Thursday, December 24th, 2020

I throw on my hoodie and head off to work. When I’m halfway up the stairs, it starts to rain. I head back inside and switch into my raincoat. As I head up the stairs again, the rain stops. I keep going. I spend the day at work on a tedious task. I have to keep opening files, fixing them, closing them, and going on to the next. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of files. I occasionally lose my place. Sometimes the repetitive process makes me zone out completely. I lose time as I stare blankly at the screen. My mind goes someplace else entirely. Fortunately, sound from the environment brings me back. The programmer across the aisle sneezes frequently. That works. After I leave, I stop at the burger joint. Another lockdown starts on Sunday. I don’t know when I’ll get to have another mushroom burger. The cashier appears to be one that I’ve spoken with in the past, who is fluent in English. I start to order in English. It isn’t the same cashier. The two look identical behind the masks. She turns and calls for the boss to translate. He’s busy. I end up doing most of the order in Hebrew, though she tries to speak to me with what English she has. The loud music makes it more difficult. I could understand her better if I could hear her. Commercial rap-metal from decades ago is taking up the whole sound spectrum. The shop suddenly becomes busy. Flocks of teenagers enter. The phone rings with large orders. I finally get my supper. I carry it home. I’m a little too warm in my raincoat, but I can’t effectively take it off. When I get inside, I take it off and hang it up. As I close the door, the rain starts up again.