Puzzles

I have seen a few instagram updates of people's jigsaw puzzles now during this darn pandemic and I have felt so envious. Back in Finland I loved to put together puzzles. Either 1000 pieces or 1500 pieces. I had a big coffee table and dining table, so it was easy to always have one going. And I lived alone during 4 years, so that helped as well. I still remember my favorite puzzle from my childhood that I would do together with my dad. That one was perhaps a 200 pieces. It was in a glass jar and in one corner there were hazelnuts. I don't remember the big picture but I clearly remember those nuts as they were my favorite pieces. As a child, life is all about the little details.
Even as a teenager I wasn't able to take in the big picture of things, I guess it's the lack of perspective. That's one thing I love the most about growing old. Your lens widens. You have the ability to put things in perspective and zoom out to see the scenery. The beautiful landscapes. 
My good friend and I met as teenagers in St Malo, France. We were there for a 4 week language course. I was 14 and she 15. We went back to celebrate our friendship a few years before turning 30 and I remember how we both were amazed about how little we had really seen of this cute town. We both remembered similar things, what are bikes looked liked and the roundabout where we would meet up on our way to school. We remembered the school and the streets close to the school but we had perhaps seen 35% of a town that is not very big to begin with. It was a mind blowing experience. If a puzzle would have been made from my trip when I was 14, it could have looked like this.

 And here would be the picture of our trip back as adults.

The sales of jigsaw puzzles have gone up tremendously during the last few months of the pandemic I understood from one of the podcasts I listened to. The president of Ravensburger for Noth America was interviewed. And he described the demand as infinite. I believe him. This would normally have been my choice of activity as well and I have always appreciated this German brand. With an 8 month old, it's not possible. So I have had to find other ways to get the little puzzle solver in me satisfied. And that's why I'm so truly thankful to people producing interesting podcasts. I spent the two last days listening to a podcast called Wind of change

  
It's a puzzle lasting for 8 episodes and has everything to do with the Scorpion's song Wind of Change, CIA, KGB and the end of the cold war. Really interesting and well done. Got me thinking I should read about my own country's strategies during the cold war. After all we were there brushing up against the iron curtain. I don't really remember what we learned in school. Most of what I learned in school are puzzle pieces I magically managed to lose. They probably got sucked up by the vacuum cleaner, or something. 
The podcast was an intriguing puzzle and you don't have to be into German rock music to appreciate it.
As for the pandemic struggles here in Queretaro, well I'm starting to be mentally ready to leave this madness. I tried to get in to a grocery store called City Market yesterday. They wouldn't let me in because I didn't have gloves on. A mask is apparently not enough for them, nor spraying alcohol on me. I should start wearing gloves now as well. They lost a client yesterday and for every other day that will follow. I'm not stepping inside this store anymore.

It is a true puzzle to understand the pandemic restrictions we have here. Not a good quality beautiful Ravensburger jigsaw puzzle but one of these poor quality ones that just puts you in a bad mood and makes you want to burn every piece and the box along with, while blasting good old german rock music. One can only hope the wind of change will start blowing this way soon as it seem to have done in Europe.