I\’m back at it. It\’s such a drag having to return to work.

Naturally there are my concerns about COVID-19. Among the pains-in-the-neck about that is: hand washing. The water in the restrooms is cold! When things are operating normally, there are a lot more people in the building; the restrooms get used a lot more; and as the day goes on, the water starts to warm up.

But for the better part of a year, we\’ve been at a much-reduced capacity. The water faucets don\’t get run as much, and thus the water doesn\’t warm up. The faucets are also the heat-sensor type, and shut off when you move your hands away.

On top of that, it can be just plain cold in the building. I keep an old pair of half-fingered cycling gloves at my desk so that my hands can get a bit of relief from the chill; but I have to wear a heavy sweater and sometimes more! Sometimes I even have to wear a head covering.

I know that some staff members keep small electric heaters at their desks; but in the past those heaters have caused short-outs that knock out computers. Without computers, there\’s not much we can do.

Getting to work, either by walking or riding a bicycle, lets my body warm up somewhat; but that wears off quite quickly after I\’ve stopped moving. I can\’t keep warm by hopping around at my work station. My handwriting is bad enough without that!

News reports about spikes in COVID cases have had me wondering since Hallowe\’en how soon my workplace might shut down. A closure wouldn\’t surprise me at all. I\’m back at it; but for how long?