We’re publishing a new addition to our long-running series ‘Around the World in 80 Lockdowns’. This time it’s a “Postcard From Vienna” from our regular travel correspondent Russell David. Here is an extract:
It’s no surprise most people aren’t booking holidays at the moment. In the 10 days leading up to the flight I received five emails from Ryanair, four of which were identical, headed ESSENTIAL REMINDER FOR YOUR TRIP in bold, capital letters, red and underlined. A couple of lines down it said: “Failure to comply with local travel requirements may result in you being fined or denied boarding or entry into your destination.” That too was in bold and underlined. There was then reams of copy about the E.U. Digital Covid Travel Certificate, passenger locator forms, masks and tests, until it returned to its theme: “Failure to produce required forms/negative Covid test results may result in boarding/entry to your destination being denied and may also result in very expensive, on the spot fines.” By this point you’re thinking: “Christ, should I really have booked this holiday? Is it worth the pain and stress?”
It didn’t start too well. At the Ryanair departure gate at Stansted, already a whirlpool of anxiety and hassle thanks to the staff’s incessant cries of “are you double vaccinated?” and “your bag’s too big, you have to pay extra”, I was called forward, unmasked as ever, clutching my exemption letter from my GP, and came face-to-mask with, well, let’s call her Eva. She peered at my letter for a long time before drawing herself up.
“I’ve let you on this time,” she said with the imperiousness of the Empress of India, “but this is out of date”, and she pointed to “July 30th, 2021” on my letter.
Worth reading in full.
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Sorry, can’t travel, not vaxxed, wouldn’t show my green pass if I was, don’t care.
Why are we being sent postcards from places we are not allowed to visit unless we take part in a medical experiment that is likely to kill us?
Not funny
Indeed not funny and not clever. IMO this will be a long war requiring steadfast non-compliance. Dig in.
Non compliance is the ideal way to combat this, but in some circumstances these tyrannical nutcases really can fuck your life up with massive fines and threats.
Yes, of course. Some people face greater sacrifices than others. The choices are not always easy ones.
And why would anyone put themselves through this shit, being treated like dirt by nasty jumped up authoritarian Nazis? Either this whole episode has turned many people into evil little Hitlers, or they already had it lurking somewhere within them.
Yes, one does, sometimes, get the impression that Toby is laughing at us. Well, don’t worry, Toby, there is at least a few of us laughing at you.
I don’t read it that way, more that he is trying to find some normalcy and yet the systems simply do not allow a return to normal. This is the “new normal” and it absolutely sucks.
It’s not easy to ditch your old mates. Toby’s problem is that his old mates – like Mr Toad – were always Scheiskopfen (sorry for the hack German). But we can live and learn (well – some can)
I think it’s very hard to take. Burgess, Philby and MacLean got away with spying for Russia at the heart of MI6 for years, partly because they were from the same backgrounds as those around them and they simply couldn’t believe such people capable of such dishonesty.
… and lets face it, they did far less damage than our current elected government.
One thing the USSR achieved (admittedly at the expense of Eastern Europe) was to keep western governments restrained from their own natural instincts, the effects of which we are now experiencing.
After the Wall collapsed, the West had to invent new enemies. Well its actually revived two old ones now in China and Russia, but along the way it created the CO2 problem and now allied to that , the pandemic problem. These last two are masterful. Can’t see them, touch them , smell them, in fact you need ‘experts’ to tell you they exist and computer models to say how bad they are and will get. They can never be defeated because they are not really there.
Beats ‘reds under the beds’ every time. Plebs shackled for life, for ever. And reducing their numbers at any time is built into the system.
I mean if you had totalitarian ambitions could you ask for more?
Could Scheißköpfe aka shitheads. But nobody would use this in German. Common-place would be Arschlöcher (assholes). Somewhat old-fashioned (but I like them) would be Arschgesichter (lit. ass faces) or Arschgeigen (lit. ass violins). Newer ones would be Spacken or Vollpfosten, although both imply a lack of cogntivies abilities in addition to being a jerk.
We had a similar experience in Italy. Masks had to be worn in all indoor spaces and it was impossible to gain entry to a restaurant, museum or even a wating room in a railway station without showing a vaccine passport. The uselessness of these measures was demonstrated by the fact that I picked up a stinking head cold in Florence. We won’t be going next year unless they get rid of these ridiculous measures.
Then you won’t be going next year…..
I believe getting most people to stay put is one of the goals of the future climate mafia. Travel only for the lords, serfs remain in their village for the entire life, as used to be during Middle Ages. If a serf wants to get away, they must ask their lord for permission, the granting of which is of course dependent on serf’s good behavior toward the lord and following his orders in the past.
That’s why we do what we do, refuse to stay in ‘our village’.
Very glad we went West not East!
Spare a thought for us jobbing musicians and singers who, like me, have seen their livelihoods wiped out over the last 18 months. I’m an opera singer and currently rehearsing in Vienna, so I can vouch for everything Mr David says. It became clear to me that if I wanted to carry on working in Europe where the bulk of my work is generated, I would, against all my instincts, have to get vaccinated. I resentfully wear my cloth mask without covering my nose, but even this wasn’t enough for some jobsworth b***h in a concert hall last week who admonished me for not covering up sufficiently. I’m here for the next five weeks – god help me!!
Ferry to Orkney’s nearly throwing up and grabbing hold of the support bar. Member of staff wants past. Which of the following do you think he said ?
”oh sir, you look unwell. Can I help you ?”
”put your mask on”.
I do that trip fairly frequently, crew are mask zealots around passengers but the land staff don’t seem too bothered behind glass. Wearing a star with mask exempt on it seems to quell any attempt at enforcement. But I’ve seen them chase after passengers. Bloody daft when you realise that seafaring is one of the riskiest jobs on the planet: the loss of visual field meaning you can’t see where your feet are on the steep stairs on the ships is more likely to lead to death than the feckin’ virus, so go figure.
I never wanted to be part of an elite – but I find that I am, with a clear boundary between those who are dim enough to think mask-wearing/jabbing does something useful, and a minority who can read and think for themselves.
The Ryanair experience Toby had is very similar to my EasyJet to Inverness. Got on to plane ok at Gatwick. As soon as on the plane the nonsense started about letters of exemption. In that case they accepted what I said. Now Scotland is in the grip of this tosh so the trip was badly affected by that bullshit. I held fast though and survived the nonsense until the flight home. I was refused boarding unless I wore a mask. Could not even get to the gate without one. No amount of “I’m exempt” helped. It was ridiculous. Mask or no flight. So mask it was, first time since Germany last year I have worn a mask. I feel so pissed off over it all days later. WHO is very clear, without social distancing don’t bother with a flipping mask, so in the absence of social distancing on a fucking plane or anywhere in Scotland what are they actually playing at ?
these airlines deserve to fail. They really do.
Isn’t BA better in that regard?
Used to be that they just accepted it when you said exempt.
Might also depend on the destination.
Abroad, all our British exemptions and lanyards are useless. You must get a medical certificate from a doctor in the country you want to be unmasked.
Normally, at least within the EU, medical certificates issued in one country were valid in the whole EU, but they changed that with regard to masks- on the fly, without any process or legal basis, of course.
Not that you would get a certificate from the N*** doctors, and not that it would be accepted in all places- again, totally illegal but police and courts refuse to get involved.
I love Vienna.
So sad what has happened.
Not sure when I return there.
Human fear is the worst thing that can ever happen to a society.
We have made fear into a virtue.
Our “civilization” may never recover from this deep evil.
Every civilisation in history has fallen at some point, to rise again.
Why. The. Hell. Expose.Yourself. To. This?
I enjoyed reading that! (Far more than I would enjoy actually experiencing it!)
Hard pass
And that is why I won’t be leaving the UK until some semblance of risk-tolerance has returned to planet earth. Family back in the States will have to wait and work on the Continent can be done via teleconference. No way do I want to handle that sort of abuse and idiocy. Still lots of England and Wales (won’t bother the pushy lady up north and NI requires too much work) to take in (enough for a lifetime). Sooner or later the impact on tourism and the uselessness of such measures will kick in, but probably not till next Spring.
I was in Bratislava the day they closed the country. Literally on one of the two last buses out to Vienna (they literally sent two off packed to the gills), and could see them putting up border crossing gates (so much for free movement). Lovely city and our hotel was great. Their manager had gotten word from a high-placed friend before it became official and so they began to ring guests from other nations to tell us to run for it. To be fair, they told us they could my take care of us for the “two weeks of the lockdown to come.” Ha! Two weeks, how crazy does that sound now. But a great country and city. Sad to hear they are gagged along with so many.