Tuesday, February 23rd, 2021

Clusters of people sit outside the coffee shop at the entrance to my office building. Some sit on the benches permanently built into the patio walls. Others sit in yellow plastic chairs. The city has placed these chairs around town, including in the city square. Signs on them invite people to sit. As I understand it, we’re officially not supposed to be sitting at a coffee shop, just getting the coffee and leaving. Maybe it’s OK because there aren’t any tables. I’m meeting a relative there. She’s getting her second vaccination today. I come down after the afternoon prayers. We haven’t seen each other in months. We both have new haircuts, from the same barber. She introduced me to him. We talk about what we’ve been up to. I don’t have much new to tell. She reads these posts, so she’s pretty well caught up. She does say that I make the city sound somewhat nicer than it actually looks. I fill her in on some details of the film project and of the crowdfunding campaign I’m planning for it. The weather turns colder as we sit there. I return to work after half an hour. When I come back downstairs a few hours later, it’s raining again.