Well, that week has flown by. It has been seven days since my last post and my great intentions of writing everyday have well and truly been left by the wayside. I am still here however. Hanging in and hanging on and counting my blessings. The date of May 5th looms large but I don’t think there will be much (if any) change to the restrictions from that date. While everyone wants to get back to normal everyday life (including me), there are still many new cases and deaths being reported. And this is tragic news.

It is good to hear that other countries are gradually loosening their restrictions but we wait and what impact this will have. My peregrino friend from Germany is back to work at his office since last Monday. Everything seems to be going well with social distancing but there is a fear of a second wave. Austria and Denmark have gradually re-opened their economies too. And I won’t start to talk about the catastrophe across the water. President Trump’s comments about injecting disinfectants and UV rays had everyone’s eyes rolling to the heavens.

But this blog is not a political one. I don’t want to discuss economics or what is right or wrong for our country. I just hope there is an exit strategy in place as Covid is with us for the long run.

The Camino is keeping me sane. I get great joy keeping in touch with fellow pilgrims and fellow volunteers. There are owners of albergues in Spain and Portugual who are struggling and will struggle for the duration of the year. I was only glad to help them out. If you want, you can do too here.

Making plans for the next one is helping me too. So I have provisionally made plans to walk from Burgos next year. We are in a hopeless place at the moment but it is always good to look at the sky and find hope. The Shawshank Redemption is one of my favourite films. In it Andy Dufresne says:

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Until next time.