End of Erfurt Campaign

Battles fought during campaign

 

This eight day campaign was the third of the new military region campaigns.  

 

It ran from 18 October to 20 December 2020

This was a period of much change here in Spain.   At the end of the summer the coronavirus took off again, as it did throughout Europe including the UK.   However it was completely different from the first lockdown, which was one of the most restrictive in all of Europe.   The whole country was put under house arrest for six weeks.   Only one person was allowed to leave for essential shopping or to visit the doctor or chemist.   It was strictly enforced by the police who set up road blocks to check cars had actually been shopping.   At one my wife had to show the bags of groceries in the car boot and produce a receipt to prove she had just bought them.  

 

The first lockdown was directed from Madrid, and applied to the whole country.  This second one was on a regional basis, and each region could apply their own measures.   Here in Valencia we were fortunate to be in one of the less affected regions, and had relatively light restrictions.   No house arrest, we could leave the house together whenever we wanted.   We could even run our twice weekly walking groups.   At one stage we were restricted to a maximum of 10, later reduced to 6.  But at least we could get out in the mountains and enjoy the pleasure of walking with a group of friends.

 

We did have a midnight curfew, and were not allowed to leave the region of Valencia.   Numbers in bars were restricted, and service at the table rather than the bar.   And, of course, we had to wear a face mask whenever we left the house.  But this was later amended and we did not have to wear them when “walking in nature”.

By comparison life seemed quite normal.

 

But it was, and is, still an unsettling time.   Social distance became the norm.   We both had an adverse reaction to our annual flu jabs.   The symptoms were the same as coronavirus, which caused us to suspend our walking for two weeks.   The doctor assured us it was normal flu, but many of our walking group were not at all assured.

 

All of this had a knock on effect on our wargaming.   We found it difficult to get back into our daily wargame, often with days between visiting the table.   This was most unusual for us, we had always enjoyed our gaming and found great relaxation in the games.   But we now found that we had to make ourselves game.  

 

I doubt that we are alone in this reaction.   On the surface we have managed to follow our usual routine throughout the summer, walking twice a week and visiting the coast at least once a week.   But we found it very difficult to concentrate on anything for any length of time, preferring to go for a short walk or swim rather than take to the wargames table.

 

Of course we are much luckier than many, if not most.   Being retired we do not have to worry about our jobs, as so many locals do.   We live in a pleasant house in a gentle, pleasant and beautiful valley.   No crowded inner city living for us.  

 

But the uncertain future, the shock of how our lives changed almost overnight and the knowledge that we are in a vulnerable age range all take their effect

 

Roll on happier days when the only thing we have to worry about is whether the dice will be kind or not.