Men’s Club Update:
Passing Time in the Pandemic
BY HOWARD ARKIN
As I was writing this arti-cle
in May, I came to the
realization of how long it
had been since social distancing
measures had been in place. At
the time, we were just about in-to
the 50th day of the Covid-19
lockdown. When we were in-formed
that there would be heavy
restrictions on the things we are
all so used to doing routinely, I
never would have imagined myself
holding up as well as I have been,
even now, many weeks later.
Howard and Janette are dining in!
Weekend breakfasts at Junior’s
Bagels in Bayside, not to mention
the three weekly breakfast meetings
at Buffy’s Diner, would have to be
put on the back burner for a while.
The frequent Sunday visits to my
daughter and son in law’s Roslyn
home, where I also spend time with
my grandchildren, would no longer
be on our schedule. I knew that
Janette and I would be spending
much more time in our apartment.
Would there still be enough for us
to talk about after all these years?
So far so good!
Technology has definitely been
one way to feel involved, connect-ed,
and less lonely during this pan-demic.
In April, Steve Auerbach
had introduced the Men’s Club to
a web-based video conferencing
app program known as Zoom. For
those of you who are not familiar
with Zoom, it is an app that can be
accessed through an iPhone, iPad,
or computer that allows users to
meet online, with or without vid-eo.
Zoom has proven to be quite
beneficial to many. The iPhone
has also been of great assistance.
My calls seem to be longer and
more frequent. Covid-19 has even
given me the opportunity to renew
some old acquaintances and I can
actually see them too if I use the
Zoom app.
Remember: We meet every
Monday and Thursday in your
living room at 11 am. You will
get to talk to and see some faces
that you might still remember. Call
Steve Auerbach at 917-434-4822
or Howard Arkin at 718-640-5776
for information about getting on
to Zoom.
Never having been much of a
reader, books would most likely
not be of much help to me. The
television, iPad, iPhone and my
laptop, however, have been a few
reliable allies that would help me
through these trying times.
I must admit that I thought
television would be my primary
weapon in passing the time, and
so it has. Watching movies has
been a great form of entertain-ment.
HBO (thank you, North
Shore Towers!), Netflix and TCM
have provided great assistance
and taken up much of my time.
And if you have a Smart TV and
press the YouTube app, you can
spend hours viewing footage of
films from the late 1890’s to the
present.
Being a history buff, I’ve
watched events ranging from
the San Francisco earthquake
to a concert performed in 1942
by the Berlin Philharmonic.
Watching the audience applaud-ing
as the concert concluded, I
found no solace in knowing that
many of them would meet their
demise within the next three
years. Watching the last game of
the 1952 World Series, complete
with Gillette razor commercials,
proved to be much more uplifting
viewing.
On May 8, which was the
75th anniversary of VE Day, all
of the networks had segments
covering that event. My thoughts
wandered back to 1945 as I
contemplated how we would
have handled the same Covid-19
crisis that we are facing today.
The food supply would not have
flowed to us as readily as it has
today. A&P, Bohack’s, and if
you were lucky enough to live in
the Bronx, Ditches, would not
have been able to provide the
services that a current chain like
ShopRite has. News of the crisis
would have been limited to what
you heard on your table model
Zenith radio. The Daily News
and The Mirror, or if you were
more sophisticated, The New
York Times and Herald Tribune,
could also tell you what was
going on. Some of us may not
have even had telephones as a
form of communication.
To commemorate VE day on
May 8, TCM showed the 1954
film The Last Time I Saw Paris
starring Van Johnson and a 22
year old Elizabeth Taylor, pos-sibly
the most beautiful woman
that ever lived, with Janette Arkin
a close second (as this is being
written on Mother’s Day, I’ll
consider the last sentence your
gift. Remember, I was unable to
get out!).
If anyone has any interesting
stories regarding their home
isolation, please email them to
Howard Arkin @jnemacs10@
aol.com and perhaps we can get
them into some future issues of
the Courier.
The North Shore Towers
Courier encourages your stories,
so please send them to Howard.
The deadline for submissions is
the 15th of each month. We look
forward to hearing from you! ~
Editor 30 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ July 2020
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