PCR test

After double-checking the rules, I was finally able to hand in a PCR test yesterday. Hopefully, the result will bring some long-sought clarity as to why we are all coughing. While the ride to the test centre could not have been any more beautiful in the sunshine, I could tell that my body was definitely not up to biking.

Today, instead of sunshine, I am reminded of Emerson, “nowhere to alight: the whited air”, as a snowstorm rages on with half a metre of fresh snow expected over the next 24 hours. 

Watching another deeply melancholic BBC-video about the situation in Ukraine, it is clear that, unlike in 1914, people have absolutely no illusions about the heroic nature of war. On the other hand, even the “enthusiastic spirit” of 1914 remains contested among historians. Thinking back on my own visit to Ukraine in 2016, I just feel sadness about the whole situation. Writing in the New York Times, Yulia Latynina points out that, if Putin’s strategy was to bluff his way to NATO concessions, it has surely backfired. And given the corrupt nature of his regime, Putin obviously fears having a stable and democratic Ukraine next-door, so the road ahead is likely to remain bumpy even if the worse can somehow be avoided.