The Law Abiding Citizen

A friend of mine recently told me of his predicament: his birthday was coming up and he did not know whether to invite friends for a drink during the Corona period. The current regulations are fairly strict: only members of two households were permitted to meet. Partying is more than frowned upon – it is forbidden. Some of the other states in Germany had already permitted up to 10 people to meet outdoors, his didn’t. Despite that, my friend decided to take the plunge and invited a few friends for drinks in the park near his home. Without noticing it, he had 26 friends who accepted his invitation. What now? He had more on his list. Could he ask even more people? He wanted my view.

I warned him that what he was doing was illegal. I looked up the regulations. They were strict. High fines could be levied on offenders.

As I saw it, there were two “what-if” issues: what if one of the guests turns out to have been infected. And, what if a nosy neighbour, or just another person in the park, would call the police.

I was not worried about the health hazard: after all, the party was in the open air, those who chose to attend, could decide what distance they wished to keep, what level of protection they chose and whether to accept or reject the offered food and drinks. After all there is no limitation on the number of people walking in the park.

The overzealous informer was a different matter. Neighbourhood attendants acting as informers are – say some defamers - a very “German” trait. 

My advice was to stop inviting and hope that those who weren’t asked would forgive him. And... establish four “centres”, none of which included more than eight guests...

Great party. Wonderful atmosphere.