Beginning Over, 9. Finally Free.

Day 7, and it's over. 

I tested myself this morning, and I was negative, so, even though today I should still have isolated myself, by the rules in place, this afternoon I went out for some much needed groceries. 

Now, I am free from Covid for at least the next four or five months, according to researchers. It seems that this variant is acting more like the human coronavirus that gives us colds. Whenever we get a cold, we are then immune from that virus for the next few months. It's good that it is slowly becoming much less serious, though there are still people it can kill.

As of yesterday, masks are no longer necessary outside, unless large groups of people are gathered together with little chance of separation. As of tomorrow, hostelry will go back to their normal capacities, and normal hours. Numbers of sick and hospitalized are going down, and things are starting to look better. 

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean I can pick up the car and just go for a drive. Gas prices are reaching heavenly positions. Our cars use diesel, the cheapest fuel, but it's still around €1.50 a liter. The cheapest gas station nearby must have it around €1.35 this week; it's generally twenty cents cheaper there. So, I'll be able to leave the house, but it doesn't behoove me to go very far. I'll just have to try to shunt all my errands together as much as possible, so I don't go out every day.

Driving along the road I haven't driven in a week, it was much like when we were finally allowed out of our townships last year. Everything was just the same as the last time I travelled through, though my eye went to the little things that had changed. But they were very few. It just seemed my eyes were more aware of my surroundings than before, through the enforced lockdown. I know that when I go walking in the woods, I will notice other things that have changed in this week. They'll be different, more subtle; the sun just a little higher, touching different spots, buds swelling some more, a few flowers starting to bloom. Just enough change to tell me spring has arrived. 

The world doesn't sit still.

Life continues.