Abroad

It’s been a while, hasn’t it. It’s amazing how little there has been to write about, given the absolute disaster this year has turned out to be. The problem being that nothing has actually happened that’s not on such a grand scale it seems churlish to try to talk about it on my lowly blog. I don’t really subscribe to birthdays in the general way, but I turn 25 on Monday, which still feels like it should be happening with more fanfare than it is.

I have, temporarily, fled the country for a questionably advisable junket to Dresden and Berlin. On the way here, I have seen first hand the differences between the coronavirus responses in different countries. From Edinburgh airport’s adventure lines to Schiphol’s “let’s just shove all the people from this plane on one tiny bus” and the German government’s full page tracking form, the lack of consistency is astounding given the apparent seriousness of the threat and how important it is that the advice is clear.

So here I am, back in my natural habitat of a train, albeit with a very fetching face mask, heading south. I know where I am with trains in this part of the world now, thank goodness. Flying always makes me nervous. Not the actual flying bit, but the “getting to and from the airport”, “clearing security and borders” and “making sure to eat” bits.

The Dutch border control (Koninklijke Marechaussee) agent who admitted me to the Schengen area earlier asked a question which wound me up more than it should’ve: are you nervous or something? The answer was yes, not for anything nefarious but because as far as I see it if you’re travelling at the moment and are not slightly nervous you’re probably doing it wrong. The shifting sands of what is and isn’t a good idea in this climate have felt like they were about to slide straight out from under my feet over the last few weeks. As things can change with little warning and with non-obvious messaging, my inner panicker has had a field day.

…‘the past,’ they say, ‘is now truly like a foreign country. They do things exactly the same there

‘Life, The Universe, and Everything’ by Douglas Adams

I’m here for a week. Hopefully I’ll be allowed back…