Sunday, July 26th, 2020
Today’s adventure consisted of a trip to Beaver Dam, an old quarry filled with water, supposedly 20 acres of a swimmable body of water. We got there a little after noon, to find a line of cars waiting to accesss the parking area. As we got closer to the gate we noticed it was due to boot searches – they were looking for alcohol, which may not be brought onto the premises. Before paying the hefty $40 entrance fee we specifically asked if it was possible to do open water swimming outside of the life guarded area. When we were told, yes it was possible, we were thrilled and made our way to the farthest end of the quarry, just to find "swimming prohibited" at every water access point with the exception of the two pools and the roped off, lifeguarded spot in the dam. It was very disappointing. The pools were crowded without any lap lanes. People were having picnics and Braais, all in all I estimate 300-500 people on the premises, none of whom, other than us of course, were wearing masks! A Coronoa spreading party so to speak.
Despite it being very hot and the idea of water very enticing, we back tracked to our car and left. At the exit I asked for a return of the entrance fee, which we were given without any arguments after explaining our reasons. The guy who had waved us in even said he could not blame us for thinking staying would be a bad idea. And so, we drove the 60 kilometers back home, changed from bikinis to swimsuits and headed to the Glenmont-Wheaton pool, where I had had the foresight to make a reservation. After thirty minutes or so of diving a lane freed up and I got my lap swim, just to complete the outing with a few more dives. EM and I are getting pretty good at synchronized back and front dives!
Heading home we stopped at Safeway to restock on milk, fruit, vegetables and proteins and at Danielle’s, who is back form Maine, to pick up some of her home grown cucumbers. We misssed our social pod. All in all, a day with 120 kilometers of futile driving, but altogether entertaining.
The virus continues its evil spread exponentially, having infected 16.1 million people globally of which 4.31 million in the USA. A sad side effect of the pandemic is the increase of people rushing to the national parks, where they leave their litter behind and defecate in the parks. It is rather discouraging and in line with what we have observed in Patapsco National Park, where people just dumped their garbage behind retaining walls rather than taking the bags back home or depositing it in the bins available on site; as if it vanishes once one is unable to see it. I can understand people wanting to getout on weekends after spending their days in their homes. We do the saem, but how hard can it be to be mindful of nature?
On the human scale some good seems to come of the virus as local support groups organize help for virus victims, mainly around food. These are great initiatives and people are getting to know their neighborhoods and neighbors. The next wave of help needed will be to prevent evictions given the moratorium is scheduled to end in a week or so. With upcoming elections this is critical as homeless people tend not to vote, making evictions a form of voter suppression. Especially the GoP has been very active on the voter supression front, fearing that if people other than middle aged whites vote, the Republicans will be voted out of office, as they should be, for a long time to come.
Like the US UK reopening is way too soon, my guess is that they will follow the same trajectory which can be observed in the USA, do not worry about a second wave, the first will re-erupt in full force. Also, I would not be surprised if the new spike reported from Spain were largely imported cases. Not sure what possessed Spain and other countries to allow Brits back onto their beaches, given their infection rates.