I ordered coffee from Roots Roasting and picked it up today. It’s not far from my house, and on a day when it was not raining I might have walked; but today I got in my car.

Roots is one of the local businesses I dearly hope survives through this troubled time to emerge on the other side, so I am supporting them as I can. (See here for some others.)

The streets were nearly empty of cars, of course. A few people were out walking, distantly spaced. I parked on St. Clair and entered the side door of Roots, as instructed, picked up the bag with my name on it, and left. Never took off my gloves; never got close to another person.

And despite the lack of any real danger, I was taken by surprise at how stressful I found the whole brief excursion, and how glad I was to get back inside my house.

I have been self-isolating for 19 days.