New Riding Mower

On May 2nd, I mentioned that my new purchase sitting on the trailer attracted attention from a neighbor and 2 passerbys (male).

No we did not practice social-distancing.  Not because we are guys, not because we are "brave", and not because we think we are immune.  In the moment, we just forgot.  A new piece of equipment made us forget about the present problems.  We were back "before".

I equally feel sure that somewhere at almost the same moment, there were some women gathered together who engaged in some accustomed group activity (I will not speculate on the activity, it doesn't matter), and equally forgot about masks and social distancing for a brief few minutes.

But yes, we were careless.  But, after we got it started, backed off the trailer, and I drove it to the shed and returned, we talked for a awhile.  And (equally without thinking about it), stood about 6' apart.  No one specifically mentioned it, but we just did it automatically.

I sure hope nothing comes of it, and the odds ARE rather slight.  Some habits are hard to break.  We want to shake hands, we want to be close to other people, we want to communicate without having to raise our voices.

Habits are old; the pandemic is new.  We err in this new situation sometimes.  All we can do is our best.

The Historian Anthropologist in me says women hug to express trust and closeness.  And that men shake right hands to show they are not holding a weapon (which is one of several reasons "lefties" were viewed with suspicion LOL).  It also determined which side a warrior would pass a stranger by assumed sword-arm and that carried through to cars by habit.

One could argue that we in the US drive on "the wrong side of the road"due to a lack of historical sword-culture.  I think of the oddest things sometimes...