I went for a walk after work this evening. After exiting my building I turned left so as to avoid the people who would be standing around outside Sal’s waiting for pizzas. So I walked south down Main Street, thinking I’d cut over on Water street, cross the river, and walk north again up Veteran’s by the art museum. But when I got to Colin’s Deck Bar I veered left, down their steep driveway, all the way down to the west bank of the river. There in the shady, grotto-like space between the backside of Main Street and the Milwaukee river, I again turned south, making for Water Street.
When I got there, though, I immediately saw people walking towards me. Unmasked people who would undoubtedly think nothing of walking right past me on the narrow sidewalk. So, rather than pull my own mask up and/or crossing the street to avoid them, I looked at my watch for no reason and then turned around and went back down to the west bank. Perhaps they thought I suddenly realized I was late for something. Something down by the river in what is essentially an alley.
Turns out, there would be no one in said alley for the entire length of downtown. I paused at the Hussar building. I know that’s what it was because there is a metal plaque on the wall that says so. Then I walked back and forth a little…if that’s Hussar’s…then that’s the movie theater…and that’s my building. Everything looks different from the river side and sometimes it’s hard to know.
Eventually I continued north and saw my car parked behind the old Ziegler building. (Some people call it the Kreilkamp building because that’s who owns it now, but many people in this town seem not to care about that.) I don’t work there anymore and thus no longer have a permit to park there, but it seems that no one is checking this lately. Either that or the powers the be are just so used to seeing my car there that they don’t even think to question it. I went over to the car to get a gallon of water out of the back seat for my coffee maker. There had been too much to carry last time I got groceries. That’s when I discovered that I had also failed to carry in 2-liter bottle of caffeine-free Diet Coke. Bonus.
With water in one hand and Diet Coke in the other, I masked up and hopped back up to Main Street through the winding path of the micro-park between Sal’s and the Ziegler building. There was a momentary lull in the ever-present pizza-getters, so I was able to walk by without having to go through a group of people standing there. When I got home I discovered that Panera had delivered while I was out and my soup-and-salad dinner was waiting for me.