Good morning. Errands get us out of our homes and into the world, on missions providing both serendipity and satisfaction.
Making roundsWeekends are the province of the errand, the little voyages we take to pick up things and get things done. Contrast the errand with the chore: Chores are domestic obligations, performed at home. The errand is an excursion with a purpose. In Old English, an “aerend” was a message or mission; an angel was an aerendgast, or messenger-ghost, divinely sent to perform a sacred duty. Running errands is satisfying in a way so much else in our lives isn’t. We wander out into the world with a map to follow — stop here to drop off the dry cleaning, now, to replace the watch battery, to the supermarket, the pet food store — and when we complete the route, our work is done. The metrics for success are clear and achievable. Each episode of the social-media show “Errands” accompanies someone on their angel’s mission. My colleague Alex Vadukul recently tagged along with the show’s creator, Noah Blau, as he filmed an episode featuring the comedian Ivy Wolk, on a mission to buy an air-conditioner window unit and install it in her apartment. Wolk distilled why a show so apparently mundane has become popular. “Beauty is found in the minutiae, and the things that are banal are often the most interesting,” she said. “It’s those in-between moments of life where growth and realization happen.” The genius of “Errands” (I watched every episode in one feverish gulp) is how it provides a window into the personalities and preoccupations of its subjects. A stranger appears and announces today’s errand. Then we’re privy to their internal monologues as they carry out the mission, the serendipitous run-ins and pit stops they make along the way. The episodes are just a couple of minutes long and waste no time on introductions or establishing scenes. We’re passengers for typically private expeditions, instantly thrust into someone’s personal life. Even when his subjects don’t accomplish the errand, Blau told Alex, the concept still works. “The show is about: I set out to do something, and did I accomplish it? So as mundane as the errand might be, everyone understands that feeling.” When visiting friends, it’s a treat to see the highlights of their hometown, but I always find it more interesting to run errands with them, to see how they live when I’m not around. What do they listen to in the car, what’s their hardware store like, who do they run into in the produce aisle? Other people’s errands are revealing of their actual day-to-day lives, not the performed existence — our best restaurant! — that gets presented for company. You might, if you’re running your own errands today, enlist someone to join you. In a recent piece in The Times, experts told my colleague Dana G. Smith that running errands with a friend might help increase longevity. “The reality of midlife is that it can be hard to carve out time for yourself,” Dana writes, “let alone coordinate schedules with another busy friend.” Regardless of which stage of life you’re in, why not make your first stop picking up a friend you haven’t caught up with in a while? On the other hand, I have a friend who loves errands because they’re “excuses to not be with other people,” a rare break from family duties. She praises the “soft-touch socialization” you get while out and about: the salesperson you chat with before going on your way, the neighbor you catch up with when you run into them at the dump. I cherish the connective tissue of errands, when you’re between stops, driving or walking. Bursts of activity followed by respites of solitude, each stop its own tidy episode. Errands get us out of our own homes and out into the world. It’s tempting to hibernate on weekends, to stay in and recharge. But the errand allows us to, as Virginia Woolf wrote, “become part of that vast republican army of anonymous trampers, whose society is so agreeable after the solitude of one’s own room.”
Trump Administration
More Politics
Around the World
Other Big Stories
Film and TV
Music
More Culture
Deeply reported journalism needs your support. The Times relies on subscribers to help fund our mission. Become a subscriber today.
Fruit CrumbleBurbling with sweet, syrupy juices and topped with a nutty, chai spice-flavored streusel (that happens to be gluten-free), Genevieve Ko’s fruit crumble can be made with any fresh fruit you have in abundance: summer’s berries and stone fruit, or fall's apples and pears. Or feel free to use frozen berries all year long. It’s a lovely, crowd-pleasing dessert no matter when you bake it.
We’ve made these links free for you.
The Hunt: After their rent ballooned, a young couple searched some of Miami’s walkable neighborhoods for a single-family house or townhome where they could start a family. What did they choose? Play our game. What you get for $1 million in Costa Rica: A Bali-inspired villa with expansive sea views, a four-bedroom overlooking the Pacific Ocean and a contemporary home in the rainforest canopy. Pick your favorite: These homes in Oregon City, Ore., St. Louis and Birmingham, Ala., are on the market for $575,000. Which would you choose?
|
