Lockdown

 

Lockdown

I honestly cannot believe it. For one I cannot believe Mutti actually did it. And lastly I cannot believe this is happening during the holidays of all times. I expected for all of this to be over by now. October and November was supposed to ensure a proper Christmas and New Year. Unfortunately, a few assholes had to ruin it for us all. A few weeks ago we drove to pick up something and noticed a bunch of people standing in the middle of Severinstrasse. I asked my husband what could possibly be going on on a car accessible street at almost 20:00 when it was colder than bricks. His unfortunate reply was that idiots were partaking in glühwein and wafflen. I also noticed quite a few people with coffee oder diner in hand. While this is completely fine it really wasn't with groups of three or five gathered in the street and those groups created clusters of people to the point it looked like a street fair. Now if that was just that tiny, medieval street in Köln imagine the likes of München, Berlin, Hamburg etc. all doing the same. I cannot tell you that is how things got out of control but it was a factor. We had a good thing going and everyone just had to lean a bit too far into the restrictions given. So here we are with Christmas Eve, New Years Eve and all preparation for any holiday merged into two days here in Köln or for many states no days at all. The word came on a Sunday giving people literally no chance to finish Christmas shopping, gather whatever non-essentials they had in mind or simply live. Yesterday I did 18k in steps trying to find last minute gifts, stocking stuffers and things like hair dye. I am not an online shopper nor a spontaneous one. I am more of an in person, procrastinating Christmas shopper and I felt fucked yesterday. I also felt like these poor boutiques and small businesses were on the verge of suffering. Most of the places shuttered or lowered in capacity earlier in the year were banking on the holidays to survive. Now without warning they were practically liquidating. I saw places doing 30, 50 and up to 70% off all inventory because there a is strong likelihood they will not return after January 10th. And then there were also a lot of mindless people assuming things would be okay and like normal today. Those people sauntered through the streets getting grocery and toilet paper. Everyone else was literally rushing to get whatever they could. Salons and barbershops had lines. Traffic appeared to be out of control. If anything exposure levels were increased due to everyone rushing though the end of days. Now were are in a full lockdown for four weeks through a new year. Schools closed. Hardware stores shuttered. And I am still paying for a gym membership I cannot use. Christmas is really cancelled and I didn't even get to see the Weihnactsmann! Egal.