Cabin Fever

CABIN FEVER

Cabin Fever: distress, irritability, restlessness and/or claustrophobia resulting from prolonged periods in enclosed spaces or isolated places.

Yes, you're bored to the teeth with corona, apart from being stuck indoors for long periods, there is nothing much else going on. It's wall- to- wall corona on TV and almost everywhere else.

Well, sorry but here we go again. One fascinating aspects of this crisis is that we are all in it together, not equally it's true, but we are nearly all affected. The last time I heard there were only 17 countries claiming to have no infections, four of these nobody believes, leaving just 13, mainly small island nations in the Pacific Ocean, corona free. The rest of us are experiencing some form of lockdown and/or social distancing.

Anna and Fred (Greece) wonder if the cure will turn out to be worse than the disease? In the mountainous region on the mainland where they live the population is mostly elderly and is already living on or below poverty level. They fear that the damage to the fragile local economy will cause more hardship and death than the pandemic. Their small company provides hiking holidays -  they have spent the first lockdown weeks cancelling all the arrangements they had made for what promised to be a good season!

On the lighter side, they added, in their tiny village the authorities have fenced off the square to prevent the six inhabitatants, all elderly, from getting together to organise parties, festivals or demonstrations during lockdown !?

Lali and her family (Georgia) live in Ushguli the highest permanently inhabited village in Europe. “We're alright ” she said, conversations are not long due to the language difficulties. 

I have no doubt that the people of Ushguli will survive. They are strong, independant mountain people who are used to being cut-off from the rest of the world for long periods. In living memory travellers were advised to avoid this bandit infested area. Now tourist hand over their money willingly providing the villagers with a fair amount of extra income. Lali has recently extended her guesthouse, “ there are no corona cases in the area but we don't know when or if we will be opening for the summer season”? She added sadly.

Similarily the people of Breb, Romania, are used to a degree of isolation. “It's just like an extended winter” said Irena who together with Radu runs an open-air bar and restaurant next to the campsite where we have helped out the last few summers. Now Matthijs, Eveline and their children have the whole campground to themselves. Good place to be in a serious lockdown – not so good for business! The campsite, restaurant and other small scale tourist and hospitality initiatives are an important part of the village economy.

Cees and Sylvie (France) have discussions not about who has to do the shopping but who is allowed to do it. During the strict French lockdown a trip to the supermarket is an event!

Guliza (Germany) was running low on toilet paper but enjoying her work. Only the older members of staff were working from home. The younger ones, rightly or wrongly, are not too bothered about corona!

Luckily for Penelope (New Zealand) restrictions will soon be lifted otherwise, judging by the all the photos of delicious looking food she has been posting on social media, she would soon not be able to get out of the door.

Sjors (The Netherlands), a climber, mountainbiker and general outdoor person remarked after just a few weeks working at home: “I never thought I'd miss the office”!

Tibor and Saltanat (Germany) had a cat but it disappeared soon after the lockdown started...

...coincidentally Kees and Leny (The Netherlands) told me that cats are becoming stressed because they don't like humans hanging around in their houses the whole day. While dogs are getting sore feet from being taken out too often!

Marta (Poland)  eloquently summed up how most of us feel at this moment: “Lockdown sucks”! She said.

Too true, but Marta, there are some compensations. A big one being that I may have found the secret of eternal youth. Not in a swimming pool, like in the cult film Cocoon (1985), where a group of elderly people are rejuvenated after regular dips in a pool that has been charged with a 'life-force' by aliens. No, it's in a local supermarket! This store has, for the period of the lockdown, opened its doors an hour earlier exclusively for old people. I went on the very first day, it wasn't very busy, just a handful of silver haired customers shuffling their way around the shelves and shelf stackers. Three weeks later I revisited this over seventies shopping hour, I was surprised to find that the handful of fellow shoppers now looked a lot younger, they no longer had grey hair and they didn't shuffle! Clearly something extraordinary had happend. If, indeed, this supermarket has been invested with some sort of life-force then one lady must have been coming everyday, she looked no older than 35!

Well, okay, I don't blame you, you may not believe in miracles...

... but I'll be going back tomorrow just in case.... and maybe the day after.