For now we’re spending most of our time in a discretely popular holiday resort in France (Hossegor, 30 mins north of Biarritz). Since things opened up on 9th June, restaurants are doing a roaring trade. Indoors they’re limited to 50% capacity but for the last week the weather has been excellent so people prefer to eat outdoors anyway.
Masks are still “mandatory” indoors (shops etc) and people pretty much respect that, modulo wearing them below their noses. Masks are a real nuisance if you have a recent iPhone since they defeat facial recognition. The good news is that there’s no chance of me forgetting my 6 digit PIN!
I don’t think I ever noticed a reduction in business at shops here, but I don’t go to a lot of shops except those that sell stuff for houses or vehicles.
It’s notably difficult to get a restaurant table here now, reservations a good idea, but with legal capacity increased to 100% versus 75% or whatever it’s been, that may improve. I moved our Wednesday night ‘Stammtisch’ (if you will, my wife calls it that 
) to a place with a lot of capacity because making reservations is a pain and I prefer not to limit the number of people.
This was Sunday night in another place, one of our local spots. I was happy to get a corner table, from where we watched with amusement.
Malibuflyer wrote:
And the responses from the local consumers.
In Germany most shops, restaurants, etc. are open again, but esp. in restaurants the customers do not come back as expected.
I’ve just come back from about 6 weeks in Austria and there the restaurants are full. As I wrote earlier, Austria runs an entrance check system whereby you have to prove that you either have been vaccinated, recovered or tested negative. Once inside there’s a contact tracing form (mostly in form of a QR code). Seems to work well and allowed them to open everything despite the rather low vaccination rates. The only restaurants that are hurting are the ones that rely mostly on tourists, as those are of course still rather scarce. That said, the difference at the airports I traveled through (LAX – FRA – VIE) was amazing. I’ve had to do that same trip twice this year and it went from totally deserted in late January to bustling and pretty much back to normal now.
It is very difficult to see how much lockdown there is, for example reading the above one might suspect that somehow Britain is “locked down” when in fact there is very little in hard restrictions remaining. The main thing is the capacity limits on theatres and other venues and that nightclubs remain closed. The other rules on how many people are supposed to meet privately may still exists but are widely ignored.
Here is an attempt to make it comparable. The US is misclassified because the methodology uses the strictest state as the yardstick.
Indeed, the UK is not really locked down at all (certainly not compared to how it was at its strictest) – just some laws on larger groups/events and a lot of ‘advice’ remaining. None of the remaining laws really affect me, but I am still keen to see them lifted. Laws on numbers of people meeting (6 indoors, 30 outdoors) are being widely ignored, and the 4 week extension is largely for show.
Cultural differences probably play a big part in the willingness of populations to jump back into normal life with gusto. Round here if you want to eat out you should really book or else you’re taking your chances on table availability. I can well believe that the situation may be very different in cultures where people are less headstrong and perhaps actually like being told what to do.
In Germany most shops, restaurants, etc. are open again, but esp. in restaurants the customers do not come back as expected. Most restaurants are actually pretty empty. Many owners I know are now scared that people actually got used to staying at home and shopping online and it takes a long time until activity gets back to normal (if at all)
Same thing here. No wonder, the number of anti vaxxers or people who simply don´t care is growing. The way Austria does things is perfect, here those who have now the long expected vaccination certificate are frustrated as they have no additional relaxations at all. My wife needs to fly to Bulgaria tomorrow and still needs a test (quick test is sufficient thank God) to fly there despite the fact that she has both vaccines. She won´t need anything coming back though. Additionaly, the EU is making noises that they won´t reckognize our certificate, despite the fact that it is compatible. Just because they can. They are pissed off by us rejeting their annexation treaty and now will be awkward.
I am not holding my breath for tourism and restaurants I´ve had a course I had to attend the last few days and still, trains and restaurants are mostly empty. I was actually happy that the trains were so empty but I won´t use them more, they are expensive and a waste of time. Restaurants, I think I won´t bother with them anymore. What for. Home cooking is cheaper and you know the quality. The last 2 days certainly did not convince me to go back there to pay a lot of money to be angry about what I get.
I suppose we have to live with the fact that times have changed for good. In many ways this may even be beneficial. Personally I hope they are going to leave the masks compulsory for public transport and for indoor places, keep home office and get people to finally keep their social distancing. Much more pleasant like this even without a direct threat of fatal illness.
Hard to make bad news out of this local data, our weekly outdoor old car show is resuming this Friday, first time since late 2019. Usually about 500 cars. We’ll be there 
The ultimate coronavirus spread defence – said to be from Belgium
The UK is seeing a shortage of Pfizer vaccine, which is reducing the vaccination rate substantially, given that it is the preferred one for younger people. Are other countries seeing the same slowdown on Pfizer? Nothing I can find on the news about this.
Peter wrote:
The UK is seeing a shortage of Pfizer vaccine, which is reducing the vaccination rate substantially, given that it is the preferred one for younger people.
Same in Norway, which has a significant impact since they are using almost only pfizer… and they have not started vaccinated young people yet, they are currently vaccinating people born 1968 or earlier.
I read about Germany that less Pfizer is expected to be delivered in July, jeopardizing the vaccination strategy. Haven’t heard the same in Switzerland (yet?).
