An unexpectedly quiet New Years Eve – Hikes during the first days of the year – Mental benefits of hiking – Another instance of trop de zèle – Evening statistics
COVID is undeniably still with us. On New Years Eve I dined with KT at a restaurant in Cleveland Park. I was expecting a good deal of traffic along the streets and a noisy crowd indoors. Instead, hardly any cars passed by during the 1-mile walk from the station to the restaurant, and the restaurant itself, though not empty by any means, was not filled to capacity and we were able to eat in quiet. Few of the houses showed signs of party-going and the Metro had few passengers, even though fares were waived for all Metro travel after 8:00. It was quite startling to see the city so subdued on what is ordinarily a holiday of elaborate celebration.
Yesterday a group of us hiked together in Riverbend. Here there was no shortage of people. The weather was unusually warm for the time of year, and bright and clear in addition; so many were taking advantage of the day to enjoy the views of the Potomac along the Potomac Heritage Trail. Afterwards we converged at the house of DC and JM; and here, at least, celebratory food and wine flowed in abundance.
And today I went with the Wanderbirds to Difficult Run, where we did a loop through the Great Falls and Riverbend parks. The falls were a splendid sight, the waters having swelled after the amount of rain received over the past several days.
It appears that, independently of the physical benefits one obtains from hiking on trails such as these, there are mental benefits as well. According to some studies, the Japanese practice of Shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing,” improves one’s outlook on life, enhances attention span and memory retention, and reduces stress levels. The root cause may, after all, be a straightforward one: quite simply, exercising out of doors is much more enjoyable than exercising in a gym.
Bernie Sanders, who has pushed the Democratic Party to expand access for health care, claimed in a CNN interview that 85 million Americans are without any kind of health insurance. His zeal for promoting a higher standard of medical care is understandable, but inflated claims such as these are more likely to undermine his cause rather than promote it. In actual fact, the number is closer to 27.4 million – not an insignificant amount, certainly, but about 8.7% of the population as opposed to well over 25%. Then again, when has any American politician been required to adhere to the facts?
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 665,546,183; # of deaths worldwide: 6,699,015; # of cases U.S.: 102,686,752; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,118,478.