Split Decision: Ready to get back to some normalcy?
Gov. Phil Murphy gave the go-ahead for indoor dining and other performance venues to resume on Sept. 4.
Indoor dining will be allowed for the first time since mid-March at 25% capacity, Murphy said. Restaurants may open indoors at 6 a.m. Friday.
“Our goal is to ensure this step is done properly,” Murphy said during a press conference Monday afternoon.
And then Murphy added these words of caution.
“We all know this pandemic isn’t over yet.”
Dining out remains a personal pleasure although COVID-19 concerns limited outdoor eating to just six visits, twice at Rossi’s Bar & Grill in Hamilton, twice at Pura Vida Restaurant in Trenton, Maryland Crab Seafood House in Ewing and Plaza Tapatia in Asbury Park — all fantastic venues.
For the record, Plaza Tapatia ended a perfect late-day summer date — on beach by 6 p.m., dinner at 8; home by 10.
Enjoyed eating outdoors as the experience resembled camping, minus the tents, sleeping bags and mosquitoes.
Still, nothing compared to meals made inside my own kitchen, especially salads that included many vegetables picked fresh from a backyard garden.
No major rush for a return to indoor dining or movie theaters. Missed most? Passage Theatre in Trenton’s Mill Hill section and Princeton’s McCarter Theatre.
Miss the live performances and excitement of opening night. Theatre resembles boarding a rocket ship with several hundred passengers destined for exhilaration of creation.
Had planned a first concert together with my son in Philadelphia but coronavirus fears canceled or postponed Todd Rundgren at The Fillmore.
How did we survive summer without the ten free Levitt Amp Music Series concerts in Mill Hill Park and a physical visit to Art All Night?
Time and a vaccine will create our new normal but there’s no rush to move back inside.
Not confident that health officials understand COVID-19 completely. Murphy’s Law and insight haunts.
“We all know this pandemic isn’t over yet.”