Corona Consolations - Nordic Walks In And Near Gothenburg, March - Mai 2020

Suddenly in 1986, huge amounts of radioactive fallout from the catastrophic explosion of the Chernobyl reactor descended on Europe in an uneven pattern, due to prevailing winds and rainfall. This country, Sweden, was the first to discover the contamination, in panic searching for a suspected domestic source. Large parts of the country were severely hit, amongst them an area where I happend to work at the time. But even the rest received unnerving amounts of radiation.
One of the worst aspects was that nature itself had suddenly turned into a threat. The fallout was everywhere, covering everything. It was even being absorbed by animals and plants. And it was here to stay for an uncertain length of time. You had to avoid the outdoors, home was a safer place, buildings, rooms, basements. The deeper behind walls and barriers you were, the less exposure to the danger you had. It was a devastating feeling to not be safe in the great wide open. Even the very air you breathed, rain that fell on you, nothing could be trusted anymore. Nature had let you down, it was your enemy. But then, who let down whom... I think, everybody knows, to echo Leonard Cohen's eery song:
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed

And now Corona. It has hit us severely and scared us in a way we never felt before. Yet for the time being we are spared the horrible feeling that the natural world had become a threat (not counting the virus itself). On the contrary, nature suddenly rose to a level of integrity it had not enjoyed for some time. Especially the air quality got much better. In some countries, like India, dramatically, but noticable almost everywhere through the absence of airplane condense trails, with their irritating aftermath of weird artificial cloudscapes.

Other than a call for social distancing, there were no restrictions in this country in the freedom to be outside. So nature stayed your friend, welcomed you. I quit my training sessions in our shared basement gym, it felt a bit unsafe since a number of people use it. Instead I intensified my nordic walks, using arms and poles for a good part of the forward thrust. During the months of March to Mai the weather was unusually sunny, with the exception of two days, which were the most memorable. They featured a blend of sunshine and short gusty episodes with forceful graupel (soft hail) showers! No pix possible, but to stand there exposed near the shore with a 360 degree clear view, feeling this marvellous, coolish caress on the sweaty face, straight from Mother Nature herself, unforgettable. Freedom itself!

Nordic walking and photography don't go together so well. You don't want to carry heavy equipment, handle bulky cameras, or change lenses. A light, pocketable camera is ok, sometimes you can use your poles as a makeshift tripod. My pocket camera provided me with a somewhat downscaled type of photography but came to play an 'upscaled' role in the entire experience: Being outdoors was even more “intense” than normally, more special, less self-understood. I also observed the dignity of other living things taking care of life and growth. All in all, my walks where helpful in coping with the many concerns, pressures and fears arising in this - for us - unprecedented life-situation.