Another light at the end of the corona tunnel in our ‘small-town’ city at the foot of the High Tatras Mountains in Slovakia…
And this time it is a bar-room light!
Yes our spiritual home is back in business… Nebra, a kooky, little bizarrely decorated bar near the city station which mixes dramatic cocktails capable of blowing your head and your socks off at the same time!
As one of only handful of British exiles in lock-down in this part of the world, the easing of the tension of virus panic-control comes at the right time… being kept away from Poprad’s bars and having to drink at home was definitely turning us into alcoholics!
This is the next phase of re-starting economic life in Slovakia – the re-opening outdoor tourist attractions, restaurants with outdoor seating, and cafés.
The ban on civilian flights to Slovak airports has been prolonged to at least May 14 – more beer for us then!
At the same time though, millions across Europe are returning to a semblance of our former lives.
However, not everybody is happy at this new lease of life, Italian business people for instance are wondering how they’ll survive as restrictions are eased but not fully lifted.
Students are heading back to socially-distanced schools in Germany, but barber shops are facing huge demand for corrective haircuts. Belgians can once again use public transport,and small shops are reopening in Greece and Portugal.
The Italian government said that to fully reopen stores, bars and restaurants it must slow the reproduction rate of the coronavirus to 0.5, meaning that each infected Italian is infecting less than one other person. Currently the figure is around 0.6-0.7 nationally.
Meanwhile, in the UK it is being suggested that workplaces should operate new shift patterns that would see staff in work four days followed by 10 days working from home, a new report recommends.
The study by Imperial College London chemical biologist Professor Keith Willison for the Adam Smith Institute would split workforces into two groups that never overlap.
Sadly, Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say at least 3,656,644 people have been infected since the outbreak began, while at least 256,736 are known to have died.
TAGS: lock-down, bars, Poprad, Slovakia, Germany, France. Spain, Portugal
