When my alarm went off this morning, I legit thought it was Monday and was dragging myself out of bed to get ready to go to work. Fortunately I realized my mistake as I woke up, so drank some water and went back to bed. YAY HOLIDAY WEEKEND!
It does seem weird that time is flying so fast, but maybe that is because I have a lot going on. Some of it is under the surface, not to be seen just yet, but some of it is simply trying to get back into the groove of writing every day and, I dunno, have hope again? What a strange couple of years it’s been.
Since I went back to bed, we did not actually get up and about until 8:30 a.m. again, which is so shockingly late for us! But it did mean the weather warmed up over 45°F, making for a pleasant and sunny walk. As we got to the far side of the cottages, I noticed for the first time just how decrepit a local landmark has become. 
New Times Buffet seems to have become a victim of the pandemic, although that was a long time coming. The place looks trashed — you can’t see it well in the photo, but there is literal trash all along the building, and broken terracotta vases. The windows all used to be covered over, but the wood had been pulled down.
It’s always struck me as a very odd restaurant, a relic of the cold war era or maybe the depressing beige 1970s. It primarily served the tourist buses that passed through town, but that was already waning due to the highways and then Golden Corral opened up in, what, 2015 or so? So business was already nosediving and the place was getting sketchier and sketchier as time went on, until it slammed into the pandemic and subsequent lockdown.
Golden Corral opened back up over the summer, and is fairly busy which honestly baffles me, less because the food is terrible than, you know, pandemic? But all the restaurants are packed full in the evenings as Florida continues with the high body count and the complete lack of accountability. *shakes head*
I’ll be surprised if these erstwhile “renovations” (and I use the term loosely, looks more like it’s being stripped for scrap) take and the place opens back up.