Urlaubsreif

The German word "urlaubsreif" consists of the word "Urlaub" (holiday) and "reif" (ripe). I am "holiday ripe" or ready for a holiday. Or to put it more vulgarly, I'm "gagging for a holiday". 

And I am not only "holiday ripe", I am also "ripe for the island" or "reif für die Insel". I feel the need to be a bit like Robinson Crusoe: I need a break from everyday life. 

The problem with working from home is this: when you are here, you think, "Well, I might as well work. What else can I do?" Especially when you get e-mails asking if you can squeeze a text in anyway. You sit down for a short while to translate a text and before you know it, you've spent hours surfing the newspapers or - as modern parlance has it - doomscrolling.

In these strange times of coronavirus, no-one has been going anywhere much. And even 'staycations' are not alluring. Everything is shut right now. What are you going to do but work? 

I totted up the number of days I've had off  work since October 2019 and it comes to 12: one week in a spa town  up north in July, a week in another spa town down south in October, 1 day in a hotel in D'dorf just to see some different walls (all between lockdowns) and one day off last week - for a colonoscopy. Does that count as a day off? I'm still wondering.

All I know is that visions of previous holidays keep flashing into my mind while working, like some siren call. Will I ever even get to see the hills and forests of Wuppertal and Solingen again - never mind my beloved bay on Mallorca? The vaccination campaign seems to give us hope that some loosening of the rules might be possible by the end of summer. I hope so. Otherwise I'm going to go stir-crazy or, in other words, suffer from cabin fever.