Saturday, July 4th, 2020
Alarms set for 8:00 today s we had to be out of the house by 10:00. A. was terribly stressed about her mum not being packed up the night before. We still managed to have breakfast with the news and a leisurely coffee before loading the cars and making our way to Cape Henlopen. EM and I even managed to pop down to Rehoboth for some shopping before we delivered the keys to the realtor. We stocked up with a few gallons of water as an alternative to a sweet water shower a the beach before the drive home.
Much as I love the beach, I dislike being sandy and hate the sticky feeling of salt water on my skin; especially if combined with sunscreen. We arrived at Cape Henlopen at 11:00 by which point in time the park was filled to capacity; so no entry for us. After some google research we found that Slaughter Beach allows dogs to run unleashed so of we went.
The beach was at the back and beyond, but not crowded. We arrived to a slight drizzle which did not stop us from setting up our umbrellas and heading to the ocean for a swim. No playing in the water though as the ground was pretty murky and I swear I landed on a few horseshoe crabs while swimming. I did do my routine though and dried of in the sun after. By 13:30 we all had enough and packed up for the drive home. The consensus was, we could have done with a few more days at the house. Alas, it was booked. We never did use those gallons of water we procured at CVS as there was a shower at the beach. So after washing of the salt (myself and the dog, seeing no one else ventured for a swim that day), we set of for Washington.
The route back was different to the one coming for reasons only Waze knows, and as a result we did not pass the farm offering homemade ice cream. We did find a small Annapolis ice cream stall at the other side of the Bay Bridge where we paused for a refreshment before heading home. Now everything is unpacked, and I am back in my garden on the love seat writing this after a two person BBQ of spareribs, listening to fireworks far and close.
Fireworks in Maryland are illegal. This of course does not stop my idiot neighbors from firing them. I am furious. The cat is terrified, and we are worried (and deafened). And I sit my garden screaming “Assholes” and “Idiots” at the dumb wits, which of course does nothing to stop them. Fireworks, because people believe today to be the birthday if the USA, which actually it is not. July 4th is the day the Proclamation of Independence came back from the printer and was distributed. It was signed on July 2nd, making the national day of the USA one of the oldest items of fake news items.
The global count today stands at 11.16 million; 2.86 million of which are in the USA. Case numbers continue to rise and the gatherings for July 4th are not helpful to virus containment. To add insult to the injury cause by COVId-19 the supposed leader of the free world is propagating racism as his bid for re-election.
I am finding this country ever harder to understand. We live in the 21st century, not the Middle Ages. A society will only do well if all do well and not just a selected few. It is so frustrating to observe. At least there is some more good news on the vaccine front. Pfizer reports great results on its combined phase 1/2 trials and is seeking to move to phase 3 testing it on 30k people.
Wild swimming, that is totally my concept, need to find more spots for this.