Thank heavens for little pleasures

Today, I was at a loose end. No-one to meet up with - all busy - but I wanted to get out of the flat and see some other walls instead.

I checked the municipal library website and saw that the 30-minute rule for a visit to the library had been relaxed. Now, 100 people can enter - registering with their library card and taking a basket - sit down and read. I therefore scooted there as fast as I could.

Oh, what a delight it was to sit at the counter in the 'reading window' at the front of the building, watching the people in the courtyard outside come and go, and to catch up on the papers and journals, with a cup or two of ghastly vending machine coffee: Stern, Der Spiegel, Brigitte, Psychologie Heute, Reader's Digest (German version), The Financial Times, The Times... all in three hours. With a face mask on all that time, mind you.

Back in Wales, my family is feeling the strain. All they are allowed to do is food shopping, banking, go to the pharmacy and a walk a day - and not move more than 5 miles from home.

Thankfully, being in Germany, I can appreciate the little things that go towards making life pleasant again: I've been back at the gym a couple of times a week in the mornings for the last 4 weeks; I had a haircut two weeks ago and a shiatsu massage last week; I can change my books at the English library (yes, even libraries are shut in the UK); non-essential shops have been open for over a month now; I was at the University Library yesterday - returning one book, getting two out; using public transport to get outside town for very early morning walks at the weekend; and now being able to sit and read newspapers for as long as I like.

Yes, there are restrictions and rules: face masks at all times in enclosed spaces; you need to take a basket in the libraries so they can see how many people are in the building at any one time (if all the baskets are taken, then that means the place has the maximum permitted number of people in it); and often disinfecting your hands when entering a place (such as my gym).

I read comments in the UK press about how British people are totally indignant that they are now being asked to wear face masks on public transport and in shops ("Don't you tell me what to do, mate!"), and yet by agreeing to do this, Germans have a lot more freedom and enjoyment in their life than the poor old deluded ("We're world beating") Brits.

Thank heavens I live in Germany. Thank heavens for the little pleasures we can now enjoy again here. We can appreciate things once more.