A while ago I saw a bright red van slowly driving through my neighborhood while giving an announcement through a set of speakers. Although I couldn’t quite understand what they were saying, my first assumption was they were telling people to go home. It was a sunny and unusually warm April day and the park was pretty crowded, mainly with children.

The bus is an initiative of the City of Amsterdam and rides through neighborhoods instructing the public in different languages on how to apply social distancing practices. As the van made its way through the park a group of youngsters started running after the bus. Children from the age of 12 and under are the only citizens allowed to gather with one another at close quarters.

The scene reminded me of a childhood movie that I loved – ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’. It is so long ago since seeing the movie I had to look it up to remind me of the plotline. The only scene that I have ever remembered, however, is when the children followed the Pied Piper into a fantasy land.