Today was one of those days where nothing went really wrong, but also nothing really went - it feels like I've not gotten around to anything I had planned to do, the list of things to do only growing and not shrinking.

It's been a non-sunny, rather drab day outside as well. Not bad, but also not really good. We're going to do a little round on the bike now, to keep our sanity and our health up, something we've found is utterly important in these times. These times, which are about to become interesting, or even more interesting, again. Here in Germany, hairdressers have opened since about the first of March, and as of today, if the numbers are "low" enough and "stable" enough, other shops are also allowed to open. I can't actually tell you the exact rules for what is allowed to open where and under what circumstances - but I can tell you that all the openings are allowed for incidence numbers way above the fabled 35.

Germany measures things in cases per 100.000 inhabitants in the last 7 days, and 35 was decreed as the first threshold, after which measures should be taken. That was a long, long while ago, back when the first wave had ebbed off. Back then, some of the scientists already said that it would be a rather high number for that first threshold, and that 20 would be way better. Now, as it is quite certain that we won't reach 35  - or in some cases even 50! - without a real, proper shutdown, there has been a change of heart, or of whatever, and now things are suddenly possible and no problem in the range of 50, or up to 100. The reason given is that "we have quicktests now! we can test! We can use a test strategy to make openings possible!" Well, if that strategy is about as good and solid as the vaccination strategy hereabouts...

So. We're opening things, and are taking back measures for curbing the spread of the virus, at a point in time when our numbers are not falling anymore, but already rising again. Slowly yet, but rising - this is almost exactly what happened back in autumn and before Christmas. On top of this, the more aggressive variants of the virus are definitely on the rise here, according to virus DNA tests... so my pessimistic self is just waiting for numbers to explode again, and for the next "lockdown" to happen, again way too late and way too lax to get things under control for a good while, and another Easter without friends and family.

Sigh. I would really like to go bouldering again, and sit in a café outside, and meet with friends... but the way it looks here right now? That's not going to happen anytime soon.

Oh, yes, and I do know that today's International Women's Day... but I'm not going to rant about that, too. Feel free to help out with that in the comments, though, if you feel like it!

If you're using WhatsApp as a messenger service, you've probably seen the message about a change in how personal data will be used and/or processed in the near future, and the prompt to accept this before a given date, or lose your access to WA. The new use of personal data, however, includes permission to share data with Facebook.

Now, for those of us living in Germany, the actual use of data (or what WA is allowed to do with it) will not change significantly, thanks to the DSGVO. I do know that I've groaned about having to jump through a few hoops due to this in the past, especially since not much actually did change - but overall, yes, it's a good thing (and I think I did state that, too, amidst all my groaning).

Regardless, it's not a really good change what WA is planning, and they have more leeway with personal data in other countries, and obviously also plan to use that. So what can you do if you are not happy with having your things passed on to Facebook? There's always the possibility to use a different messenger, of course... such as Signal, Threema, or Telegram.

I had all three on my phone even before the WA announcement, due to different parts of our circle of friends being on one of the services and, due to some reason or other, refusing to use another one.

After the announcement, there's been a kind of WhatsApp Exodus in Germany. So to my rather great amusement, I've had messages on all three of the other services pop up that "XYZ is now using WhatNot!"

The only downside to this? It's getting really hard to remember who is on what messenger service now!

There were heavy snowfalls in Germany yesterday, and there was a little more snow also today, and it's rather cold outside at the moment with the prediction of even lower temperatures during the next few days.

The snow that came down turned everything here into a winter wonderland - it looks really, really pretty!



There's little heaps or cockscombs of snow on every twig and branch. Of course, there's also snow on every willow withy that has not been cut yet:



and it will need to get warmer again before we can continue harvesting; it should be above 0°C for the cutting. For now, though, we enjoy the funny contrast between the cut and the uncut bits, both looking very nice:



Thank goodness we're living in an area that is getting snow regularly and so the logistics are in place to cope, as in there's vehicles to clear the streets. People also tend to know how to drive a car in wintery conditions. We cycled to our milk dispenser yesterday, to get milk, eggs, and a few (blue) potatoes, and there were a few spots on the way where we were really glad about our studded tyres. With those and appropriate clothes, winter cycling really is fun, even if it takes a bit longer and is rather more strenuous in snow and on ice than on clear roads.

Traffic-wise, things are not looking so good in some other parts of Germany, where the snowfall has led to delays or cancellation of public transport, and to some spectacularly bad traffic jam, with people trapped in their cars for hours.

The reason for the cold spell, by the way, is air from the polar zones coming down south... which is linked to global warming. Changes in overall temperature lead to changes in the polar vortices, which are air currents around the pole, which means the cold air isn't contained there anymore, and thus comes to visit... so having winters with hard cold spells is just the opposite of what one would suspect at first glance.

Well. At least the snow we're getting out of this right now is pretty.

 

There's another EXARC Textile Chat taking place this Saturday at 15:00 Amsterdam time. This month, the topic is "colour" - to brighten up all our days, something very welcome in this rather colourless time of year.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="393"] The image that goes with the Textile Chat session... clicking it should bring you to the event info page.


If you're not familiar with this event yet: It's an informal text chat on the EXARC discord channel, where anyone interested in historical textiles is welcome to join in (or just lurk, if you prefer). You can read more about how to join in on the EXARC website for the event.

So, the state of things? It looks like we're all stuck in a new lockdown at the moment, end: unclear. At least that's the case for Germany, where we're all pretty sure that the lockdown-like thing we currently have will not be ending with January, but continue on. Politicians have not mentioned anything resembling a hint towards a possible end date yet; I think there's enough insecurity about what to do by now, and insecurity about whether the current measures taken are enough or not.

We're still getting very high numbers, and they are still deemed "not reliable" due to the holidays and weekends. Though we're two weeks into the new year, there were the Christmas holidays, then there was a sunday, then New Year (which is a bank holiday here), then right after it the weekend, then two theoretically normal workdays followed by a bank holiday at Epiphany, then two workdays, then the weekend. All this means we're actually in the first full, normal work week since Christmas right now, and according to some of the communications coming from the RKI (Germany's centre for the Numbers of Doom), there's still some catching up being done. Plus there was less testing over the past few weeks, with a very high positive rate in the tests done.

All of this means we have no clue how things stand. Apart from, obviously, not being very good. There's more than a thousand deaths daily these days, and some regions have 7-day incidence counts of more than 500. There's less home officing than in the spring lockdown, though, which may play a part in numbers not falling, along with (of course) anything pandemic-spready done during Xmas and New Year.

At least vaccination has started, and of course there's a lot of bitching about this or that not working right, or it all not going fast enough, or whatever. We're in Germany, after all, where complaining is an art form and must always be done if there is any possibility at all. Me and the Most Patient Husband of Them All are in the last of the six priority tiers that Germany has; my gran, on the other hand, with her scant 99 years of age, has gotten her first shot last Saturday, while my dad (who technically is also in tier 1) with his 80 years was still "too young" and has to wait a bit longer. It would have been more efficient (and, if you ask me, more sensible) to give both of them and my Mum their shots at the same time, since it's one household and my mum takes care of my gran (theoretically lifting her into tier 1 even though age-wise she's tier 2), but they seem to do things strictly by age in their district. Which may not be the smartest or most efficient thing, but at least it's making the decisions on who gets the shots at what time easier, and hard to argue with if you're younger and thus have to wait a bit.

And now I've complained enough to prove that yes, I'm a German! Because at least things are rolling, and people are getting shots, and the politicians are thinking about what to do if the current restrictions do not cut the cheese. Case in point: Bavaria's head-of-substate Söder, who has decreed that FFP2-masks are compulsory when in shops and public transport in Bavaria, starting on Monday. That came out yesterday (or was it day before yesterday?) - so it's fairly short notice, and these masks are not really cheap (somewhere between 1,50 and 5 €, or so). There's been a lot of talk about this, and lots of complaints. Nobody knows whether it will make a dint in the numbers yet - but that's the thing: We're running out of "soft" options, and out of some of the harder ones too. Schools are already closed. Businesses (apart from retail of non-essential stuff) are still open; closing all those down is one of the really hard options left. More home office would be a thing, and it's in the talks. Some hotspots get restricted to a 15 km radius of movement, measured from the settlement's limits (which is still a very, very large area). But otherwise? There's not too much left, so exploring whether better personal protection helps is, I think, not the most stupid of actions.

Here's hoping it will help, and that numbers will get lower soon.

So Brexit has happened - with a last-minute deal, at least that. I'd fully been expecting it to be a no-deal hard Brexit, after all the to and fro and inabilities, or unwillingness, to settle on all kinds of things.

The way it's now, though, is bad enough. These days, it will require a passport, which I'd need to get (I have no clue where my old one is stashed, but since it's been years and years since I last needed it, I'm sure it's been expired for ages anyways), and taking home some delicious foodstuffs as souvenirs, like we always did, is out. You can't even take a ham sandwich for your own consumption into the EU from the UK anymore. With the pandemic still in full swing everywhere, though (and looking at the numbers, lovely London is one of the last places I'd want to travel to right now), it does look like it might be a while until we go to Britain again for a holiday anyways.

Much worse than waiting for a while to return to one of our favourite countries for our own fun and leisure, though, are the work-related aspects of the Brexit - and those also hit me personally, and to my great dismay.

As of January 1, I will unfortunately not be able to sell goods to the UK anymore. So I'm now shipping worldwide... with the exception of the UK. Seriously, it's easier and less hassle to ship wool to Australia now than to sell anything to the UK. Why? Your answer has two words: No Threshold.

All countries except UK have an import threshold, which means that as long as you only sell and ship small amounts of things, with a limited overall value, to said country, you do not need to register for VAT there. You pay the taxes in your own country, and that's it. At some point, when you export much more than the tiny fish like me do, you'll need to register in the other country; but below the threshold, it's considered to be just not worth the paperwork and hassle and time consumed on all sides.

Brexit Britain does not see it like this. They have ruled that there is no threshold, which means that as soon as you sell to GB for just one single penny, you will have to register for VAT there. Registration and being in the register may or may not mean a fee incurred, but even if it's free, it would mean I'd need to fill out extra paperwork every quarter year, sales or no sales.

That in itself would be a hassle, but one I'd still consider. Now comes the clincher, though. If I make any sales, I need to pay the VAT to a British account, which means a bank transfer from EU to non-EU and with a currency change inbetween. That means that in the very best case, I pay a currency conversion fee plus close to 10 € for the bank transfer itself. In the worst case, bank transfer fee is about 40 €. For one single transfer! So if I sell stuff to the UK for 10 €, I send 2 € to the UK and pay somewhere between 10 and 40+ € to my bank for this privilege.

Is that ridiculous, or is it ridiculous? So that means I'll not sell things there from my shop anymore. Should there be a change in UK policy, I'll obviously reconsider - also if someone decides to buy half my shop stock, racking up an enormous bill that would make me a rich woman at once, I'll reconsider. Until then, though... good-bye, shipments across the Channel.

I'm very, very sorry that I have to do that, especially as Britain is a place I really love. Here's hoping things will get better again in the future, and easier for small traders like me - not because I'm getting less revenue with no orders from the country, but because I can imagine how heartbreaking and sad it must be if you live there, and would like to have nice things from across the borders, and the people making and selling these nice things just can't send them with reasonable terms...

Since 2020 gifted us with the curious thing that is the pandemic, I've been following the news. With mixed results - on the one hand, I am happy that I have more of a clue now of what's going on in the world; on the other hand, I sometimes get really depressed about all the bad news that are coming in from everywhere, from all areas of life.

A side effect of this is realising how little from the things happening in other countries actually arrive in the newsfeed of one's own one. Mostly because of international conferences - especially NESAT and the European Textile Forum - I have contacts in a handful of  other countries, and occasionally I get a snippet of news from there which is interesting, but not "important" enough to make it to German news.

So here's a current German thing that might make it to your newsfeed if you're outside the country, or it might not: the Sophie Scholl incident.

We're having troublesome protests against the anti-Corona measurements that the government is taking. These have been going on for months, and it's not troublesome per se that some people think all this pandemic is a scam (that is their right, as of German law) and say it out loud (also their right) and go stand and scream about it on the street in groups (also their right). The troublesome thing is that some fractions from the extreme Right have more or less appropriated these protests and are trying to undermine our democracy - the same one that protects, to great costs, their right to freely state their opinion. We're talking Nazis here. Fascists. And you find them right at the tip of the organisation that calls itself "Querdenker" (lateral thinkers).

Recent protests organised by these "Querdenker" have blatantly ignored the requirements for protests in the current situation (wearing masks and keeping distances, and a maximum of participants in a given area, and so on). These requirements are stated when you register for a protest - which you have to, in Germany, if you're planning a mass event. That is not new, by the way. People in these protests have also acted aggressively against the police, with several policepeople hurt in different protests. They are getting more and more violent, and those actually thinking (not laterally) are getting more and more concerned, and also a good bit scared. One of the big questions is also: Why do the people who are not right-wing fascist Nazi arseholes protest together with said arseholes, if they are trying to protest for peace and freedom? It's not like it would have been really hard to tell that there were lots of them present.

The latest thing, though, seems to have brought some people to actually re-think what is happening here. A 22-year-old woman from Kassel held a little speech that was caught on video, and has gone viral since. Young Jana told the people present who she is, what her age is, and that she feels like Sophie Scholl because she's been active protesting for months now, handing out flyers and is now even registering protests such as this one! Following that, one of the "Ordner" (a steward, usually someone from within or close to the organisation that runs the protest) came up to her, said "I'm not going to be steward for this bullshit any longer" and handed her his steward's vest. "This is belittling the Holocaust. It's bullshit." After that, Jana from Kassel rage-quit the stage.

This incident has inspired lots and lots of memes by now, and rightly so. Many people are making it clear that this is complete bullshit, indeed - Jana has been handing out some flyers and is protesting the necessity to wear a piece of cloth over her mouth and nose when she goes into a shop. Sophie Scholl tried to stop the Nazi dictator regime and lost her life for it. That she actually compared herself to Sophie shows that Jana has absolutely, absolutely nothing in common with Sophie Scholl, but that she is a petulant self-entitled stupid youngster.

It has, hopefully, at least shown a few more people that what is happening on those protests is not a good thing, and that there's too many too right-wing people in there, trying to use all the others for their own purposes. After some of the protests were rather violent, at least one that was planned (in Munich) has been forbidden, too.

So we'll see what will happen now, and how things will develop. Not least thanks to people disregarding the anti-Corona measurements and meeting up in huge groups, incidence numbers here in Germany are still way, way too high, and we're looking at increased restrictions through to the mid of January right now - probably with some special rules for Christmas, but nothing is settled yet.

Well. We do indeed live in interesting times...