New Year's Eve Day during the pandemic of 2020


It's New Year's Eve Day of 2020, and as usual I pedaled over to my local McDonalds this morning to get a to-go coffee, which I carry around on my ride. The dining area has been closed since April, but they've allowed people to go inside to get to-go stuff. I guess the sign says "Take out", but I've always said "To go". My friends in the UK call it "Take away". Of course, most people use the drive-through, but I haven't owned a car for years, so I go inside, get my coffee, and take it away.

2020 turned out to be an interesting time, which reminds me of the curse "May you live in interesting times!" Speaking for myself, I'm fine, things haven't really changed all that much for me, I spend most of my day in cyberspace, and my mornings pedaling around. I'll tell you what I see.

The biggest change in the last few weeks as I pedal around Peoria, which is a suburb of Phoenix, is that the Trump signs are now all gone. For a while you would see trucks going by with flags waving, and there was a humongous flag over in front of the Burger King, where I crossed every morning. This morning, December 31st, 2020, I saw a couple of houses with Trump 2020 signs in their yards, but so few you'd hardly notice. There are some Biden signs up, too. My favorite sign is "Dogs 2020" which flies in front of a house near Sweetwater Park.


It's kinda chilly nowadays, although it's been a warm winter so far, and with a bit of bundling up I'm fine out there, with the temps in the forties and fifties. My standard uniform now includes my bicycle helmet and a mask. I mask up as I approach intersections, and anytime I'm near people, like in the park, or around McDonalds, but out on the road I unmask. Although it's been cold enough the last few days that the mask feels kinda good! I live in Arizona, and I know that doing that got me some dirty looks early on, but I'm used to being criticized, like when I used to get honked at for braking my car for a pedestrian, that sort of thing. You can't please everybody!

I really don't go into buildings much, but I look to see how people are doing with the social distancing and the masks, and what I see looks encouraging. Of course, there will always be people who resist doing this kind of thing, and that's why there's enforcement. I'm old enough to remember the "no shirt, no shoes, no service" and the "no smoking" people who needed enforcement. It's an imperfect world we live in, but overall I've found it to be pretty good.

Only a few more hours to go until the end of 2020, and it will be history!
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