I don't know about you and your friends. I can only speak from personal experience. The pandemic is always the first topic of discussion. Have you eaten inside a restaurant? Do you know anyone who has had the virus? Do you venture beyond a friend's outdoor space and into their home? What about using the facilities? Where do you get those cute masks? What are you doing this winter when you can't escape to warmer climes? Did you buy a fire pit or one of those heaters that restaurants use? Is this "new normal" going to be it? Any chance that there will be a vaccine in our lifetime?
Oh, and one more concern: did you buy a small freezer to hold the stockpile of frozen foods that so many have stored for the End of Days?
Yep, my husband and I did. Granted, our big freezer is tiny in comparison to most. While it wasn't de rigeur, we figured it would be best to augment our space. We've nicknamed him (could have been gender fluid but then we'd have to come up with possibly two names) Sid Freaser. Clever, eh? (Most of our friends didn't get the reference. Funny, because we're all old enough to have watched Show of Shows [1953-54] with Sid Caesar or to have heard our parents laughing in the next room.) Our Sid Freaser (note the spelling) is a happy fella' who stays, well, freezing in its own space in our basement. Sure, he would have been more comfortable in our renovated kitchen, but, alas, we have no room. I hope he doesn't feel like the black sheep in the family but we adore him for the food he holds and the front door that closes with barely a push.
The topic of freezers came up not long after a couple we hadn't seen since the end of March came to dinner. Outside. Carry-out. Chairs six feet apart. In between eating Korean pancakes, mandu, bibimbop, bulgogi with meat, and all the other side dishes, our talk naturally turned to food and, by association, to freezers. I retold the story of having ordered a freezer, waiting for a month, cancelling the order (It was probably on a slow boat from China), and then going back to the internet and finding a replacement. Not an easy task because it seemed as if everyone had read the article in The New York Times about the run on small freezers and decided they'd better get one, too.
Photo: The New York Times
"Did you get yours at ABT?" our friend asked.
"No, they were sold out and didn't anticipate getting more for several months. We could have been put on their waiting list, but the salesperson wasn't hopeful."
"Oh," the friend said. "We did get ours from ABT. We must have nabbed the last one."
Now I wouldn't be writing about freezers if we weren't in the midst of a Pandemic. We seniors might be talking about our aches and pains, our physical therapist, our exercise routine. Our wills. Our grandchildren. Our brain freezes. Ha!
What's next on the list of "Sold Outs?" I'd submit fire pits--at least, for those of us in the freezing (OMG! There it is again) midwest.
Your recap of all the new subjects one has to discuss with friends is exactly right! That includes little freezers. Love it! Here comes the fire pits.