🔬👀Exciting Insights into the World of Dust Bunnies & Co.

 

The phenomenon of dust: in advertising, it is meticulously tackled using all sorts of means, for some people it is an everyday enemy, for others it is a “roommate” that is tolerated to a certain extent: the dust vole.

After the children had grown impressive specimens of the dust vole on the floor next to their PCs, I took the opportunity to investigate the subject in more detail using scientific methods for school, together with one of my sons and his friend. The complete program: observation on different types of floor, questioning people, researching on the Internet and examining under the microscope in 2012.

Image 1 “TV dust bunnies” dust behind the TV cabinet with carpet abrasion from a loosely lying carpet, human hair and textile abrasion from children playing on the floor on the neighboring parquet (due to the density of the threads, this is definitely an older model)

The observations and results were so astonishing that I would like to pass them on here.

The questions on the subject

· What are dust voles made of?

· How do they form and where do they occur most frequently?

· Does the floor covering play a role?

· Are there other criteria for the formation of dust voles?

 

Image 2 “Cat dust bunnies” - dust with cat hair from a black/white patterned cat with upholstery abrasion (light sofa) on a light carpet

The first aha moment: it is not called a dust vole everywhere. Not everyone understands it either. From dust mice, German Wollmaus 🐭, Mullen, Staubflusen, Moggeln (Swabia), Mutzeln (Saxony), Wauggel, Wuggal (Bavaria) to dust bunnies 🐰 (“dust bunny” in America and Great Britain), house rabbits (“hybelkanin”, Norway) and larger animals such as dust sheep 🐑 (“moutons de poussière”, France) and woolly dogs 🐶 (“villakoira”, Finland), and not forgetting the translation of the “pet name” in the German army language: the NATO mouse.

The observations of the dust mouse on the various types of floor after I had promised not to remove any dust from certain rooms and corners for one (!) month:

Image 3 “Fresh Dog dust bunnies” - dust with hair of light dog fur in the entry of a house. It is vacuumed every day.

1. Occurrence on the various types of floor – observation

1.1 Tiles

Tiles are often used in the entrance and hallway areas as well as in the kitchen. They are made of ceramic and therefore do not build up static charge. Since the air flow in these areas is very high and the "probability of wool" increases with the frequency of door openings and the number of residents passing through, this is where dust bunnies are formed most quickly. Particularly beautiful, stately dust bunnies can be found under hallway cupboards on feet and in corners.

Image 4 ‘Fresh bathroom wool mouse’ with hair, fabric abrasion (towels) and feather on tiled floor

Image 5 "Windcatcher wool mouse" dust with sand, doormat, shoe and textile abrasion on tiled floor

1.2 Laminate

Plastic carpets or laminate floors laid over large areas of the room tend to become electrostatically charged. Manufacturers also offer floors that are said to be antistatic. The only laminate floor tested was one that was declared antistatic, and the best product still allowed charges of almost 6 kilovolts. [1] This charge causes the floor to literally attract fibers and the smooth surface provides enough rolling space for the dust bunnies.

 

Image 6 ‘Older teenage wool mouse’ with a lot of textile abrasion due to the clothes lying around and carpet abrasion with some hairs

1.3 Wooden parquet

Depending on the wood varnish, the surface is also very smooth; according to our observations, the dust bunnies do not seem to move quite as quickly on oiled parquet.

1.4 Linoleum

Does not charge as much due to its composition of linseed oil, wood flour and natural resins. Nevertheless, dust bunnies are still created here. They roll quite well over this floor due to its smooth surface.

 

Image 7 “Hallway wool mouse” – dust with grains of sand and textile abrasion on linoleum floor

1.5 PVC flooring

We could not see any difference in the rolling behavior or the formation of dust bunnies compared to laminate.

 

Image 8 `Old kitchen wool mouse’ behind dishwasher with food crumbs, sand and fibres on linoleum floor

Image 9 ‘Smoker's wool mouse’ - dust with fibres and grease droplets on tiled floor behind the kitchen cupboard in the kitchen of a smoker    

1.6 Carpet made of natural wool

This is where things got interesting. We did not find any dust bunnies. On the bedroom carpet we had to literally "scrape" the dust bunnies together. In hard-to-reach places the dust has settled over the fibers like a kind of carpet. Against the sunlight the remaining dust looks slightly grayish. On Persian carpets the colors appear duller under the dust. Otherwise you can hardly see the dust on the slightly speckled carpet. The "walkways" on the carpet are mostly free of dust.

Image 10 Fresh “bedroom wool mouse” dust with textile fibers, hair and carpet fibers from sheep’s wool carpet

1.7 Synthetic fiber carpet

Similar to natural wool carpet, but synthetic fiber carpets are more statically charged. Here, too, when laid across the entire area, we only found a large accumulation of dust under the cupboards or in computer cabling, but not the typical "round" dust bunnies. This is perhaps one reason why offices are so often equipped with carpet. Dust bunnies don't roll around so well. The dust was extremely visible on dark carpets, and the more natural the color, the less noticeable the dust.

1.8 Old floorboards with gaps

One of the winners in the dust bunnies test, visually speaking. Although we did find a few mini dust bunnies in the corners and under the cupboard after a month of dusting, most of them were kept out of the hallway by the old door thresholds, and when dust got into the floorboards, most of it ended up in the more or less large gaps between the floorboards. A good optical result.

2. Excursus on stamens: Originally we also wanted to examine stamens, the fibers of which were sometimes more densely woven than those of the dust bunnies and could reach incredible lengths of up to 1.80m on the wall. However, since there were no scientific explanations for this on Wikipedia or other websites and the wildest speculations were circulating in the forums on the Internet (e.g. dust on the spider's threads), we temporarily abandoned this subsection and concentrated only on the dust bunnies. 

3. Observation under the microscope 

We examined the dust bunnies using the Bresser microscope "MicroSet 40x-1024x". Most of the photos shown were taken with the 10x WF eyepiece. Since the dust bunnies were sometimes very dense, we removed individual pieces from them in order to be able to see the individual parts better. 

3.1 Shape and texture of dust bunnies under the light microscope 

As the magnification capabilities of a light microscope are limited, we were only able to roughly identify the individual components of the dust bunnies we collected. We mostly attributed the suddenly visible "colorful" fibers to the carpets, blankets or textiles lying there or to the children playing there. The dust bunnies shown represent a selection of the most common dust bunnies. 

4. Internet research

Dust is the collective term for the finest solid particles (particles) that can float in gases, especially in the air, for a long time. A ubiquitous form of dust that consists of organic and inorganic material is house dust. Particles with a diameter of more than 10 micrometers (1 micrometer is a thousandth of a millimeter), the so-called coarse dust, stick more or less well to the nose hairs or the mucous membranes of the nasopharynx. Smaller and smallest dust particles (fine dust, ultrafine particles) can penetrate deep into the lungs via the trachea and the bronchi. Therefore, fine dust is also referred to as respirable fine dust[1] Dust consists of organic and inorganic materials: Fibers (e.g. from clothing, carpets, furniture), Hair (from humans and animals) Dander (from humans and animals) Grains of rock (e.g. road dust brought in from outside on shoes) Pollen, bacteria, mites, mold (the latter may, but does not always, occur) Around five milligrams of dust per square meter are produced every day in an ordinary household. The amount and composition of the dust cocktail depend on the lifestyle and the location and furnishings of the house.[2] A dust mouse or wool mouse is a collection of fibers, hair and dust that can be found in households as a gray, often light bundle that moves quickly in a draft.

A dust ball is created when wind or a draft of air glides over a dusty surface. This causes small flakes to be dislodged, which then gather together to form larger balls that can reach a size of several centimeters. There is a very shallow draft of air under cupboards and beds in particular, which can drive the process. However, electrostatic charging also plays an important role, particularly in synthetic fibers and strong sunlight, as well as dry air in heated rooms. After a while, dust balls often form in the wiring behind the computer. If these flakes get into the intake stream of a fan, this can lead to considerable impairment (cooling problems) and can even cause hardware damage.[3]

Image 11 “Computer dust bunnies” dust with lots of small fibers behind the fan of a three-year-old computer standing on a wooden floor (fan has even smaller fibers chopped)

5 Assessment and conclusion

At first glance, wool mice appear to be a grey mass (except for the ‘smoker's wool mouse’, which is coloured brown-yellow with nicotine).  However, woolly mice consist of many different materials in different colours. That surprised us. We were able to find everything in the dust that accompanies us in our daily lives: from crumbs, textile and carpet fibres to hair and sand.

We discovered that the main component of the wool mouse consists more of fibres than of dust. These fibres have the ability to clump together so well that they hold together like a net.

The sources of dust bunnies are as varied as their composition.

The starting product of a dust bunnies is heavy dust that cannot stay in the air and sinks to the floor. Dust is created everywhere, whether by skin cells falling on the keyboard, clothing rubbing against the chair or street dirt from the abrasion of shoes.[2] The same goes for exhaust fumes and pollen that enter the house from outside. Soot and ash particles from combustion processes such as smoking, fireplaces and candles also increase the amount of "heavy" dust particles. This heavy dust sinks to the floor and offers the swirling fibers ideal opportunities to form a dust bunnies in the next draft of air.

In this case, newly formed dust bunnies are less dense in terms of the interweaving of the fibers than the "old" dust bunnies that we found in hard-to-reach places.

Our hypothesis that the floor covering plays a decisive role in the formation was only partially confirmed.

While fibers can move easily in a draft on smooth floors, the dust particles on a carpet tend to "stick" and form a grayish, velvety-looking dust surface (→English term for dust bunnies = beggars velvet) in places where no one walks (preferably under cupboards with a shallow draft).

In this respect, carpets prevent dust from whirling around and, when laid individually on smooth floors, catch it somewhat. The carpet runners are therefore very practical in the entrance halls. If a "dust-like" pattern is chosen for the carpet in terms of color, the dust is not as noticeable as on a dark background, very light or very dark tiles.

Our observations, surveys and internet research have shown that many other criteria are also crucial for the formation of dust bunnies:

The draft is caused by the residents walking back and forth, by opening doors, so that the entrance, hallway, staircase and kitchen areas are most affected by dust bunnies. This means: the more people there are in a household and the more people walk through it, the more dust is created. People and animals in themselves are a source of dust.

Another main source is cooling fans on electrical devices, including computers. They literally suck in the dust. And since the devices are often made with electrostatically chargeable plastic parts, they can "hold" this dust well.

The fireplace tops the list. Anyone who owns such a stove often enjoys beautiful dust bunnies in the corners or under the furniture. If, in addition, a lot of television is watched in this room, the children bring in sand from outside and play on the floor, many people or pets are constantly going in and out of the room, the floor is still slippery, there may still be smoking and the room is on the ground floor next to a main road with a lot of exhaust fumes, the formation of mega dust bunnies is guaranteed.

The experience of people interviewed has shown that the "heavy" dust "in itself" does not "do anything" when it is lying around. It is only when it is stirred up that so-called fine dust is created in the air (e.g. when sweeping), which causes problems for allergy sufferers. In other words, the development of fine dust from the dust balls stirred up with the heavy dust causes them more problems when they are cleaning than when they are just walking through.

Sources [1], [3],: Wikipedia & [2], [5] German science television series "Quarks & Co.", [4]Stiftung Warentest, non-profit German consumer organization 

Image 12 ‘Workshop wool mouse’ with sand, wood shavings, paint particles, metal splinters and fibres on concrete floor

🎿❄️Skiing in Austria 2023

🎿❄️Skiing in Austria 2023

The slopes are calling! When skiing is firmly established as a hobby in the family, this enthusiasm gene for "wanting" to ski is likely to be passed on to the children. No matter how expensive lift tickets are, we have tried to save what we can with fewer ski days, buying equipment at flea markets, cheap holiday accommodation with self-catering options. The main thing is to get on the slopes. Ski school is also quite expensive, so we only used it in the beginning.

Remark at the beginning: The original post is in German under “Almuts Anekdoten” and I did my best to make it understandable to non-German speaking people here 😊.

Because of this need to save money, one day only the father skied with a changing cast of our four sons. At the same time, I could oil stairs or paint doors in the family's absence. My urge to ski was somewhat dampened by the compulsion in childhood to use the ski lift ticket, no matter what the weather was. As a result, I haven't missed skiing for the last 20 years. I have the memories of days when you have to take kindergarten children somewhere to ski school and pick them up again, push the little ones around somewhere in between, then you don't really get to ski without grandparents looking after them. I found all the packing and cooking with the children very exhausting. The teenage years followed with the school ski trips. Cancellation because of the costs was out of the question, so we had to save money elsewhere. One adult son even had the idea of accompanying other school classes with his friend as a chaperone and thus also came to skiing holidays, even though he was no longer at school.

Somehow it didn't occur to me to go skiing again, especially since I heard here and there among my acquaintances that someone had torn a cruciate ligament, and then there were all the environmental problems with the snow-making machines. The children were used to their father going with them for a few days, ideally. And then 20 years are simply over.

As is so often the case, the impulse to rethink one's principles and habits comes from outside. My boss told me in Italian class why winter sports were so important to him. He said that it is precisely because you drive to work in the dark in winter and come home in the dark again so that it is a blessing to exercise in the combination of snow and sun in the fresh mountain air. In his opinion, this avoids depressive moods and his anticipation is so great that he is in a good mood days beforehand when he thinks about it. He would rather give up a summer holiday than go skiing. Another acquaintance came back from his ski week beaming and said that the best moment was when he took the chairlift out of the thick fog and suddenly into a blue sky with sunshine. At that very moment, by chance, two of the now grown-up sons asked if there was a joint ski event. However, it was only a long weekend and this time in March due to the study work. And also only in good weather, so that it would be worthwhile. When that word "sunshine weekend" came up and we'd just had a week of high fog "winter soup weather", I spontaneously thought, "I'll come along!" You should have seen the faces. From amazed to "no, really?". After all, none of the children had ever seen me skiing. At the beginning, I wasn't sure if I could still do it in my late 50s after 20 years, in terms of fitness and ability, and if the saying "you never forget how to ski and cycle" was really true.

My obstacle: my 40-year-old classic skis with the straight tips. Can a ski service still get such old skis going? Is it worth the effort? There was good persuasion from all sides that I should rent new skis, also to see if it still works and is still fun. Hm, this change from 1.70m classic to 1.50m short carving skis, will that go well? The skis certainly behave differently.

As it turned out, this was not the only thing that changed in downhill skiing after 20 years. The innovations were also evident in other points where I felt like I was in the film "Back to the Future II".

In the ski rental shop - ski boots and skis 2023

Arrived in the ski resort of Warth/Austria at the ski rental shop at the valley station. An employee directs me to two screens with keyboards. Aha, digitalisation in this area too, how nice. On the screen I enter my address, age, weight and ski knowledge to adjust the ski bindings. Next to me, an elderly gentleman nestles out his reading glasses before he can type in his data with a single-finger system. With the receipt, it's off to the waiting bench. Because of the sunny weather, it's busy. A staff member comes around the corner with ski boots and puts them in front of me to try on. My first feeling: as awkward as 20 years ago, you can hardly get in, they are still clumsy and heavy. The employee insists it's the wrong technique, I just have to pull out the front strap hard enough before I step in with my foot. At first I think I'm somehow too clumsy or too weak to pull "right". However, the next day I see two more women who are having a really hard time getting into these shoes. One of them sums up their desperation:”Those stupid shoes. By the time you put the shoes on, you´re already exhausted.”

I wonder why the ski boots with the rear entry, which were still available in the 90s and early 2000s, are no longer available. That would make them easier to put on. Maybe there were too many men in the material test who had no problem pulling out this strap with enough force and at the optimal angle. I guess not much has changed after 20 years. 

No adjustment if you don't meet the foot standard, if you have particularly wide or narrow feet or a high instep. Or your calf width in relation to your foot size is different from what the ski boot manufacturers offer. You have the choice between foot toe crushing or them flopping around inside and you have to strap everything around the ankle and calf until the blood stops. The staff member keeps stressing that it's important for proper support that the toes are in contact with the shoe. That's definitely too tight for me if I ride longer and my foot sweats and then it gets even tighter, no, I'd rather get a size bigger and tighten everything up at the top. A colleague later said that there are alternatives in the high price range with individual adjustment of the foam to the foot, but hardly anyone can afford that, it starts in the three-digit range. In the beginning, the colleague was able to get hold of a pair of rear entry shoes via online platforms, but now the last pair has fallen apart. That's why she always borrows shoes, as these shoes have already stretched other people before her use.

Now I went to the staff member with the skis. I am presented with a list of price categories, 1 plus to 6 plus (or 7, I can't remember). Which one would I like. I am completely taken by surprise with the question. After all, I've indicated that I'm a medium rider. Somehow it doesn't occur to me to ask what the difference is between the categories apart from the price and I take the golden mean. In the length selection, there is a pair of skis in 1.50m in bright pink. A name sticker is stuck on it so that the skis don't get mixed up by mistake. Great, now everyone knows my name. An interesting way to get to know the person next to you on the chairlift. Then there's a barcode with a number on it for returning the skis later. It doesn't matter which ski hire shop you go to, whether it's up here on the mountain at the various lift stations or down in the valley. That saves time. Great. Adjusting the bindings is also a breeze. And once again I'm amazed: I had expected the new skis to be lighter these days. But they're not. When I walk a certain distance with them, I have the same feeling as before: "Hopefully I'll soon be able to strap them on and won't have to carry them any longer."

Lift tickets 2023

After 20 years, the next novelty for me is the lift pass. After cardboard cards that tanned men and women cut off with a punch, weekly cards with printed dates and genuinely developed (!) passport photos, and later the first cards with printed dates and codes, some of which fluttered in the wind on the outside of the jacket with zippers, the card is now reusable. Apart from a beautiful mountain panorama and the Arlberg, there are no more details on it. In the past, you could still read how long the card was valid, but today you have to remember that. The deposit for the card is 5 euros. I don't want to know how many people take this card home in their jackets after skiing and only discover it again the next winter.

 

Card reader 2023

On the way to the first chairlift, I wonder why most people are waving their left arm at the post and roaming along. Standing right by this metal post, I unpack my card as I used to and hold it up to a small box with a window, which I think might be the card reader. A few attempts fail until a skier behind me offers assistance: "No, that's a camera. Keep going down to the left,... now further up,... a little further, ..just like that!" Aha, the card reader is integrated into the inner wall of the post. I wonder if small children can reach it without having to be lifted up. The narrow metal grille in front of me opens. And now I also see that the others don't take the card out at all, but carry it in their left sleeve zip pocket. I discover a zip like this on my jacket, which I got hold of as new at a clothes swap party. I had never noticed it before. Perfect. That takes care of the card retrieval. I consider this a great achievement, as it shortens the queuing time considerably and queues dissolve very quickly. Back then, there were often delays when someone first had to take off their gloves and fumble their card out of their jacket.

Chairlift 2023

The next surprise awaits: Anchor and double chair lifts are probably discontinued models, at least here in the Arlberg ski area. Express lifts are on the way on the large-area ski slopes, with chairlifts that hold up to 6 people. In the past they were hard seats, a member of staff wrapped us in a blanket when the weather was bad, which enabled us to survive the cold on the ride reasonably well. Today the seats are padded and heated in the cold. In strong winds, you can also pull down an acrylic glass dome for protection. What a luxury.

The construction for putting down skis during the journey still has to be folded down by hand. A team task for 6 people, so that everyone can lift the skis at the same time. There are now two versions of this construction: the classic "ski fully on the left or right on a pole" and then a version in which the pole runs down between the legs, the racks consist of two small plastic triangles and one ski is placed on the right and one on the left. I have no idea how the snowboarders manage this with their wide boards. 

I feel like I'm in an adventure park when conveyor belts appear behind the little red barriers and pull me and my skis to the ideal "sit-down" point for the chair. When I imagine how often you used to have to slide to this point yourself really quickly and if you somehow missed the moment, the lift landed ungently on your knees. Speaking of knees, it's worth mentioning that if you're short or of medium height, the arriving seats are at the ideal height; if you have long legs, the seat can sometimes hit your calf a bit uncomfortably if you don't bend backwards in time. Here I am probably in line with the standard to which the seats are set. I find it interesting that carrying backpacks on the back is prohibited on some chairlifts and not on others. Although the chairs don't really differ visually. Of course it makes sense to take off the backpack when the backpacks are fully loaded and the rider is only sitting on half of the seat. And so when the handle holder is folded up shortly before getting off, he is then floating half free over the abyss.

Because of the new skis with the much wider kochlöffel round tips, I concentrate very hard on keeping the skis parallel and slightly apart on the conveyor belt. And lo and behold, it works well. I'm amazed at how many new learning experiences I can process in one day. After another four hours of skiing, towards the afternoon, it happened. After the chairlifts stop more and more frequently because someone is lying on the conveyor belt or standing the wrong way, and I think to myself, "Boy, is that frequent", I cause exactly this situation through a moment of inattention. It couldn't be more embarrassing. I slide through the closing barrier with my skis, I don't know how, but I'm too late for the chair in front of it, I slide uncoordinatedly into the conveyor belt zone, my skis overlap, I fall completely over onto my side. The next chair threatens to catch me. Although my first thought is: "How embarrassing", I smile inwardly at the sliding. It's not every day that you get that feeling of sliding along on a conveyor belt, almost unable to move. The crowning glory of the situation: one of my sons, who has caught the chair in front, wants to signal to the employee with his ski pole that he should please stop. His ski pole is lying on the armchair of the free seats to his left, he pulls it forward and just at that moment a woman wants to sit down, is then pushed forward again due to the force of the ski pole and is also completely thrown out with it. It's certainly very funny for the outsider - a double ejection. The employee presses the emergency stop button.  I'm so happy when, after several attempts, I come to a halt again. My stomach muscles aren't what they were 20 years ago and handling the poles on this holey conveyor belt is somehow difficult. And although I can easily get up from a crouch without ski boots, it's a different challenge to get up with ski boots. Now I can also understand how older people feel when they can't get up themselves after falling down. A mixture of "damn, now I don't have enough strength to get the necessary momentum and all my muscles are shaking" and helplessness "what do I do now if I can't get up?".

I find the differences between the ski lifts in the Warth area with Salober, Steffisalp and Jägeralp and the ski lifts on the Lech side very interesting. There you can see adverts for luxury goods such as Rolex watches on the steel bars of the chairlifts. Due to the many high-end car brands parked on this side, this is probably the target group. Large posters advertise a free-standing bubble bath that looks like a Fabergé egg in camouflage colours. Right next to the mountain station of the Kriegerhorn cable car, a small car-sized Christmas bauble with a closed glass door and glass windows with a panoramic view of the mountains stands in the snow. The inside is covered for a meal for two. Has the Bachelor already been up here with a date? 

Eating at the valley stations, hut 2023

Speaking of food: we feel a difference between the Lech and Warth sides. The increased prices due to energy and inflation are present on both sides, but on the Warth side in the valley stations with self-service it is more affordable for our circumstances than on the Lech side. Because we cater for ourselves and also take a something to eat with us on the way, we only stop off at a hut once as a highlight to enjoy the hut feeling with the sun. All the outside tables are full, and the new arrivals cause traffic jams in the narrow corridors between them. The staff make their way. An annoyed "Get away, get away!" sounds next to us and a waitress comes by with a full tray. Since there are six of us and only a few seats are free, we need a little patience. After a few minutes we find a table where a group is leaving. 

At the next table, the waitress's tense voice can be heard again: "Do you want to pay separately or together?" We can all sense that she is stressed. While the other two waitresses just hand out drinks and food, smiling almost wordlessly, our waitress gets straight to the point. We are given the menus with typical Alpine delicacies, bacon, eggs, etc. Yes, of course, hut prices, one soup is enough. Our topic at the table: the girlfriend of one of my sons is vegan and is not sure whether the pumpkin soup contains cream or something similar. The waitress comes to our table and wants to take our order. My son asks: "Can we have the tagliatelle with tomato sauce instead of cream sauce?"

She answered briefly and succinctly, "We don't have it." - "Maybe with cranberries?" "We don't have it." I can clearly see from her facial expression that she doesn't really like these special requests and is pulling herself together. Since my son is at a loss and remains silent, the friend mentions that she is lactose intolerant and is vegan. What she can eat from this menu under these circumstances. Suddenly the waitress becomes friendlier and explains that soups and sauces always contain a dash of cream. However, she can offer the "Rösti" without anything else, so she would be on the safe side and there would be an extra price for it. The day is thus saved. When the plate with the impressively large rösti arrives, the friend notices that you could also ask for apple sauce. But since apple sauce is not on the menu anywhere, the risk of a "we don't have it" is too high, so we don't ask. It's a hut - they only serve what is on the menu.

Snowboarders 2023

A phenomenon. At the end of the 80s, snowboarders were still seen as troublemakers who absolutely needed a separate slope so that they didn't disturb the "normal" skiers. Back then, it was only young people who used them and they were rather small in number. Today, however, middle-aged people also make artistic snowboard turns. There are many snowboarders bustling around among the classic skiers.

Ski helmet 2023

The next thing that stands out: In contrast to the 90s, I haven't seen a single person skiing without a ski helmet. Bobble hat, headband with sunglasses and flowing hair, goodbye. Some ski helmets have an integrated polarizing visor with UV protection. I had recently bought a new pair of ski goggles because I liked the polarizing function. When you ski in foggy weather, you can see much better, that convinces me and the money is well spent. I can also easily wear normal glasses underneath. Cheers to this new innovation. We still have helmets from the children at home, they still do their job. As I notice on the slopes, most of the goggles are mirrored and the fairly uniform helmets, ski suits and gloves turn the riders into a uniform crowd. Many riders only differ in the style and color of their clothing. A celebration for any data protection officer, the royal family could ride here and hardly anyone would notice. Other nationalities are only recognizable when they are talking in the lift and a foreign language is heard. The ski equipment is quite ageless. If the ski helmets are taken off in the restaurant or in the hut, one time the flowing hair of a young girl comes out, and the second time the white hair of an older lady wearing a hearing aid appears. I find the "post-helmet" hairstyles when the helmet is taken off particularly entertaining. Particularly short hair lies in all directions and stands out in the most amazing combinations. Thanks to this helmet effect, these hairstyles are certainly worthy of taking part in an "out-of-bed" hairstyle competition. I still smile about it now. Many long-haired people save themselves with braids. The high-backed hairstyles from the 1960s, which were used to sunbathe in these ski huts - no longer conceivable with a helmet today. Some skiers who ski down the slope dressed as unicorns, cows or similar offer a change. Some in full costume, some with a colored helmet cover so that the groups can find each other better. This is particularly helpful when there are lots of people out and about. It's also particularly funny when communicating: "I'm where the unicorn is." I think that even more people go down the slopes in costume during Carnival, it's bound to be a lot of fun.

Getting to the Arlberg ski area 2023

On a sunny Sunday morning, long lines of cars roll into the three spacious parking lots on the Warth side. I haven't seen so many Teslas, Porsches, etc. at once for a long time. There will probably be a lot of day tourists. Three parking lot employees direct people so that no space is lost. Fortunately, a display on the street shows which parking lot is still free. This avoids some of the search traffic. The ski buses also come from the valleys at short intervals. I am pleased to see how many people use this bus and how well the bus transfer from the valleys is received. This is also a lifesaver for one of our sons, who leaves the very distant holiday apartment too late. When the parking lots are full, there is nowhere to park anywhere and you have to drive back down the road into the valley. By half past nine, all the parking spaces are full, we call our son and tell him to park in Steeg and get on the bus. Another advantage: you can get to the top no faster by car than by bus, and the bus parks right at the start of the piste, so you don't have to carry your ski boots and "stumble" across the long parking lot.

 

Ski slopes March 2023 Arlberg ski area

The ski area is the largest in Austria with 50 km² and is snow-sure, at least for the higher areas (the highest accessible point is 2645m high). We won't manage to ski everything in two days. I can't remember skiing on such "highway" wide ski slopes before. This means that the numerous skiers can spread out quite well. However, the huge number of snow cannons show that the great quality of the slopes also comes at a price. I don't want to know how much energy and water is used for this. I see very few photovoltaic systems, although the solar radiation is very high up here. The electricity may also come from waterworks, who knows. Perhaps a few years later there will also be options for the lifts to only run when people really want to use them. As we are only going for two days, the price of the day lift ticket is bearable, even if one of our sons rightly says: "Man, for that amount of 67 euros I normally have to work four hours." But there is a lot on offer. Because of the limited time, we concentrated on a few slopes and, thanks to the sun, we really had a lot of fun. The freshly groomed slopes are best early in the morning, when the crowds have not yet carved out any "tracks". There are no skiers to avoid, you can choose your own route. If the weather conditions are right, the "early" skier has a dream in white in front of him.

Fitness and skiing technique

Yes, I agree with the other people: you never forget how to ski. However, the new skis take some getting used to. And I also need to tighten up my ski boots a lot to get the ideal control over the skis. I have put aside my weaving technique with tightly closed legs and skis, which I was taught for years as a child, this time because I simply cannot be completely parallel with the thick shovels on the tips of the skis without the tips overlapping. This may require a different technique or more experience. I find it amazing how quickly the skis slide off. The first few turns are still highly concentrated and then it works like before. Even black slopes, everything is doable. I still don't like very mogul slopes because they are very hard on the knees. The difference from before: fitness deteriorates more quickly than when I was younger. Every now and then we split up and let the youngsters "go for it" or ski down a challenging route with moguls. Even back then, I didn't enjoy riding up the lift in the higher ski school classes just to be able to ski down in one go as quickly as possible. I like to stop now and then to calm down the increasingly strong trembling of my thigh muscles. I really don't want to fall. What did happen to me twice, however, and I really laughed about it: because of the sun and March warmth in the afternoon, the snow further down became quite sticky and there were cardboard snow hills in the rutted areas. When the others in our group stopped and I arrived quite quickly and landed with my toes in one of these cardboard snow hills, I simply fell backwards and just couldn't get back up straight away. Like in the lift on the conveyor belt, I laughed as I tried to get up. One son said I should use my poles more, hmm, my arm muscles aren't the fittest after such a long day of skiing. Then it just takes several attempts. I take it with humor.

In the end, I'm amazed that we were not only one of the first on the slopes, but also one of the last to leave in the afternoon. The on-off effect comes when you take off your ski boots, an "Ahhh!" rings through the rows, just like in all the years of skiing that I can remember. You've barely arrived at your holiday apartment, you shower, eat like a horse (I had already cooked the food in advance), we manage to play a board game and then it's time for a deep sleep, which only comes after physical exertion on a perfect day - completely happy.

Fog wall effect

The next day, a cloud hangs low and heavy over the ski area, so that most ski schools stay down there and hardly anyone goes up. One of the sons wants to try cross-country skiing with me on skis that we bought second-hand. You can't get lost on a cross-country ski trail in the thickest fog because it is groomed. Let's get going! After the first few sliding movements, I notice that young people usually watch a tutorial for everything, but this time we just want to stand on it and glide away without any preparation. My son tries it first with arm strength on the poles, which is very exhausting. We can't imitate the skating step of the people overtaking us, we must have the wrong type of skis. So I try walking until we meet a woman who is skiing in the same track as us. What she shows us looks very exhausting. We try it, after 2 km we are drenched in sweat. A different kind of experience in minus 3 degrees. By now you can hardly see the next pole with luminous paint. Speaking of poles, I didn't notice them at all in the sunshine. Because of the luminous color in the fog, they are now the only way to get your bearings besides the trail. I haven't seen fog like that for a long time. Fascinating.

My husband swaps skis with my son so that he can try out the cross-country skiing experience, even though you can't really see anything of the surroundings anymore. My son uses his lift ticket to go downhill skiing again. Maybe the weather will be clear up there for skiing. You could have already seen from the empty chairlifts down below that hardly anyone is going up. So my son was able to experience the fog, that skiing in such poor visibility is no fun at all and you feel disorientated. In addition, we didn't know the direction of the ski slopes by heart in the short time, the tow paths were sometimes difficult, and my son is also afraid of sliding down the rocky abyss. In a situation like that, he has respect for nature. And what do you do when you're helpless? Like driving in the fog on the motorway: you join a group that knows the area better or has a better overview and follow them. My son is relieved when he can join a family that knows the area very well. And even this family drove very, very slowly. The main thing is to arrive safely. It takes a lot of concentration and so by midday many skiers have already returned to their accommodation.

The photos in this blog were taken on this foggy morning near Salober, when the fog had not yet completely closed in. When I was alpine skiing on the days when the weather was good, I didn't have my camera with me because I wasn't sure if I would fall.

The clouds are getting closer and closer and bizarre situations are occurring. A single walker no longer knows where he is and asks where the parking lot is. He is standing no more than 25 meters away from it. I can understand his uncertainty and fear of walking alone in the wrong direction. It almost feels like you are standing in the dark and you think you are flying blind and heading somewhere. Here and there I hear a "Where are you?" or "I'm going to the car now", but I don't see the people doing it. A very special experience. Since I have remembered the way to the trail pretty well, I simply trudge back along this path until my cross-country ski boot hits a piece of asphalt and it is easier to orientate myself with the road again. When we then go down the mountain and suddenly can see something again, it is clear that the mountain above is covered in a thick wall of clouds. A fast-spoken rap song is playing on the radio and my son asks what language it is. I immediately laugh heartily, the "nigelnagelneiefreindin" rap is officially called "Wigl Wogl", which is Austrian dialect. I love moments like that.

Conclusion: Despite the physical exertion that I can still feel in some of my muscles days later, I really enjoyed the three days and am proud that I didn't fall during the descents. I don't count falling over in the lift or while standing. It is fun to go in a smaller group or in pairs and to stop briefly to enjoy the view and watch the others. The exercise in the fresh air is very good. I can also see some merit in cross-country skiing. It would be quicker to do by train or bus here in the low mountain ranges, it would be practical and it would be more ecologically acceptable than the effort of driving to the Alps - that's the topic of sustainability. Alpine skiing still has its appeal, just in terms of speed, I can certainly imagine doing it again, until perhaps climate change makes it impossible at some point. I find the advice of an older lady very fitting: "Know your physical limits, everything in moderation, then nothing will happen." I see the happiness that skiers experience summed up in a sign: "Eat, sleep, ski". With that in mind, happy skiing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Translation of post to be continued 😊

Staying at Home - Corona Part 2 Reactions

Remark at the beginning: The original post is in German under “Almuts Anekdoten” and I did my best to make it understandable to non-Germans here 😊.

Now contact restrictions with shutdown of restaurants, barbershops, hairdressers have been introduced in Germany since March23, 2020, schools, universities and kindergardens already closed a week before. You are allowed to go outside but only with one person or your family you live with. You have to practice social distancing. Many friends, acquaintances and relatives are responding to my previous blog "And the world stands still", by phone, WhatsApp and mail. The comments are so highly interesting and diverse that I would like to share them with you, they speak for themselves.

THE WORLD IS UPSIDE DOWN

 

-M. from Frankfurt: we don't let anyone go into the pharmacy anymore.

-A. from Messel: We are delighted that the funeral can take place in the closest circle.

-N. from Bensheim-Auerbach: Madness.

-S. from Cologne: Because of the fair in May we are all waiting for a decision if it can take place. At the beginning of this beautiful week nobody in Cologne had understood. Because the sun was shining here, the parks and cafés were full of people, just stupid. The only thing that helps is to restrict the number of people allowed. (This became true two days after this mail)

V. from Griesheim: I'm pregnant and I'm glad that I will be in hospital probably in July. At the moment I don't know whether my husband can come to the clinic or not.

All churches in Germany are closed

-D. from the dance course: Hopefully things will calm down soon, I have already forgotten all the steps.

-M. from Mannheim: We have to be in the slowest contact with the virus as possible in some form to build antibodies, the only question is how we can do it with the least restrictions and deads, without vaccine.

-O. from Langen: Yes, it looks spooky everywhere. Even the supermarkets with the empty shelves. Our vacation to Bavaria was cancelled. We have cleared out our study. From Monday I will be online at home. Hope you are doing well and the ceiling doesn't fall on your head!

-S. from Wixhausen: at the butcher you can buy toilet paper now! And the people wait disciplined with 2 meters distance until the other one has finished his order.

Machines are still running, March 2020, Darmstadt, Germany

-P. from Heppenheim: I have the feeling as if nature strikes back.

-C. from Arheilgen: My wife and I now both work in the home office. Because of the small children she has one day off and I have one day off, so we take turns taking care of the children. Somehow I have the impression that I do not have more time.

 -K. from private rehab clinic Bodensee: We have fewer and fewer patients, many are between 70 and 92 years old. Only a few nursing staff can afford short-time work with only 60% salary because of the low salary, so they all want to continue working. I am not afraid.

-J. from La Gomera: I'm glad that you are doing well so far. I had a dream hiking week on Gomera from March 9.  Since Sunday everything has changed abruptly with the draconian emergency decree in Spain and with the curfew I am now waiting for a message from Foreign Minister Heiko Maas whether and when I can fly back. If I go shopping and am checked, I have to show the receipt.

-A. from Griesheim: At the moment it is difficult to find any end dates at all. I'm afraid that this will take at least until the end of May. We have been sitting in our homeoffice since Monday and are in conference calls from morning to night. Fortunately, the children can organize themselves with their schoolwork. Come healthy through this unreal time.

View from bridge North Station Darmstadt

-K. from Otzberg: Christina von Dreien requests the participation of each individual in worldwide simultaneous meditation on April 5th at 4:45 a.m. German time for the final eradication of the corona virus.

-G. from Heidelberg: A great restaurant here, which had to close, now offers sushi-to-go with delivery service. I will probably order it and support the restaurant with it, otherwise they will all go bankrupt.

 -M. from Arheilgen: This is a completely different job at the daycare center. We are now cleaning up and sorting things out. Only one emergency child came by, but the mother took it away again when she saw that there are no other children. She does not want to let him completely alone here. The other mothers organized the care differently.

-J. from Marburg: thank you very much for sharing! With or without Corona, I am writing my exam paper in math in seclusion. There is simply no end to it.

-R. from Darmstadt: Very nicely written and unfortunately reality.

-S. near Milan, Italy: Everyone here hopes to have ridden through the valley of tears soon.

Sign announcing, that in the drugstore there is no toilet paper
 at the moment available

-M. from Griesheim: Yes, I'm fine, of course I'm in my home office and there's no group cuddling, only my mother we've ordered house arrest for the most part (she's over 80 years old), except for going for a walk and we visit her with her shopping. We did Qi Gong via Skype, cheers for the technology.

-B. from Dreieich-Buchschlag: I am torn inside, on the one hand these terrible pictures, on the other hand nature is blooming, it is here now such a wonderful silence, because there are hardly any planes left. Only 5% of Lufthansa planes are still flying.

-M. from Darmstadt: My daughter got married and sent me a photo with her hands with rings over Whatsapp. My daughter could only marry in Berlin in threes. She, her husband and her little daughter. The mariage witnesses from Bavaria weren't allowed to come. When it was announced that the registry office in Berlin would close on April 3, they spontaneously brought forward their wedding, which was planned for mid-April. Let's see how it goes on.

-P. from Urberach, party service and lunch, sale of regional meat and sausage products: "We are open Tuesdays to Fridays, 10:00 to 1:30 p.m. with information on Corona protection: When shopping in our shop, please keep at least 1.5m distance to staff and other customers/Please order by telephone in advance to shorten waiting time/Our lunch and goods delivery service runs as usual, please order by telephone by 10am/ Please also use our new drive-in through our yard, after ordering by telephone. BR and stay healthy.

Drugstores have limited shopping carts in order to guarantee distance inside the shop.
If the shopping carts are empty outside you have to wait.

-M. from a holiday in a motorhome in Spain: All very scary. We are on our way back through Spain, but will not go to Celles (=residence in Alsace), because the numbers there are so alarming. Take care of yourself!

-T. from Heidelberg: Since Saturday it is also spookily quiet here. I'm curious what the next weeks will bring...apart from that I'm fine, I was only banned from the factory premises, but I'm in top shape. Stay healthy!

-K. from Griesheim: The food wholesaler now offers the following: "Due to the corona crisis we are now opening our doors for private customers. Drive-in with stock sale.

A. from Mörlenbach: We are all healthy and at home. The graphic design school is well organized, A. works almost the same way as me in the home office with online tools etc. H. will start her dual studies on April 1st. Lessons on remote, operation until then still open? Many greetings.

K. from Habitzheim: As a self-employed person the massages are breaking away, at the moment he is still working alternatively at the biogas plants, because there is a lack of manpower.

-A. from Darmstadt: The craftsmen are at home in Slovakia and are not working at the construction site at the moment.

-J. from Darmstadt: In Italy they are already taking goats for a walk, because it is said that you can take pets for a walk. It is said that some even have dragged a stuffed animal dog behind in order to be able to go for a walk outside.

-G. with photo of the Parisian entitlement to go outside: (Attestation de Déplacement dérogatoire). In addition to the points "On the way to work, shopping, walking, caring for the needy", the following reason is added handwritten underneath: "Ma femme me fait chien"= My wife gets on my nerves.

French document to go outside added with
a further reason of an individual

P. from Otzberg, works for a supplier of spare parts: Work pressure is increasing. Orders from Italy have completely broken down. Now he could soon close his shop, says the boss. You have to be able to afford short-time work.

R. from Darmstadt, psychotherapist: I myself try to get many clients and patients on the phone and Skype in the acute situation until I finally have respirators. At the moment I get nothing. But I am not alone.......We hope for an early relaxation of the situation.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Suddenly the world comes to a standstill – Corona Part I Phenomenons in Germany

Remark at the beginning: The original post is in German under “Almuts Anekdoten” and I did my best to make it understandable to non-Germans here 😊.

The world is forced to take a pause and the missing reasons for mobility change our daily life.

„When do we experience a historical incident like the fall of the Berlin Wall, which the generation after us has to learn in school?“ asked one of my sons a year ago. Today I would answer:“We are right in the middle of it.“ 

Bismarckstreet, Darmstadt, Germany

After China and Europe the corona crisis gains a stranglehold of the complete world and challenges society across borders.

Today, Thursday, March 17, 2020: While cycling through our inner city of Darmstadt with empty cafés (which are meanwhile closed), I got the idea to write down my impressions in this historical time period. In school I was always more thrilled by stories of witnesses than by summarys of the time decades afterwards.

It feels contradictory: the good weather, the kids at home (due to school closure), die nearly empty streets, a feeling like during summer holidays. But the real reason for these conditions makes you shiver. Behind some buildings people battle with this virus.

A group of colleagues who returned from Austria from skiing on the last minute before the ban of going out, told me that the ski runs and the ski huts were empty. Normally this would be totally fine but this time it felt spooky as there were already rumours that the Austrian government will close more tourists locations as they already did in the Tirol region.  The events overturn each day, the death rate is increasing in Italy day by day and nobody believes any longer that the virus will stop in front of a human border line. In the worst case they would be banned in their holiday appartment, the whole group for at least two weeks. What a horrorful scenario. So they interrupted their holiday and came back.

It feels like in a blockbuster thriller film. First nobody takes the danger of the virus seriously as it happens on the other side of the world in China. This is far away. Aha, a new virus, it is following the swine fever influenza and bird´s pest outbreak.  This period we passed without any serious restrictions as we don´t work in the agricultural sector. Many of us thought:“If the virus was dangerous, they would have stopped all flights to China.“ This was the meaning in January here in Germany. Meanwhile Lufthansa has stopped 95% of their flights to allover the world..…

North Station, Darmstadt, March 18, 2020, 6:30 p.m. the trains still run

When we saw in the news that China was sealing hermetically cities with millions of inhabitants and that a Chinese business woman infected the first German man during a training here in Germany nobody thought that this impact will reach us as bad as in China. Some of the newsreaders changed from the „Wishing you a nice evening“ to „Stay healthy“. In Germany we had the long carneval period in February in front of us. Many events of carnival sessions with hundreds of people and processions with sometimes thousands of people as audience and participants. Following my intuition I decided to be on the „safe“ side and to film my yearly carneval film for my youtube channel „sommeradler“ at the first possible weekend in the Black Forest. At that time being I supposed that the virus wouldn´t have infiltrated the public transport yet. During the carnival procession I realised first hygienic improvements: at all participants´costumes there was hanging their proper individual cups. Nobody is sharing one bottle with each other.

Italy first actual deaths due to Covid-19 comes in the focus of our news. I am surprised that the really huge carneval processions in the end of February aren´t stopped here in Germany seeing one European country suffering under this virus. Additionally the first village nearby Cologne experiences a shut-down as many of the inhabitants suddenly had the Corona symptoms and were positively tested. 356 people had to stay in quarantine for two weeks. Probably they were infected during a carnival session. This was assumed as a Corona-positive couple was identified as the infecter. Where did this couple get the virus? Nobody knows.

March 17, 2020
Rheinstrasse, one of the main streets in Darmstadt with 158.000 inhabitants

This occurence had quite a negative taste but the government still emphasized that they don´t want to spread panic. In my opinion the word quarantine sounds like solitary confinement.

Young people (aged after 1980) in our department ask, if we ever experienced such an uncertainty in the past – a danger which is invisible and not intangible. Yes, we experienced such a period during the beginning of AIDS and the reactor disaster of Tschernobyl in the 80s. I remember many different recommendations and instructions added with an enormous uncertainty.  May I eat this or that without damage? Who can be trusted? The instruction NOT to eat fresh vegetable from the garden and NOT to sit on the lawn or to stay longer outdoors and the news that the radioactive material will remain for decades made me feel very uneasy.

However, there was a huge difference. Without mobile and internet we only got information via newspaper, television or word of mouth recommendation. Today news go around the globe to a much higher rate via internet – on the one hand it is of advantage to alert, on the other hand it is vulnerable for false information and conspiracy theories.
  

Back to March 17, 2020, the last day I passed our city until now. It is comfortable warm with 16 degrees. However I see only very few people outside, although the official ban of going out didn´t exist at that time being. You see people only in front of ice cream parlours and bus stops.  Since beginning of week (yesterday March 16, 2020) all schools and kindergardens were closed. There are possiblities for childcare only for parents which work in indispensable jobs in health, police, firebrigade and energy supplier. They need a declaration from their employer that they need go to work. Some borders to our neighbour countries were completely closed and only let through trucks with delivery of goods and employed persons. On March 16, 2020 the German government announced that it will be necessary to close all shops which are not essential for life and to limit the opening hours of restaurants.

empty café in the park Herrengarten in the afternoon, Darmstadt

Facing the current ban of going out from Austria everybody is waiting in suspense if only the closure of these shops will be sufficient. We are not surprised if the ban would come. The covid-19-mortality in Italy in Bergamo is increasing so high that they can´t bury the deads any longer. Coffins have been collected in the church until finally several trucks of the Italian army picked them up and bring them out of Bergamo. Awful pictures we will never forget. Many Italians live here in Darmstadt since years and suffer with their families in the banned cities in the North of Italy. Yesterday we saw Trump saying: „We are in war.“ When hearing that I remember people discussing whether the German army Bundeswehr would help in case of emergency as the Bundeswehr already did this during flood disasters by helping people to build barriers with sandbags. Would they be able to replace truck drivers and care for necessary deliveries in case the normal truck drivers fall ill? Could they assist our nursing staff if many of them get ill like in Italy?

Closed school in Darmstadt

Nearby I heard of first people who have symptoms and wait for a test. This takes one to two days. In the office we were informed that a task force group was formed. They inform us regularly with mails about the status on a different website and recommendments how to behave. One morning every door of our toilets were covered by a huge poster with operating instruction how to wash your hands so that no corona virus can stick. Slowley like in a film people become sensitive. One of our colleagues remembers a carton with desinfection bottles in a room in the basement remaining from a former removal. Although everybody emphasizes that soap treatment is sufficient to cope with the virus for some people the desinfection possibility is a calming feeling. So our boss decided to install one bottle of desinfection on a table directly behind the entrance. As we are working in a pharmaceutical development department with laboratories everybody knows that the bottle has to be shut after use, visitors don´t know it. Therefore I designed the following sketch for the table.

Knowing that desinfection bottles are already sold out in many shops in Germany we looked for it that never a full bottle stands there over night. Even in a very controlled huge company with 10.000 employes on our site such things disappear. We hided the remaining bottles in one of our cupboards.

When the business trips were cancelled one after the other since the beginning of February. The number of "risk countries" increased more and more, more and more returnees of that risk countries had to work in the home office under quarantine for two weeks. The thought crept into all of us: will there be a shutdown here in the company at some point? How can we maintain our business capability? Rumours are going around: there is a suspicious case that is being tested...in the other building. The next day it says: negative, not infected.

Everyone seems to be waiting: when will he arrive, the first positively tested employee in my own circle of acquaintances/colleagues? Can we push the cancelled business events into June or is it still uncertain whether the event ban will be lifted? Our head of department decides the week before last that we should alterate in the office, where possible, only half of the team is present, the rest is working at home, so that in the worst case of an infection, one half can still keep things running.

 Liebig Street in the afternoon March 17,2020, Darmstadt

I will never forget the face of my top boss when he suddenly comes into the office with his mobile phone yesterday - I was already alone in the office and the others working at home: "Is it really that bad already? Have you noticed anything in the direction of shutdown, what the federal government has just decided?" Result: together with the school closure, all homeoffice-capable employees now really stay at home, including me. "For the time being...", a colleague waved to me (we have long since given up shaking hands): "We'll see when we meet again.“ - Feels somehow unreal: we in this highly industrialized society are taking measures that otherwise only occur in movies in disaster or war scenarios. Border closures with controls, suddenly the border trees are not out of date.

Although the partial shutdown will not take effect until tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, Darmstadt is already emptier today than ever before at this time. I can hardly see older people at all while I cycle the 4km into the city to the dentist. Many people have taken the recommendation to stay at home seriously. The song "Allein, allein" (Alone, alone) from Polarkreis 18 from 2009 comes to my mind.

One of the mainstreets in Darmstadt, normally full of traffic on March 17,2020

I notice that the air is excellent due to the lack of normal traffic on the main roads. Birds are chirping everywhere and that in the big city. There is a big warning sign at the dentist's office that one should not enter the practice with flu-like symptoms. There is nobody sitting in the waiting room, everything is so unusually quiet as if one is in a wellness hotel. No drilling to be heard. The patient in front of me leaves the practice. In the background, I hear the news on the radio about the Hessian government's recommendation to reduce social contacts. I read in the newspaper this morning that most of the older people who have experienced the expulsion and world war II are not afraid of the virus. The sight of empty shelves in the shops do not shock them, they still know this from the old days after the war or from the GDR. You just buy what's available. By the way, very interesting, the panic buys „Hamsterkäufe“ (engl. hamster buys) affected toilet paper, noodles, yeast and cans here in Germany. I am curious what other countries will buy most in a panic.

I wonder what the journalists in the sports section will write about if all sports events have now been banned. The cultural section with missing publications. Maybe there will be new sources for virtual culture, which will experience a new heyday. Aha, Amazon is hiring thousands of new employees, because people can't get out, but mail order will still be possible. The asparagus farmers in our area are desperately looking for seasonal workers, because only a part of them is covered by the East European workers and new people would have to be trained in the technology in a time-consuming way. Apart from that it is a heavy physical work.

closed playgrounds in Darmstadt

I learn that as of today the health insurance companies no longer allow personal contact, the applications for dental crowns can only be inserted or sent by mail. We learn patience. I am already very happy that the dentist is not sick himself and can practice.

The dynamic of the many messages is enormous, all people here in Germany have a unifying theme, some are sceptical, others optimistic because they are so young that they will probably not be affected or with few symptoms, another part can be sprinkled with all the news. Personally, I wonder how one can go to sleep after having spent the whole day dealing with all kinds of horror scenarios. It has to be processed somewhere. I limit myself to one time a day, the rest I get from my family and friends on the phone. Maybe we'll get back to the "not the topic again" feeling when the journalists report about nothing else for months, similar to the Greek crisis or England´s brexite.

Since I live with a big family with house and garden, I am still very well, even if the complete curfew would come. I am thinking more of the people who live in apartments without a balcony and who would not be able to get out in case of quarantine. And all those people who live alone and do not have the possibility of virtual exchange. We may learn to bear ourselves, we will come up against limits in some new habits and situations. On the other hand, people in emergency situations are starting to get very creative ideas: you can enter "Italians sing quarantine" on YouTube and see some of the millions of Italians who are still under curfew singing together from their windows. Emergency and crises obviously also cause helpfulness, here in our neighborhood there are already some people who agree to walk the dog in case someone is in quarantine and is not allowed to go outside.

Bismarckstreet, Darmstadt

And now here they come, the opportunities of this crisis: I am sure that the supply chains will be reconsidered, whether the products will be sent back and forth around the globe only because of the personnel costs. Whether consumers are willing to pay more for a product that is regionally produced in Europe.

As an accustomed "all-inclusive" society, we are also allowed to experience what it is like to live with restrictions. Many adventurers tell about their travels that getting clean water from the tap alone is pure luxury. Only in such a situation we do become aware of what we really need. Similar to a hike or camping: there we only take the most necessary things with us. And we are nevertheless satisfied because we realize: man does not really need that much.

The social restriction, the lack of physical contact with others, yes, it is difficult. I caught myself, how often I would reach out my hand at the beginning, when I saw someone. A pity, actually. It's lucky that the digital world makes video conferencing possible, it relieves the feeling of being "isolated".

Interestingly, I experienced a special effect of reduction the other day. The coming to rest. Normally I film two to three light effect shows every two years at the Luminale in Frankfurt with over 200 events, edit them for the YouTube channel. Besides my normal work, editing the film as soon as possible takes a lot of time and energy, quite a lot of pressure. A mixture of curiosity, pleasure in visuals and sharing usually motivates me to do this.

This year it was different. After the indoor events had already been cancelled due to Corona, I chose the outdoor event, which I knew would be less crowded, I wouldn't take the S-Bahn, but, unusually for me, take the car and walk the rest of the way into town. I received the cancellation for the Luminale from people who have a news ticker for the latest news on their mobile phones and who received this message of cancellation only 6 hours before the big events started. At the beginning I thought such a function was sensationalistic to want to be up to date all the time. In this case it saved me from driving into Frankfurt unnecessarily. What a pity, I thought on the one hand, for the organizers and the much time that had already been invested over a year, and then this very, very short-term cancellation.....And what costs must be involved.

Until suddenly the disappointment gave way to another feeling: "Now you have more time and you don't have to rush." Also the other events and social meetings of the last days, which were cancelled, create more space to think about "what did I actually always want to do here in the house? What things am I putting off because of all the work outside? Procrastinating? Cleaning out the cellar... when the older children move out or move house, there is always one or the other thing left, should that be kept for the younger ones or can that be removed. The many "can I possibly still use" small parts that a creative person like me likes to throw into boxes. And with the mucking out new ideas will arise again, which I can share e.g. on my instagram account imaginationriver.

Sketch of February 20, 2020: restaurant Alter Schwede in Wismar, Baltic Sea, Germany
not yet completely empty as no restrictions yet

How are we going to cope with this, a state of emergency of fear of curfew and supply chain disruption that could threaten with all the hoarding purchases of toilet paper and pasta here in Germany - we personally did not hoard yet - the external restrictions that are increasing? Are we going to get on each other's nerves in the family when we all work in the home office? We are used to having variety. Will we then feel trapped, restricted? Or will the famous inner emptiness come over us? I remember another song from my school days: "Thoughts are free, who can guess them, they fly by like night shadows, no one can know them, no hunter can shoot them ...". In spite of all external limitations, man is free inside. He now has the opportunity, through the removal of the corset of obligations from his hamster wheel, to see what meaning and values he is pursuing, to get to know interesting aspects of his other emotional spectrum. He may learn to bear himself. He has the opportunity to read a book again or to devote himself to a topic for which he has never taken the time until now.

IDEA ALSO FOR CHILDREN: cut out images of old magazines and
advertising leaflet and stick it to a collage

....something like that might be the result :-)....

It is my personal assumption that especially for the perfectionists the next time will be very difficult, because the appreciation in work and society will disappear and now the focus will be on oneself or on the family. Everybody may ask himself, what really makes sense for me, what do I want to change in the future. We have the chance to have a close look at what we let ourselves be influenced by, what am I actually looking at all day long or am I being driven from one little film in YouTube to the next and distracted from my actual goals. What would be my perfect month, what would I like to do most every day, at work, in my family, in my free time. The keyword for this: self-reflection.

Sheep doesn´t care about this situation...found on the noise protection barrier,
Darmstadt-Arheilgen, March 17, 2020

If you prefer to be active, you are also welcome to clean out at home. There is certainly a corner, drawer or room that has served as a "temporary storage" for everyone. You can also make phone calls, i.e. it's not solitary confinement like in prison. I have already had several very intensive and deep telephone conversations, which were only possible because of the "more" time at home. I have been making many decisions for a long time with the filter: "Nobody will die if I don't do it now or if I cancel it.“ Setting limits is easier.

For us personally, last Sunday was an aha-experience: it's been a long time since we have seen so many people walking on the streets, fields and woods. The air was better than ever, the silence a relief, as we are normally exposed to the departing airplanes with the connected aircraft noise from Frankfurt airport. Darmstadt has one of the highest pollutant emissions in Germany with partially closed roads for older diesel engines. In days like these, this level will improve so much that we could soon become a spa town. It is said that the smog in Wuhan is already gone after the first weeks of closure and the city is visible from space for the first time. There is no better example for more measures to change people's mobility. Nature is flourishing, people are coming to rest as long as they do not belong to the disease-related people who are in continuous use or to the people who are trying to avert the consequential damage to the economy.

Why we do all this...

We cannot thank people enough for their commitment. The queasy feeling of when and if the fate of China and Italy will also fall upon us. To know that the intensive care beds might not be enough and that an unworthy death awaits the people who suffer from it without the company of relatives in the last minutes as in Italy, where in the local newspaper L'Eco di Bergamo (as of March 18th) the obituaries fill eleven pages daily instead of the usual one or two pages.

With all the horror and fate with thousands of dead, Corona hopefully offers opportunities from which we can learn for the future. We may have made one or the wrong decisions, but we will gain important experience for the future, which simply cannot be played through in theory. In which the decision makers have so far seen no need for more investment. The process of obtaining approvals can perhaps be accelerated, and the climate issue will gain even more momentum. The economy can develop new levers to be able to handle such an event differently in the future. Let us remember the stock market crash of 2007, when a world almost collapsed. When the stock market was reporting massive losses in the last two weeks, people were more inclined to say: "Okay, we know that, we have losses now, we will simply get through them. Just don't panic and sell anything. It'll recover eventually." The mind says, "It's only money for now. Health comes first, we need patience." In a few years time, terms like "back in the Corona period, during the corona holidays" will enter the vocabulary, which we can still tell our grandchildren about. No disaster exercise, no matter how good, is as instructive as a real experienced event, even if it is a pure tragedy how many people have to die for these experiences. Even if, in one case or another, young people find it difficult to understand why the action and the appeal to reason are necessary, they will later understand what it means to serve the social community, to pursue a common goal.

Many people go for a walk with social distance
 and observe the sunsets in this week, Darmstadt, March 17,2020

And at the very end it just occurred to me that two weeks ago two people in my larger circle of acquaintances died, both with diseases of dementia or Parkinson's, both over 80. Both of them were not tested for Corvid-19...the dark figure will certainly be even higher. One of the affected sons wonders if the funeral can take place as planned without other seniors becoming seriously ill, it is the responsibility of the individual to attend the funeral, as well as the decision not to hug the mourner because reason dictates it.....a challenge of rethinking for the next weeks and months for all of us is pending....

As they say in the great blockbusters, "and nothing is ever the same again." At some point the day of the Corona eruption will be a date in future history books.