Youngsters get a chance to play outdoors again

The ongoing health pandemic, which continues to play hob with all manner of daily life, has had an unintended outcome here in the suburbs.

Kids are outside playing in the neighborhood streets again, cavorting for all the world like we’re back in the innocent days of the 1950s.

That’s right, the youngsters, bored to death by stay-at-home orders and other tough health/safety mandates (and missing their pals in the bargain), have headed out into the fresh air to find some relief.

The youngsters, all of them below high school age, are riding bicycles, roller skating, inline skating and skateboarding, you name it.

Often, they are doing so in friendly packs.

For the most part, they aren’t wearing masks.

Is that a problem? That’s a hard question to answer at this delicate point.

You read varying opinions on the subject.

In the grand balancing act confronting one and all, having kids playing and exercising unorganized and outside doesn’t seem to be a terrible trade-off if the alternative is more computer or TV screen time indoors.

I’m cutting them some slack (and carefully avoiding them for sure) as they face the depressing prospect of more sedentary online learning at home later this month.

Ticklish tootsies

Small pleasures tend to stick with us, no matter how far back they go. Back in the day, visitors to the main beach at Coyote Point in San Mateo could avail themselves of a particularly unique exercise.

According to a reader who pointed out the memorable practice recently via a Facebook post, there was a time when folks could dangle their delicate tootsies in the bay waters and allow tiny baby sharks to nibble them to their heart’s content.

Some species of bay sharks, it should be noted, lay eggs. Evidence of the abandoned egg shells in the bay shallows became an alert mechanism for those intent on a harmless toe-related baby shark experience.

Ah, those innocent days gone by. Gotta love ‘em. Oh, and one note regarding the bay sharks: Great Whites are not part of the aquatic equation in that body of water; so toe-nibbling was (is) not a dangerous recreation. Safety first.

Dental delight unused

With virus-caused rules and recommendations still hamstringing all of us in one way or another, it’s worth noting that a steady diet of selfisolation, social distancing and a focused avoidance of any hint of being in a crowd at all costs, human contact is too often at a bare minimum.

Which brings up a pathetic confession: The highlight of last month was a scheduled visit to my dentist in San Mateo. With no social life to speak of, it was surprisingly uplifting to allow the diligent hygienist to have her way with my vulnerable gums.

Such is the result of personal paranoia in the age of the pandemic.

Induction postponed

The 2020 Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony has been postponed until next year due to the ongoing virus outbreak.

The event, which made its debut in 1989, is presented by the San Mateo County Historical Association. A date for the 2021 induction affair is expected to be announced early next year.

John Horgan’s column appears weekly. Contact him by email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.