Interesting Times.

We're certainly, certainly living in interesting times right now. What I'm currently taking home from all this is a) how lucky I am, and b) how fragile our world and society can be.

I remember border controls from my childhood and youth. They were an added bit of excitement when travelling to another country, but they also always had a tiny drop of scariness. What if they would not let us pass?

After Schengen, after Europe grew together so much that border controls were abolished, every time I passed a border I was filled with wonder that this was possible, that I could just cross over, no questions asked, no passports checked. Even the money stayed the same! That sense of wonder held on, even though simultaneously I started to be annoyed by the passport controls when travelling into Britain. (They were Europe too, after all! Ah well, that is another topic for another day...)

Now the borders are closed again, all over Europe. All countries are trying to slow down the spread of COVID-19, and one of the steps is reducing travel - which has suddenly turned into something potentially dangerous instead of something totally normal, safe, and potentially delightful.

Yesterday morning, Bavaria has declared state of emergency; shops will close, as will gyms and other social spaces. It's a weird kind of danger, invisible and creeping and transmitted by fellow humans; way less obvious a danger than a physical attack or other war-like actions. Nonetheless, it is a danger, one to us all, and one that everyone should take seriously. Even if it feels weird.

This pandemic is changing our world, and it will surely change what happens in future. It has already cut an impressive trench through my calendar... there will be no NESAT this year, no wool fairs in spring, I won't be visiting my family for my mum's birthday this weekend, and I suspect there will be much more gardening time this year than ever before.

Free travel will come back - of that, I am sure. A small, optimistic part of me even thinks that maybe we'll manage to think things over while we are cutting down on our voyaging and manage to turn things into a bit more sustainable tracks when we're re-establishing our routes, at some point in the future... which, I suspect, won't be before summer.

Be safe, everyone. Take care of your loved ones - which might mean calling them and encouraging them to stay home, if they are part of the risk group. If you're still healthy, consider going to donate blood; this is going to be increasingly scarce in the next days and weeks. We're going to get through this, and the more each of us keeps their distance in the next two weeks, the better.