Mornings After

Woke up to good news. Qualcomm Stadium is being closed as an evacuation center. Fires are generally being managed, though Palomar Observatory is threatened at the moment. The air is supposed to be bad again today, but seems better at 8 a.m. Unfortunately, wind conditions are supposed to bring more smoke over central San Diego for most of today.

Another day mostly inside, sedentary. A recipe for craziness for all those with two legs and four.

This has had a huge psychological impact on San Diegans, as you might expect. Most of the city doesn't look any different, except for a light coating of ash (see my car above), and except for the odd light cast by the haze-filtered sun. But scratch the surface and reality oozes out.

We went to IKEA yesterday to buy some lights, and the cashier was a tad testy. This is very unlike IKEA which, like so many retail companies, relentlessly screens and drills employees on customer service.

Same thing happened at iHop, where service is unfailingly cheerful on normal days. On Wednesday, the waitress and kitchen were hassled and overloaded and preoccupied, though the Harvest Grain 'N' Nut pancakes were good, as always.

The whole city needs a break. Some sleep and some Marx Brothers.

A thought...
With the entertainment industry based in southern California, news of the fires had an especially broad and deep reach. It makes me wonder how things might be different if other natural disasters had the same exposure.