Travel??

[olivermoss]

I'd planned ages ago to go to Spokane for a few days in February. Photograph it some more in some harsh, terrible weather. Stay in one of the many cute, cheap AB&Bs. Take the train there and back.

Why Spokane in Feb? Because it's a weird looking city and terrible weather suits it. I... I've developed weird taste in travel over the years. I was supposed to do this trip in 2020, then 2021 and now...

I think I booked back in June? I really thought by Feb things would be different.

Problem 1 - Can't even get a good number on new cases because it's so damn hard to even get a test.

Problem 2 - Amtrak is so understaffed they can't take on more staff. Hiring/training new staff means additional work and they ... can't. There have been a lot of plane cancellations due to staffing issues, but trains are also having issues.

Covid aside, after I nearly wound up stranded in Maine I gotta say I am a bit nervous about flinging myself into Eastern WA for a few days when trains are this unreliable. I am not, currently, cancelling. But I gotta say I am a bit worried.

Also, Leverage is filming again in a few months ... in a city with music venues. If Kane concerts happen again I intend to fling myself at one. I currently doubt that is going to happen. Picard just shut production because a significant amount of their staff got Covid. I had this hope that Covid would not fuck up a second season of L:R, but it looks like that is going to be another tightly controlled situation. I wanted to see what they could do without playing on the hardest difficulty setting, but it looks like they'll still be dealing with all that. So, eh, the possibility of concerts is likely not worth even thinking about. I'd just... maybe hoped? I mean, seriously, going to New Orleans for a weekend for a Kane concert would be the most amazing thing I could think of but... fuck.

Just to be clear, nothing music-wise was announced. I was just ... hopeful?

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

I'm so frustrated by how much worse everything just keeps getting. It's the same here, where we have no real idea of case numbers, because the waitlist for tests is weeks long in a lot of cases. And yet... nothing is shut down, and even as I see what seems like half my friends (it's not that many, just feels that way when it was 6 or so people within a few days) getting sick despite being vaxxed, the other half are still acting like nothing is happening.

I really did think it would be better by February.

I'm glad you aren't cancelling your plans, but I understand being nervous about traveling. I remember when you had the issues in Maine... I feel like almost everyone I know who HAS traveled has encountered cancelled flights and getting stuck somewhere. Ugh.

Oh, that would have been fantastic, if he'd been able to do some shows during the time they were filming. What a perfect place for it. Dammit.

I'm all the way back around to *angry* at all the assholes who have ensured we are dealing with a WORSE wave of the pandemic. (From the little individual antimask shits, to every politician telling us that we have to get back to work for the good of the economy.)

[olivermoss]

I bet if this pandemic shit had calmed down, there would be shows in New Orleans. That would have been, like, too good.

I haven't cancelled yet, but I am keeping an eye on things. Hopefully, once the holidays are done the strain on the train system eases off a bit and things begin to normalize.

It really wouldn't be hard for all this pandemic stuff to be under more control. It's infuriating.

Things aren't exactly closed here, but if I wanted to go out for a drink I'd have to sit at my own table by myself. We aren't closed.. everything's just sort of constrained.

[mistressofmuses]

That would have been way too good. ;_;

That's a fair point - hopefully post-holidays the crush will be over, and things will be more manageable. I hope you don't need to cancel!

It makes me so angry at this point. I had a coworker COME TO WORK when she knew she was contagious (she'd just gotten over being sick, and was still mildly symptomatic, and her husband tested positive), but because she didn't get a test herself, she didn't have to stay home. So she exposed people on purpose because "well, I don't want to use my sick time." THIS IS WHY WE WILL NEVER GET RID OF THIS.

We have a mask mandate for the county (and all neighboring counties except for one, I think), but nothing else. Social distancing requirements were not reimplemented, and there's no enforcement for the masks. The restaurant a few doors away from my office no longer has any distancing, and none of the staff wear masks.

We keep being told "hey, positivity rates are above 25%! there are almost no hospital beds available! record number of new cases per day! waiting lists for tests are up to two weeks long! be safe and cautious!" but there are no real guidelines or enforcement of the miniscule things that have been mandated, and it feels like no one is willing to take precautions of their own volition, and it's driving me insane.

Apologies for the rant, heh

[olivermoss]

Yeah, there are no real guidelines. It's like the government has just given up. Masking is still common here, at least. But we also have the worst resident to bed ratio in the US because of how fast Portland and Bend grew. So, it's bad.

I was wrong about stuff not closing down here. Turns out with the spikes a lot of places are closing back down or going take-out-only.

I know it's more a function of testing delays than an accurate picture of reality, but Covid is up 100x at PSU. Not 100%, 100x.

I'm hoping to still go because just... at some point some plan needs to actually happen. So many delays and cancellations.

[mistressofmuses]

That's exactly what it feels like - that the government has just given up, and the only real guideline is "*shrug*, do your best to make it to work"
I will say that more people than not seem to still be masking - like 75% at the grocery store, and maybe 80%+ in most other stores I've gone into. Anti-mask places like the restaurant by my office are more of an exception.

It's frustrating that places have to keep closing. As much as I think it might be the right thing to do as positivity rises, I worry about how many more places are going to wind up going away for good with this yo-yo of open-close.

Jesus. 100x is fucking terrifying. (And yeah, testing delays and availability are part of that number, but still.) State positivity here is 28.5%, and that's with widespread shortages of tests. (So actual rate may be lower, but there are an awful lot of people who have it and can't get tested, too.)

But also... right? I WANT things to stop being delayed or cancelled, and I want that to be because everyone stops being shitheads, so that we can actually get this under control. It's a deep source of rage that we can't get there, and there's only so much any of us can do individually.