The Lockdown Ensues.

 Forth time lucky?

After the second one it was promised to us that it would be the last one...famous last words. So, here we are in the midst of the forth lockdown. A final push over the finish line or just a temporary slow down?

Well, since the government announced on Friday that we were to enter into this lockdown and coupled with it the mandatory vaccinations come February next year, the number of  people going to get vaccinated has increased tremendously. Fabulous and perhaps the upcoming mandatory vaccination will become a theoretical deadline. Maybe most of Austria will be vaccinated well before then. Everyone wants to take part in the various Christmas activities and they do require the full vaccination status. Let's hope the government's strategy works out.

The roads are wonderfully devoid of gas guzzlers making the air revert to air again. Well sort of because now that coldness has arrived in full force, the fireplaces are going full throttle causing a hazy smog to hover in the mornings. At least the car exhaust fumes are a bit less at the moment.

Earlier while out on my walk I encountered a nice older lady who was motoring along with her nordic sticks and joy de vivre. She is close to ninety and has had enough bad ailments lately that would make others bedridden. Not her, she makes a concerted effort to exercise as much as she can. Brilliant.

With ample distance between us we had a nice chat. She is of a generation that lived through the war and knows what going without means. Being hungry and not having everything one wants. She can't understand how vaccinations have become such a point of disagreement. If people only knew what real hardship was ( and that it could happen again ) they would treat this pandemic differently and do the right thing to end lockdowns and infections.

She told me of an uncle of hers that worked in the fields right after the war. Times were so tough that at the end of his workday he would go over the harvested fields and shuffle his feet through the dry earth hoping to maybe unearth a forgotten lone potato or two to take home to the family. Being hungry and having to go without changes one's whole approach and appreciation of life and how to approach serious problems such as a corona pandemic..

Biggi