Saturday, November 21, 2020
I’ve covered this general topic in bits and pieces in previous letters, but now I’d like to take a comprehensive inventory of how the virus has impacted our lives. Nearly a year into the pandemic, I have an opportunity to view the bigger picture and reflect on and analyze how our lives have been reshaped, how much of this change is temporary or permanent, and where we might be next year at this time. (As I indicate with the ‘chapter heading’, this effort will be a serial project; I can’t imagine fitting it all into one letter. Or having the time to do so in a single week.
DINING OUT
Up until June 5th, a Friday, we avoided restaurants, neither dining in nor al fresco. The occasion, a belated celebration of our 35th wedding anniversary at Vin Santo, a cozy Italian restaurant in Middleton that is our go-to place for special events. (In September, the owners announced that the restaurant was ‘ceasing operations for the foreseeable future’.
Our previous restaurant visit occurred almost three months earlier, on March 13th. We walked to the Sport Bowl, as we were in the mood for a fish fry and too lazy to prepare one ourselves. OK, so maybe I’m being a bit harsh here. JoAnna was still working at the time, spending most of her time participating in marathon conference calls while sitting at her desk in the kitchen. Not surprisingly she wanted to get out of the house, experience a change of scene, and enjoy a sit-down meal rather than ordering something to go. And from the early reports about the spread of the virus, she sensed that her retirement options, at least in the short term, had already become limited. As indeed they had, we quickly learned.
Although Governor Tony Evers had yet to announce a ‘safer-at-home’ order — that would happen five days later – many people in Dane County had already shifted gears, taking a cautious approach to their activities, avoiding large gatherings of any type, in particular. With Wisconsin having reported its first case on February 5th, the virus arrived here earlier than it did in most states. However, it was more than a month later, on March 9th, when a second case was confirmed. On March 13th, Wisconsin had a grand total of 19 cases, 11 of which had been reported on that day. Hard to believe now that such a number made an impact back then. Our current 7-day average is just under 7,000 new cases per day, yet too many people still don’t take the virus seriously.
Normally, the Sport Bowl is packed on a Friday night, a raucous and mostly “townie” crowd (i.e., Middleton natives*), celebrating the start of the weekend. (After living here for 34 years, JoAnna still feel like newbies whenever we’re there.)
Photo by Retiring Guy
Not so on Friday, March 13th.
Walking into the bar and dining area, we found many tables unoccupied (most of them located along the front windows to the right of the frame of this photo and behind us. The atmosphere was unexpectedly and eerily subdued. Instead of having trouble hearing ourselves talk – always a problem for me in noisy surroundings -- people’s voices created an almost indistinct murmur, an unobtrusive white noise. Although we didn’t acknowledge it, I’m sure both of us felt a bit uncomfortable, as if we had heedlessly traveled outside our safety zone, placing ourselves at risk. I certainly felt uneasy.
Maybe we should have taken Andy’s advice and stayed home, I thought.
At the time, Andy was still living in his studio apartment and driving to and from Sun Prairie to get to work each weekday. We invited him to join us at Sport Bowl, figuring he’s be agreeable to a free meal, but he turned us down without hesitation and couldn’t be convinced otherwise, though JoAnna certainly gave it a try. Andy tends to get much of his current events news via social media, which was, to no surprise, already rampant with Covid misinformation, speculation, and wild-eyed conspiracy theories. I could sense the fear in his voice while we talked on the phone. He was already in hunker-down mode and considered it, under the rapidly developing circumstances, reckless for us to go out for dinner. He later confessed that he initially overreacted to the news of the virus, but it was at least a week after he moved in with us, toward the end of March, by the time he successfully tamped down his anxiety. This sensitivity to an impending threat reminded of the time I picked Andy up at Little Red Preschool shortly after the county’s sirens had blared a piercing tornado warning. He was 4 at the time, and all of the teachers and students remained sheltered in the building’s basement. He looked – well, if not terrorized, certainly very scared. I asked him about the ‘adventure’ on the drive home, but he was barely able to talk about the experience.
Andy’s reaction to our invitation served to drape a shroud over our Sport Bowl visit, possibly our last one ever, considering how few cars we’ve seen in the parking lot since the start of the pandemic. As a result, we didn’t linger over dinner, turning down our server’s request to order a second round of beers.
Photo credit: Imperial Garden
I experienced a similarly eerie feeling the previous evening during a biweekly Kiwanis meeting at Imperial Garden. The restaurant has been in business since 1981 and is consistently voted “Best of Madison in the Chinese
restaurant category by readers of Madison Magazine. On previous Thursdays — we started meeting here, in a private dining area, at the beginning of the year — the main dining room was filled to near-capacity and included numerous large groups, such as you see pictured on the previous page. (I suspect the lazy Susan turntable have been put in storage for the time being.)
On March 12th, the first sign that change was in the air took place as we approached the restaurant’s expansive, but mostly empty parking lot. Inside, about one-third of the tables and booths were occupied, mostly by parties of two and three. At the time, the virus was still commonly attached to Wuhan, its city of origin, reinforcing over and over its Chinese connection. I couldn’t help but wonder if Imperial Garden’s sudden drop in customers was related, in part, to a xenophobic reaction.
If this headline is any indication – note the date -- the answer is most likely ‘yes’. Even in liberal, politically correct Dane County, perhaps.
A week later, Evers’ executive order limited restaurants to take-out and delivery service. With no place to meet, our Kiwanis club went on hiatus for two
months, waiting for the smoke to clear, so to speak. When it became obvious that in-person gatherings, especially for a group that skews much older than average, remained problematic, we shifted our meetings to Zoom. Currently, I don’t expect a return to in-person gatherings anytime soon. In fact, I foresee us maintaining a virtual format well into 2021. If the club can survive that long. (We’re down to about 10 active members right now. And recruiting new members during a pandemic is no easy task.)
As for Imperial Garden, I think their customer base is large and loyal enough to keep them viable. Even before Covid, they did a huge take-out business. But as much as we enjoy the restaurant’s food and atmosphere, we haven’t made a return visit since March 12.
On the other hand, nearly a year into the pandemic, we haven’t eaten a meal inside a restaurant since our road trip in September. And that was only out of necessity.
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