Walking to the next Wave

The world is already 6 months into the global pandemic. Every country is dealing with restrictions, gatherings and lockdowns in their own way. On mainland Europe, it was particularly complex with one country banning any movement beyond a few kilometres of your house, whilst its neighbour might have no such restrictions.

My daughter had just finished walking the Camino de Santiago and we agreed to meet up in NE Spain in the coastal down of Donostia-San Sebastian just across the French border. At the time, Spain had much fewer restrictions than either the Netherlands where I was based or France. Cafes, restaurants and shops were all open. Life as we once knew it! This scene, for me, captured the normality of life going on whilst half-an-hour up the road in France, it was anything but.

Our enjoyment was short-lived however, as that evening President Macron announced a tight lockdown starting in 24 hrs. There was no other way to return by car to the Netherlands from Donostia other than through France and so we left that evening to get through France before the lockdown began. We made it into Germany with 30 minutes to spare...

I often think about the simplicity of life captured in this photo - of walking to the next wave...

Click image to enlarge - see paper and print details below.