Breathing a little more free after the COVID-19
Yes, the first week after the lock down restrictions have been lifted a little has passed. After last week’s announcement, masks are required in public places like shops, and there are still restrictions on how many passengers a car can take. Tourism is still like a donkey that has it’s front legs tied together. Not a pretty sight. Still it was nice to see some shops open, like the pet shops and so on.
Face masks.
These things have been a bone of contention for a lot of people. It’s restrictive, and makes you smell your own breath, so these devices are not exactly popular. There are plenty of reasons to wear these masks, of course, but it seems to be ingrained in a lot of people to discount the dangers of not wearing a mask in favor of being comfy. The same effect is noticed with pretty much all PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) no matter where you go.
Namibia’s government is still trying to fight this disease as best as they can, bless their souls. We have had one more recovery, and with that Namibia is down to single digits again. The government is testing furiously, but it’s expensive and all the results are negative. Funny thing is, now people are saying the governments has been over reacting as nothing happened.
Like slamming on the breaks of your car to avoid hitting a pedestrian that gets out of the way. Now all the passengers are upset as they were thrown around a little. The human condition is a weird thing. Germany is having trouble with the same thing. It will be a while before we are all breathing a little easier.
Productivity
Personal productivity has dropped quite a bit in the last week. Apart from checking up on the spares for one of the cruisers, nothing much happened. Monitoring Facebook there is a little activity on the tour operator front, with at least two companies taking people into Sandwich Harbor. It looks like the tourism industry is still breathing, albeit shallowly. Also, there seems to be a few people who have taken a weekend tour to various Namibian destinations.
Ah, what a wonderful tool that is. Yes, I probably spend too much time on it, but I am gathering intelligence of what people are up to, trying to look for patterns and then trying to predict the future. You must have seen some movie where some guy gets some artifact from the future where they make a lot of money? I might not be able to predict the next powerball, but Facebook is a useful tool for looking what people are up to without mingling.
In many ways, Facebook is a blessing. It helps to root out scandals in the government, and with the fact checker apps built into it, it is actually getting to be a more sane place. So, every day I go scouting a little, and also put up a nice picture at Awesome Chapters to decorate it a little.
I am also using last week’s pictures on each blog entry, to make the blog visually appealing. At least if you don’t like the rambling texts you can look at some pretty pictures. 😛
Advertising
Rock and a hard place on this one. One has to spend money to make money. With no money to spend, how does one make money? The easy way is just to borrow it, but that has drawbacks, like having to pay back the money. We have had some great exposure with an ad we were running two weeks ago, with 27,000 views just in Walvis Bay. My crystal ball says that people will have a little extra money at the end of this month, and it will become time to start capitalizing on that. I will breathe a lot easier when Awesome Chapters makes enough money to pay the bills.
It’s been predicted to be a rough next couple of months, with still more people cancelling tours later in the year. It’s the safer option for everybody, just not so nice for us. Still, no desperation moves on the table yet. It’s actually nice to see my friends in the tourism industry starting up again. I just don’t think that anyone will make much money in the coming months.
