The weather is now warm enough that I 
was able to work out in our 
screened-in porch today. It was really 
quite nice and I enjoyed the day 
immensely.

Usually, we change over the winter 
tires on the car some time in April. 
That didn't happen this year because 
of the COVID-19 business, so I dropped 
the car off at the shop and walked 
home this morning. It's about a half 
hour walk. I listened to the History 
of Japan podcast on the Buddhist monk 
Nichiren. I highly recommend the 
series. Isaac Meyer has done over 300 
episodes and has covered almost every 
aspect of Japan's past. Unfortunately, 
the episode did not discuss the issue 
that I was interested in -- which was 
the apocalyptic variant of Nichiren 
followed by some of the officers of 
Japan's Kwantung Army in Manchuria, 
whose actions helped to trigger World 
War II in Asia.
 
After lunch I walked back to the shop 
and picked up the vehicle. It's 
usually a very busy place, but it 
wasn't today. There was one guy 
waiting for his vehicle, watching the 
rather forlorn-looking shop TV. It 
probably hasn't been busy for some 
time. No one's driving. I've only put 
one tank of gas in the car since 
mid-April and I suspect most other 
people aren't using their cars nearly 
as much either.

In fact, it seems that you can see 
evidence of the great slowdown 
everywhere you look. 

There are definitely fewer people out 
and about. But there's a lot more 
natural noise. The birds are back. 
They're everywhere. I've been noticing 
the declining bird populations for 
some time, so it's really nice to see 
-- and hear -- them again!

The air is much clearer too and the 
sky seems to be a slightly different 
shade of blue. 

I think I might really miss some 
aspects of this when the world goes 
back to it's normal industrious self.