It is springtime, although it is autumn. The days get cooler and shorter, but humanity gets warmer. After two months in lockdown, our town is walking out of it, following various other countries all over the world. It is springtime in autumn.

I stopped following the various phases of easing restrictions. I keep up my quarantine life habits, and wait until someone tells me enthusiastically how some measures are eased. Happy them, happy me.

This morning I am up early, out for a walk to shake off the cold and dark night. It is autumn, even in tropical Queensland, we can feel the difference. Slightly. On my walk, I notice an older man using the public gym facilities.

I never saw someone using them, not even before Corona. It makes me smile, seeing him energised and driven rocking the iron machinery. Until that moment I look around and see the plastic wrap is taken off it. I cannot imagine he would have taken it off himself. Yesterday, it was still here.

A closer look around me unveils the other gym equipment uncovered after two months of having been wrapped up, sealed with a “Due to Covid-19”-sign. So, the restrictions are definitely easing, aren’t they?

Bear and Meals

I continue my walk, at the supermarket there is no row anymore. The social distancing billboard has been replaced by an app commercial. Covid-19 is still on it, but now it goes from restrictions to encouragement: let’s keep Covid-19 under control together.

The rows separating people, and the arrows showing which way to go in and out, have been removed. The security agent at the entrance isn’t omni-present anymore; you’re no longer participating at a secret mission while doing groceries.

Other shops around the supermarket are also opening again. Keeping social distancing is required, but entrance is permitted. Even bars and restaurants are hosting customers again, beer is drunken, meals are eaten, as if nothing ever happened.

Beer is drunken, meals are eaten, as if nothing ever happened.

Even though it looks like all these venues are attracting but a few people, considering the numerous empty tables and stools, they are running at maximum capacity; maximum for this phase off the after-lockdown.

Playing and Picnicking

I am surprised, alarmed and enthusiast at the same time about the renewed vibe in town. I continue my walk, leave the shops and bars behind, and notice the full car parks. People are out and about! Picnicking, coffee drinking and chatting people are spread over the lawns around the coast, some alone, some in small groups. They are agitated and relaxed.

Continuing to the far end, the big play garden has changed as well. Unwrapped of his bright orange protective plastic coat, he seems to be breathing again. Children have found their way to the climb rack and swings, parents chatter around. Alive and kicking, the play garden as much as the children.

Springtime in Autumn

My daily wandering results in a wondering expedition. Even though I’ve seen the street hundreds of times now, it feels like I am walking there for the first time ever. Another phase in lockdown has shown yet another face of my town.

I must not be alone in this. Even though these playgrounds and lawns have been here for ages, it seems like people discovered them for the first time in their lives.

Two months ago, I started writing this series with the promising words that this too shall pass, and that after winter springtime will come. I feel like we are in springtime now, the same joy, the same relief, the same accumulating hope.

It feels like springtime, even thought it is autumn.

This article is part of the series of Hope in Times of Corona. Read

1. how this times of self-isolation should not mean loneliness,
2. how you can contribute to this battle, 
3. how gratitude lights up the dark,  
4. how united we will stand strong
5. on the most util strategy in awake of a crisis 
6. how I got blown of my feet as well, but caught by many caring hands, 
7. how being calm can get us through the storm.
8. about Love in Times of Corona
9. how to discover your own talents 
10. why we need stories to hold on to 
11. how you can be creative and innovative.
12. how to spend your mot valuable assets in times of Corona.
13. how to listen to the sound of silence. 
14. How breate taking Corona really is.
15. discover the other freedoms Corona has shown us, 
16. about the new-born freedom Corona gave us.
17. about another way to exceed your personal bubble.
18. about the position of nature in this entire story
19. about nature bouncing back
20. about the crucial choice between resilience and resistance
21. about the game to play
22. about star gazing in dark times
23. About looking for Meaning
24. about what Easter and Corona have in Common
25. About the Shark and the Turtle
26. About the Irony of Distance
27. Why to Hold on
28. Fake News
29. about The Big Unknown we live at
30. about Feeling Alive
31. about what the Birthday of my nephew learned me about life 
32. About where we should go from here?
33. About the Great War and the Great Pandemic, and we should not forget
34. about history’s most important message, echoed by corona
35. How one country could rule them all
36. About how to prevent the next Green Pandemic 
37. about how we are experiencing a new episode of our history books
38. masks off, how a friend in need is a friend indeed
39. What’s Next. after we flattened the curve?
40. how will our personal story look like in a post-corona world?
41. why we should never let a good crisis go too waste.

Or wait until tomorrow, when I’ll shine another light on yet another positive corner of this dark times.