Packing for six months and every season/clime , within a weight restriction ? Not easy. Takes some thought . What shoes do I need?  Which is the best all around raincoat ? Ah, gloves , which ones I ask imagining I will be in some snow at some point . Vitamins , yeah need those , and perhaps being a bit stodgy ( be prepared)  I like to have , where possible a 6 month supply of just about everything.  I am no fan of running around in foreign places wasting time looking for things .

And masks . The Covid outbreak -this time Omicron which has shaken the world - is racing around the world. Airlines are cancelling flights. Politicians are re-thinking ............everything. The newspapers are gushing , whining , debating. Infection rates are soaring like never before . Great timing .

My two Kindle readers are loaded with 200 books . Can't live without them. Avoid the terror --for me that is what it is -- and I am little terrified in life , maybe never , apart from this --  of heading into a place where English language books are scarce . Very hard to find good books fast, even in some English language speaking countries like the Philippines , had this happen before . Even Paris, with Shakespeare and co, and W H Smith on Rue de Rivoli  who don't have enough variety and there's the weight problem of course .

Covid ? Yes perhaps this will turn out to be a memoir about travels during the era of Covid , as well as an adventure as to carpets and rugs , and inevitably other things of note .

But I am undaunted . I have an Airinium mask from Sweden, claimed to be 99.97 and another , Sonovia from Israel , claiming the same level of protection . And  I have had 6 vaccinations over the past 8 months . A friend said " you may be the first person to die of Covid vaxx. Not a bad legacy" . But no , surely not --  I reckon I am doing what everyone else ( apart from the obdurate anti-vaxxers ) will be doing in another 3 months. In fact there are signs they are already doing it . Boosters is now the big thing .  I had mine in advance, and a little extra , thanks . Also: rabies (2) , yellow fever, typhoid and the rest .

Chaos, bring it on . That's what travel is about .