Considering how devoted I am to deepening my tan it hardly seems appropriate to condemn the fidelity as indolent. It was just after nine o’clock this morning when we returned from a healthful repast at the Green Zebra on Main Street in Sarasota. The place opens at 7:30 am.  We were the first customers.  Upon our arrival the spindly young chef was lifting a heavy umbrella stand onto the outdoor patio. Our table was inside immediately next the window. We had a ready view of the other early birds (predominantly old fogeys such as we) who were going for a walk, walking their dogs or collecting a coffee. We speculated that there were some fine apartments nearby.

Stimulated by cappuccino and espresso coffee, avocado toast and other vegetarian drinks and dishes – and a subsequent car wash en route home – I instantly prepared myself for the constitutional bicycle ride. The weather was utterly perfect – hot and clear.  There wasn’t a moment to waste! As I had resolved yesterday I chose to remain on Longboat Key instead of going to the beach at Lido Key. As it was not long after 10:30 am when I landed at the beach across from Bayfront Park, there were endless choices where to park myself on the beach.  I removed myself further along the beach than normal. It wasn’t long however before I was surrounded by others, mostly younger people with families.

The sun was so hot that I was in and out of the sea to cool myself. It was after four o’clock when I cycled homeward.  There was only one other person on the sidewalk throughout my entire 5 km ride home. The sparsity was not normal even for a late Sunday afternoon.  The pandemic has clearly had its affect – a combination of keeping people inside or transporting them back home to their northern haunts. This precise fact was conveyed by email to me when I got home – an acquaintance from here reported that she and her husband left yesterday at the behest of their children.