Pandemic Travel

To London.  First time for some eighteen months.    A little surreal.    Dublin airport virtually deserted with odd strangers wondering about in masks.   The queue for security scanning, usually a long tedious stretch, were moving fast, social distancing in place.  Just one of the great bank of scanners was in operation.    To be honest it was all a bit frightening.   Who are these strangers in masks, where have they come from, are they safe.   Wondering through echoing  miles of quite empty corridors towards the check in desk.

Those who had arrived in Ireland from elsewhere and were now using  the London flight as a connecting flight, were taken aside and their quarantine packages checked.    At London they were taken aside again, for omward transport to quarantine hotels.   Where they came from is a mystery and whether they were already infected only time will tell.   They were not isolated on the aircraft, in fact I say next to one, masked and silent, wary.

Heathrow was equally deserted, eerily quiet..  Police officers checking where you had been. I had an elevator to the trains to myself and on the Heathrow express I had a carriage to myself.

Paddington seemed to have more trains than people, masked people., cautiously avoiding each other.

I was glad to get to the flat, safe place, away form all those masked people, all that  risk.   Of course it had not been used for eighteen months and the fridge was empty except for some cold beers.  But what more does a man need than a cold beer on a sweltering hot London day after a surreal travel experience.  I can shop for food tomorrow!

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