Expect the unexpected

I’m back in the UK.

On a park bench in Preston waiting for a train to the Lake District, where I plan to keep myself to myself for a couple of weeks. This is the last place I thought I’d be this time last week.

How much things can change in a matter of days.

After putting in a couple of long days in the saddle to get to Vienna to help out Nathan, my cousin, with his knee operation, since arriving in Vienna, as everyone knows, the situation with COVID-19 has grown.

Of all of the fears, worries and doubts of going on a trip like this, both perceived and real, I can’t say this entered my mind whatsoever.

Bike failures, border controls, muggings, dog attacks, bear attacks, wolf attacks, people attacks, kidnappings, being hit by cars, crashing, I mean the possibilities that flew through my mind were endless. Obviously not endless enough.

At first, the decision to come back to the UK and put my trip on hold was, just that, a decision. After spending time in Austria, the choice was really taken out of my hands when borders started to close, flights were being cancelled, restrictions were growing ever tighter and everyone was going into isolation. The last thing I wanted to do was to curtail the trip so early on, but it really was out of my hands.

I somehow managed to get to Vienna the day before the Czech Republic closed their borders, so in some sense I was lucky. Nathan had to undergo some pretty serious surgery to his knee and while he was in hospital, the fear of the virus increased, leading to no visits and some nervy feelings to say the least.

The restrictions in Austria seemed to be tightening by the hour, but as my cousin had to rest up and recover from his operation, this was no problem for us. As his show, Cats, had been cancelled, the cast were also off, so visits were plenty and we passed the time with card games, music, films, chat and monopoly!

Thank you Nathan for letting me have a place to stay for a few days and my memory of Vienna will definitely be different than that of most tourists, which I am very grateful for! After all, looking out for family and friends is what this time is all about.

Looking at the differences to how people are taking the virus from mainland Europe to the UK, to be honest, there aren’t many. Government plans differ, but real people are the same. Landing in Liverpool last night, I went out to get some food and passed a group of youths rapping about how ‘Corona gunna get ya’ and today I spoke to a man in the park who says it feels like it did in the war, something in the air. The feeling is a big part of it and everyone is experiencing this.

Anyway, I’m planning to stay in the UK until travel restrictions start to be lifted then hopefully my trip will be able to continue, in one form or the other. Only time will tell. I knew the trip wasn’t going to be straight forward, but no-one could see this one coming.