Although we are being enjoined from traveling, I took a ferryboat ride yesterday for the first time since the pandemic began.
Ferry service on San Francisco Bay has been canceled during weekends since March, which seems wrongheaded as it's hard to think of any form of public transportation that feels safer.
Watching the scenery go by as a chilly wind surrounded six passengers on a huge catamaran was heavenly.
From Jack London Square, I walked to the Oakland Amtrak station five blocks away, and bought a ticket for Emeryville, a ten-minute ride north.
The ticket was for the Capitol Corridor from San Jose to Sacramento but I mistakenly jumped on the San Joaquin, destination Bakersfield, on a near-empty train.
It was a fortuitous error because my scheduled Capitol Corridor train had just hit a vehicle in Santa Clara and burst into flames.
Those awaiting a Sacramento-bound train had to wait an additional couple of hours...
...but a choo-choo finally arrived to take them to their Christmas destinations.
We drove back to San Francisco, laughing about recent, vague warning signage at Amtrak station platforms. "Please be advised that travel TO San Francisco may be subject to a 10-day quarantine." San Francisco government is known for its occasional absurd pronouncements, but really, how in baby Jesus's name are they going to enforce that particular edict?
It's not their job to enforce the edict. It's the job of the Department of Public Health to make that decision. It's Amtrak's job to help communicate the message. It's our job to trust the message and do what they say. There's nothing laughable about Covid.
ReplyDeleteDear Jim: I'm not "laughing about COVID," but laughing at the idea that the government of San Francisco has its act together well enough to enforce any kind of quarantine. These were the same authorities telling you it was fine and safe to be on jury duty during a pandemic, a judgment I most definitely did not trust.
ReplyDelete