. He sneered as he got out and waddled down the hall. My faith in the American public is sorely tested by this sort of encounter, but it does survive, though God knows we could use less of that type. I could wish him the virus, but a coronary will probably get him first.

But for that, compliance was pretty good on the interiors. The exterior was a different and somewhat demoralizing story. The persons visiting at poolside and on the beach exercised exactly zero care. I can only hope these were family groups, but for a lot of reasons I doubt it. Evidently proximity to water conveys some sort of sense of immunity, don't ask me why. Of course, the fact that masks are a bit impractical if you're swimming or jumping in the surf has an effect. Nonetheless, no one appeared to give a damn, which was not good.

We dined out twice (!!) for the first time in months. We were very surprised indoor dining was permitted, but Santa Cruz is evidently a ittle ahead of Santa Clara County. The place was called Mosaic, and highly recommended. My wife and I are very early diners, so we had the place almost to ourselves, and chose a corner table for additional isolation. My wife is definitely to the right of almost anyone on health protocols on this thing - if she felt safe, anyone would. Servers and staff were completely masked, but they did not require it of guests, being in our presence only to lay down plates. The server picked up the credit card with a gloved hand, and sanitized it before returning it to me. It was a very hospitable setting and we discussed with the manager at a safe distance how he intended to get on.  This involves plexiglass partitions between tables, which would seem to work along with masked staff. I would imagine that's how most restaurants will set up. If the partitions are movable, you could even do family gatherings beyond a certain size. I imagine regs would forbid really large parties of strangers, e.g., company events. I would hope so.

The point of all this was to allow our cleaning people access to our residence, alsto for the first time in months. Our cleaning service is a rather entrepreneurially minded young Mexican woman, who has turned her own stint into a growing business. I have been paying her without receiving service for some months now - but like most people she prefers to do the work for the money. So she had all her employees tested (negative, which I know is not infallible, but counts for something) and showed up in mask and gloves on Monday. We went down for our holiday the same day, and are home now, with the place airing for over 48 hours. Even so, my wife wiped down all the surfaces when we came home. That kind of world.

[Genuine Realist]

I'm just back from two days in Santa Cruz, the first trip away from Mountain View since March. Normally I would have taken younger daughter to Disneyland in mid-May. Obviously, that disappeared. We've also canceled out on the Kauai timeshare. It's pretty much a stay-at-home summer. 

The hotel was interesting. Masks are required in all public areas, and compliance was as near 100% as makes no difference. There is no daily maid service.  The room is made up, and you take care of it yourself. I suppose you can get towel and sheet changes, but we weren't there long enough for it to matter.  Most of corridors were compliant, but I did run into one beer-bellied, thirtyish slob carrying a mixed dink in his hand, unmasked as he got into the elevator. 

'What do you think of this coronavirus sh!t?' he asked, rhetorically. 

'Pretty serious stuff,' I answered. He sneered as he got out and waddled down the hall. My faith in the American public is sorely tested by this sort of encounter, but it does survive, though God knows we could use less of that type. I could wish him the virus, but a coronary will probably get him first.

But for that, compliance was pretty good on the interiors. The exterior was a different and somewhat demoralizing story. The persons visiting at poolside and on the beach exercised exactly zero care. I can only hope these were family groups, but for a lot of reasons I doubt it. Evidently proximity to water conveys some sort of sense of immunity, don't ask me why. Of course, the fact that masks are a bit impractical if you're swimming or jumping in the surf has an effect. Nonetheless, no one appeared to give a damn, which was not good.

We dined out twice (!!) for the first time in months. We were very surprised indoor dining was permitted, but Santa Cruz is evidently a ittle ahead of Santa Clara County. The place was called Mosaic, and highly recommended. My wife and I are very early diners, so we had the place almost to ourselves, and chose a corner table for additional isolation. My wife is definitely to the right of almost anyone on health protocols on this thing - if she felt safe, anyone would. Servers and staff were completely masked, but they did not require it of guests, being in our presence only to lay down plates. The server picked up the credit card with a gloved hand, and sanitized it before returning it to me. It was a very hospitable setting and we discussed with the manager at a safe distance how he intended to get on.  This involves plexiglass partitions between tables, which would seem to work along with masked staff. I would imagine that's how most restaurants will set up. If the partitions are movable, you could even do family gatherings beyond a certain size. I imagine regs would forbid really large parties of strangers, e.g., company events. I would hope so.

The point of all this was to allow our cleaning people access to our residence, alsto for the first time in months. Our cleaning service is a rather entrepreneurially minded young Mexican woman, who has turned her own stint into a growing business. I have been paying her without receiving service for some months now - but like most people she prefers to do the work for the money. So she had all her employees tested (negative, which I know is not infallible, but counts for something) and showed up in mask and gloves on Monday. We went down for our holiday the same day, and are home now, with the place airing for over 48 hours. Even so, my wife wiped down all the surfaces when we came home. That kind of world.