Deja Vu All Over Again

It has been a little over one year since most of the USA went into some form of lockdown. Remember the instant toilet paper shortage? Last March I made a trip to my local Raley’s on a Sunday, and to my shock the shelves were empty of almost everything and fellow shoppers were wandering around with dazed looks on their faces.

I could see the looks on their faces, because none of us were wearing masks. One year ago our experts told us masks weren’t necessary and didn’t work anyway unless they were the N 95 type. Just as the original Stay at Home Order was supposed to last a couple of weeks to ‘flatten the curve’. Soon we were told and ordered to mask up, and recently advised that two masks are even better than one. And the couple of weeks has dragged out to over a year.

I’m not going to tell you what I think about the ‘experts’ and our state governor and our county public health department head, and how they are telling us what we can and cannot do (mostly the latter).This isn’t a political blog. I’m just trying to keep sane and out of trouble. Vodka helps…

A year ago we were watching our travel plans unravel in increments. The six weeks of cycling in France starting in May 2020 officially bit the dust on April 7, when Air France sent us an e mail cancelling our flight. AF issued vouchers good for future travel and refundable for cash after one year. I’ve still got them in my France folder.

I didn’t ask for refunds from our Malaucene landlady or France Bicycle Rental (Modestine’s owner) or my favorite European bicycle tour company, 44 5. I had already paid for everything but I presumed that by August 2020 we would be able to travel. Wrong again.

So here we are in March a year after the shut down, and the same May/June trip we had planned for 2020, paid for in 2020, and rescheduled for May/June 2021 is starting to fall apart. France’s border is closed to travelers from the USA. France itself is having problems with the pace of vaccinations and many parts of the country, including Paris, are back in a severe lockdown. And the French don’t fool around: you can only leave your home for a few reasons and you need to carry an attestation form stating why. You can be fined for violations.

International travel for cycling is stressful enough for me without the potential Covid complications. There is the bike transport issue. What cycling clothes to take for uncertain weather. All the stress of tandem cycling, where as the pilot anything that goes wrong is my responsibility. Because if Stoker isn’t happy…

No one knows what the rules are going to be if and when it is possible for a US tourist to fly to Europe. But negative Covid tests 72 or 48 hours before flights are a near certainty, as is some kind of still to be determined ‘Covid Passport’. And who wants to travel if the restaurants are closed, or there is a curfew, or the attractions you want to see are shut tight? What about the possibility of getting quarantined or locked down in a foreign country?

Our France trip this year hasn’t been officially cancelled, but it is on life support. Groundhog Day…