Get Cozy
While a new year provides me with plenty of energy and motivation, I am not a big fan of January and February. It’s just too long until the next event, like spring, school break, Easter and such. Let me know if you are interested in signing a petition to delay Christmas by a month to make January a bit more exciting.
The days are dark and cold during this time of the year. That’s no problem at all. Combined with dry air and snow, it can be a real treat. But here, in Northern Germany, it usually is wet and rainy.
The best antidote: fly to some place warm (not possible at the moment) or get real cosy. Take a good book and a brew yourself a nice cup of coffee. Snuggle up on the sofa and enjoy the quite time.
But of course, that’s not an option for a 3 year old. A kid of that age would usually spend the time at Kindergarten, meeting other kids or ging to some classes like Sports and Music. All of that is not possible at the moment, thanks to Covid-19 restrictions. For more than a 100 days now.
Never Ending Lockdown
November 2020 lockdown to lower Covid-19 infection rates is still ongoing here in Germany. The Bundesregierung even introduced further restrictions so that we can meet with only one other person from another household. That includes kids of any age. I get the limitation to one household, but to one person? I mean, after a single person met with another household and got infected, she would then go back to her own household and infect the people there. How is that better than if the two households met in the first place? Making lockdown life a bit more pleasent?
I’m sure there is a perfectly solid, scientifically proven logic. It’s just not being communicated.
Todays Corona Map for Germany at zeit.de:
In general, the German government is doing a bad job at giving people clarity, hope and perspective. Lockdown is extended by a few weeks, only to extend it again for another few weeks. That would be fine if there would be a clear plan to understand, when restrictions can be lifted (e.g. based on numbers). They somewhat did that but only with a “if this happens, then we can open up these instituations”. The important word is “can”. It doesn’t mean they will do it.
Fighting the virus is important. But for that, we need the support of the people. If Angela Merkel doesn’t provide people with an outlook, with a plan that they can understand, they will become less and less supportive. I see and learn that over and over again, every day: clear communication is key.
If you can communicate well, your life and the life of the people around you will be well. I will forever aim at improving my communication.
Our silver lining
After a couple of nice, super cold, -15°C, snowy days last week, we just had +15°C today. A 30°C difference over the course of a week. Crazy.
The start of Spring and especially April is our silver lining. With the warmer temperatures, we can spend more time outside, especially in our garden. Big plan: build an awesome tree house for the kids.
And then, in April, I will have a month off work for parental leave. We plan to take our Volkswagen California (his name is “Kalle”) to some place warm. Most likely Italy or Spain, depending on the local Corona-situation. The kids and we as parents will love it.
This is our clarity, hope and perspective.
