435: Lockdown Week 7

I know it's wrong but I'm starting to get a little blasé about the whole thing, maybe even a little slapdash. Yesterday, for example, I followed the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law. The letter of the law allows one to go shopping. The spirit of the law, to my mind, really ought to mean to go to the nearest shop and to go as infrequently as possible. But I went to the nearest supermarket, 400m away, came home and dumped my shopping, and then went out again to another supermarket, this time 1km away. Naughty boy!

From today, children under 14 are allowed out to walk for up to 1km and in the company of one adult. 

But last night came the news I had been waiting for: From Saturday 2nd May, adults will be allowed out for walks/exercise - provided that the contagion figures keep going down. This tiny relaxation of the quarantine restrictions will mean so much for me. The Med is a 15 minute walk from my little flat but for the last 7 weeks it may as well have been 15 miles. It will be good to see it again. And, to quote from a translation of what Prime Minister Sanchez said "the de-escalation of confinement measures will take place throughout May, and we will see what happens in the month of June.”

He also said “I would like to convey to you the importance of being cautious. This is not a race to see who is the first to reopen a shopping mall or a small business establishment.” Todays total of deaths attributable to Covid-19 was recorded as 'only' 288. Weekend totals are often lower "due to lower levels of personnel".

I hope my few blog readers, whatever country they're currently in,  can also begin to enjoy a de-escalation in the very near future.  

A few more jokes to lighten the general mood of pessimism. At the risk of teaching grandmother to suck eggs, click on each picture and it will enlarge.

434: Lockdown Week 6

Negatives

1.  Another two weeks are about to be added to the quarantine, making almost two months (so far). It strikes me that prisoners get time off for good behaviour, whereas we're getting time added on! If they'd said two months at the beginning I think they may have had a mutiny on their hands.

2.  It has been raining, it is raining and it promises to be raining for most of this week. Nice! Not! I suppose it doesn't matter if we're indoors anyway. Miss the sunshine.

3.  The mosquito season has started and at least one of them did a few circuits of my bedroom last night. Thankfully I have king-size sheets on a double bed so can just pull the sheet up over my head and practice being in a morgue. 

4.   Even with all this extra time on my hands I still find there aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish everything I would like to. Most days I end up with more on the to-do list than when I started the day. (I suppose, intrinsically, I'm just an idle bugger) 

Let's see if I can't balance the Yin and Yang.

Positives

1.    I'm spending more face-to-face on-line time with both family and friends.

2.   I'm slowly improving my Spanish - despite no longer having the same opportunities to speak it.

3.   The Spanish language database I have designed and am developing is slowly progressing. Will it ever be ready to sell and make me a multi-millionaire? Perhaps not.

4.   There is a glimmer of hope with the quarantine. I read that Regional governors are pressing Sanchez to allow us out for some exercise (like people can do in many other countries). Children are apparently going to be allowed out from 27th April. I might be asking friends if I can borrow a few! It must have been hell for those with no garden to play in. Registered coronavirus deaths are finally below 400, although weekend totals are notoriously inaccurate. Last Thursday I sneaked in a little 'expedition' to the local Lidl. It is 1km from here. I enjoyed the walk so much that I'm going to do it again next Thursday! 

And now for the odd cock a snook (British informal) at the coronavirus. I'm sure you will have seen a few of them but hopefully there is something new here for you:

Three video clips today:

Hello Mama, Hello Papa - prompted because of the rain in Spain this week

On the eve of destruction - prompted because of coronavirus (I know it's an anti-war song, but the title sounded right)

Mountbatten Military Music festival 2020 - from The Royal Albert Hall - stirring stuff

433:Lockdown Week 5

Greetings fellow hermits! How are you coping with the monotony? It seems that every time you fix your mind on an end date they move the goal-posts and you find yourself 'banged up' for another two weeks.

I can see the sense of quarantine, and self-isolation, and social-distancing. But I can't really see the sense of not being allowed out for a (long) walk. I would be on my own, neither passing, nor receiving, the dreaded virus. Perhaps after the next planned lockdown end date... "From that moment on, the relaxation [of the confinement orders] will happen progressively so that citizens can begin, in an orderly fashion, to return to normal life, to the streets, to the public squares.” Spanish Government spokesman on 8th April.

Happy Easter.

It's Easter Sunday today, at least in the Christian calendar. In the Russian Orthodox church, which has Easter on a different date because they still use the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian one that 'we' use, today is вербное воскресенье or pussy-willow Sunday, the first day of their Holy Week.

The message is the same: Jesus Christ has risen from the grave.

More pictures than words this time, 1) because I have so many of them and they just keep on coming, 2) because it's getting harder and harder to find themes to write about when I'm stuck indoors all day and every day and 3) because it's time to cook dinner! 

 

432: Lockdown Week 4

Week 4, already the stay-at-home regime feels like the new "normal". What was life like before? Who can remember? I had my 69th birthday on Thursday of last week. Many of my friends on FB were kind enough to wish me Happy Birthday and some even visited me in "Des's virtual pub". It was nice to see, and talk to, some people I hadn't seen for years. Perversely, this lockdown is bringing us closer together - although no touching/hugging/kissing is allowed.

I have the utmost admiration and respect for those people who still have to go to work, to keep the world turning: nurses & doctors and all emergency services including the military, food shop staff & delivery people, care home workers, people working in public transport, postal workers and so on - the list of 'key' workers is long. Not all of them have the correct PPE (personal protective equipment), which is scandalous. Even with PPE they are putting themselves "in harm's way" and I applaud them all for that. I've heard that in UK people applaud key workers, especially NHS staff, every Thursday evening. Here in Spain, the applause rings out from the balconies every single night. 

I'm also very aware of those enduring lockdown with difficulty. This post, from a friend of mine on FB, seems to sum it up nicely. "My sobbing 6 year old daughter: 'Mummy, I just want a normal day'. So do I, my darling, so do I." 

We are allowed to go shopping and usually, and sensibly, I go to the closest supermarket - about 200 metres away. Yesterday I sneaked out early, shopping bag in hand, to venture a little further for my favourite bread. The streets were deserted but there was evidence that the rubbish containers, which are almost on every street corner, had been disinfected. More key workers. I did some 'panic buying' and bought three loaves. They went straight into the freezer and will last me for weeks saving me another trip to that particular shop.

Yesterday was Palm Sunday, the beginning of hol(ida)y week when Salou would normally be waking up from its long Winter hibernation and getting ready for an influx of rowdy tourists. It will have to sleep a while longer I'm afraid. 

Talking, briefly, about Religion, many (most?) Christians will believe that the corona virus is the work of God and He has chosen to inflict this on mankind at this time. For myself I wonder how closely He has chosen to micro-manage the spread of the virus or has he just thrown us a fast ball and is sitting back watching how we deal with it. Enough theology.

Have you noticed that after even a simple sneeze, or a single cough, the irrational part of your brain cuts in and says "oh-huh, this is it and I'm going to die!". Thankfully, logic prevails.

Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish prime minister, speaking at a press conference on Saturday, warned that an eventual return to normality would "not be easy" and that a new world awaited. "The world that is coming, in which we are already, will not be like yesterday, but even less will be like the day before yesterday." 

While we're looking forward to tomorrow, or perhaps the day after, here are a few more jokes/GIFs/Memes that I've come across on the internet and saved for your delectation. Enjoy.