Post by Charlie Freeman on Mar 15, 2020 19:34:47 GMT
Many thanks for the update Guys. We live in uncertain times but from my point of view, if I am allowed to travel and can travel safely and the ECM is on then I will be there! Charlie
Many thanks for the update Guys. We live in uncertain times but from my point of view, if I am allowed to travel and can travel safely and the ECM is on then I will be there! Charlie
That's the spirit!! Fingers crossed for all of us!
Post by Charlie Freeman on Mar 16, 2020 20:49:13 GMT
We have now moved into the next stage in the UK and there will be more enforcement from the weekend. 1. No travel unless necessary 2. Refrain from going to Pubs and Clubs 3. Only go out for essential shopping 4. Wherever possible to work from home.
The UK are trying to flatten out the curve so it gives the Health service a chance of coping. Not sure if this will work or not. The next stage is isolation for the over 70's for four months!
If I am honest I cannot see the UK participants getting to Austria! I am being realistic!
We have now moved into the next stage in the UK and there will be more enforcement from the weekend. 1. No travel unless necessary 2. Refrain from going to Pubs and Clubs 3. Only go out for essential shopping 4. Wherever possible to work from home.
The UK are trying to flatten out the curve so it gives the Health service a chance of coping. Not sure if this will work or not. The next stage is isolation for the over 70's for four months!
If I am honest I cannot see the UK participants getting to Austria! I am being realistic!
Charlie, I do understand your concern, and i think all of us are living in uncertain times at this point. The circumstances you discribe are the same as overhere in NL and CZ, as in other countries too.
Nobody knows how this will develope and when life will be back to normal again. But as i stated earlier, there is NO need to cancel everything now. It won't make any difference, so let's wait and see. We wait untill mid May and see how things are at that point. But in the meantime we are working on Plan B. ofcourse.
Post by Charlie Freeman on Mar 17, 2020 15:19:06 GMT
No intention of cancelling Roel until the point of ''no return'' Obviously you have a Plan B which of course is not being shared at present. My suggestion if the ECM has to be cancelled this year would be to move it to 2021. At least all the hard work, especially from Alan on the route maps etc, would not be wasted and could be utilised. Cheers Charlie
Post by Roel de Vringer on Mar 17, 2020 16:25:03 GMT
@ Charlie and ALL ECM participants,
Dear Friends,
As said before, we find ourselves in difficult and uncertain times. Nobody knows what will happen and most of all, how long this situation will continue to disrupt all the things we are used to in our 'normal' life.
I get info from Austria via Tom and from NL via the newspapers. Info from abroad is not always available up-to-date here and for me it's sometimes difficult to 'filter out' the essentials. Especially because things are moving so fast with government decisions that it's hard to keep up, and since the Forum is not a NEWS site, our ECM messages will most likely be outdated when i post them... Impossible to keep up, as you can understand.
So my earlier reactions to the events in EU in my Forum posts might seem to point out that i am not too worried and urging people not to take instant decisions to abort the ECM, the fact is that behind the scenes, we are looking forward and already working on plan B.
As Charlie said, plan B. is still under wraps untill a later moment because we are still working on it and it's not yet complete, but the suggestion to postpone the total ECM event to next year has been discussed too. In fact it's our plan C.
Again, NOBODY knows what will happen the next few months, and so we keep things as they are for NOW, and will decide what to do, or what NEEDS to be done by early May. At that point, for us AND for the participants there is plenty of time available to either cancel everything or go to plan B. if possible.
In case we go for plan B. OR plan C. all our work and energy, and that of Alan too, will not be wasted like Charlie correctly said.
For now I hope it's clear for all of us that we do our best to manage the ECM as good as we can, and that NEVER EVER before, organizers of previous ECM's have been confronted with a comparable situation. Neither have all of us...
Whether our ECM will take place in June or later this year, or even in 2021, TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE IT WORK.
Good note Roel, thanks for sharing and I support your view at this current time, things are moving so fast at the moment. Stay safe all.
Thanks Graham, much appreciated..
I just came home from an honest days work ( outside and alone, renovating a holiday cottage on a deserted camping, so quite safe i think) and find my email stacked with things about this bl'''dy Corona... It's depressing stuff and it's not easy to keep the spirit, but we will pull through all of this!
Fortunatly i have (up till this very moment) just ONE Corona-related cancellation, so it seems more participants support the idea to wait and see how things will develop, and make up our minds early/mid May when we know much more.
We all will have to wait for the results and see what this Corona virus and the actions of our Governments will actually have in store for us and how we can cope with everyday life that we've taken for granted for so long.
Some countries and/or areas seem to be hit harder than others. At least that is the impression i get from the news. FYI: Where i live in the rather sparsely populated middle of NL, we have just 2 confirmed cases (both in hospital) in the whole district of our 6 villages... That's just TWO on a total population of about 90.000. So maybe we will get off lightly or maybe the big hit still has to come. Nothing i can do but try to be safe and wait for it.
For me personnally it is a dangerous time as well: 66 yo, and I've had 2 heart operations, take medicine and have mild astma...
Let's hope all of us will stay safe and that at the ECM, whenever that will be, we can raise a glass or two and celebrate life!