The masks are off, but I’d know those eyes anywhere

Doc’s report:

The loyal reader will be happy to know that I’ve kept my blog writing skills sharp during the shutdown by reading the appropriate classics: “One Hundred Years of Solitude” (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) , “Love in the Time of Cholera” (also Marquez), and “The Plague” (Albert Camus).

I met the hairy guy at Coonan’s, my go-to place, and ran into Randy Howell outside. Randy has also kept his trivia-hosting skills sharp during the shutdown, by posting dozens of insightful and entertaining journal entries on Facebook.

Kim Coonan and his people haven’t been sitting on their hands, either:

• The patio is active, and there are a few sidewalk tables out front for diners waiting to enter the capacity-controlled restaurant.
• The staff is, of course, masked – but with the Coonan logo. (It’s funny how, even with

  

  Sign in Coonan's restroom

  masks, you can still identify people. The eyes really are the windows to the soul.)
• Tables are spread apart and every other one is marked “Not for Seating,” to ensure social distancing.
• You’ll especially like the freshly painted Kelly green walls, echoing the green booths and enhancing the warm atmosphere at Coonan’s undiminished, even enhanced, by the passage of several weeks.

Our next stop was the Curve, where human ingenuity reached new heights, with a ceiling-to-bar clear plastic shield protected the patrons from the staff. Not so safe were the happy patrons, I’m afraid. Thirteen men, shoulder to shoulder, filled the space around even the Curve’s capacious bar.

This will be a real challenge going forward. Well-run, established bars, like the Curve, simply invite intimacy and good feelings. That’s why you go.

More green walls – even taller than Coonan’s – greeted us at Lucky’s, where half the patron total comprised Harry and me. A large Jägermeister banner hung between two Irish flags sounded the note of national brotherhood.

The G-man – predictably unchanged by the passage of time – joined us at the Crowne Pub, which, like Coonan’s, has really spent the shutdown planning well:

• No condiment trays on the tables
• A head-count clicker for crowd
• A good-sized crowd – young – at 4 p.m.
• And, like Coonan’s, really good food. That opinion is based on past visits, and confirmed by the beer-battered zucchini on this one.

So our first visit since the shutdown gave me hope. It’s not the apocalypse.
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See the hairy guy’s report: As bars reopen, we find masks, no masks, open space, foamy taps, everywhere a sign -- and a lot of smiles