I have not been to downtown San Francisco before today. It was a shock. Out here by the Panhandle, life has certainly changed because of COVID-19 but you know not super extravagantly. Out there, where the Snow Goose roams, life goes on more or less the same. I wonder what the geese think.
Downtown is different. It is unrecognizable; principally because it is deserted.
Union Square, once an epicentre of world consumerism is deserted apart from a nice lady giving away free food.
All the stores are closed, even the Apple Store! Powell St, famed for its street cars, runs alongside the square. You could have a picnic in the centre of the road now. Well, you would have move occasionally to let a street car rattle by. The two I see are both empty! Empty street cars – hard to believe!
I am downtown to get a COVID-19 test. I soon return to Japan and a prerequisite for entry is a negative covid test less than 72 hours old.
The test is not really painful but odd. I cannot remember the last time someone stuck a Q tip right up my nose. I get my results tomorrow – wish me luck!
Here are some birds to make you happy.
Happy New Year everyone! Let’s hope for an improvement.
The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond 
“Downtown”, isn’t that the Petula Clarke song which preceded the Nashville Christmas bombing ? Stay safe and Happy New Year Neil.
Well, there’s a thing. Petula Clark is an unlikely terrorist songbird. Merry 2021 to you and your massive pack.
When you say “massive pack” are you referring to my wedding tackle or to the hordes of offspring it produced ?
Happy New Year or at least I hope it will be when you test comes back negative.
I am negative! Good start to 2021.
Happy New Year, Neil! Thanks for the nasal tunneling photos – looks to be an ‘interesting’ experience. So you’re off to Tokyo in the next couple of days to spend time in a hotel room or is that waived by your having the test?
Good luck!
Happy 2021 Alan. there is a big dossier of paperwork needed at arrival. You then have another test at the airport. If this is negative then I am hopefully whisked away in special covid transport to a tiny studio somewhere in Tokyo where I have to spend 14 days of self isolation – no public transport, no restaurants, no Isakayas. They take Covid very seriously in Japan.
This is galling as I would love to spend 2 weeks exploring Tokyo but I just have to sit in my studio and practice drinking I suppose.
No outings to research the Isakayas? That’s a shame. Mind you, I’d no idea of their existence the first time I came across them on Hoppy Street near the Senso-ji temple in Asakusa – the concept of a Japanese tapas bar was unknown to me. Great fun once I realised why they kept bringing me miniature meals! Hopefully the food they provide you with will make up for it unless it’s just endless MacDonalds.
HNY to you too –
London is similarly deserted