440: Lockdown week 12 - lockdown, what lockdown?

I'd love to be able to say it was all over. But, of course, I can't. On the plus side, there were 'only' 43 corona-virus related deaths in the whole week, not so long ago it was more than that each day.

The trouble is that people keep partying and infecting each other. An extract from a Spanish newspaper El Pais: "A birthday party. Double the attendees permitted. Four asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus. Twenty infections. That’s what happened in the Catalan province of Lleida, which, as a result of this new outbreak, will see its healthcare area remain in Phase 1 of Spain’s ongoing deescalation plan for at least one week more than expected. But similar stories are being repeated across Spain." And not just Spain - thoughtless dickheads live amongst us, all over the globe.

As for me, I'm out and about every day. Not kissing the ladies, nor shaking hands with the men, as was the custom 'in the old days', doing the social distancing dance, and wearing a mask when I go into a shop.

On Tuesday I enjoyed my first McDonalds for 11 weeks. On Friday I walked most of the way to Cambrils and called in at a Mexican restaurant for lunch on the way home. Please remind me not to order the large size of nachos next time - I could have fed a regiment. All the good work that I've done over the weeks  to lose some weight has gone out of the window! The three beers didn't help either.(Goldilocks and the 3 beers!)

A funny thing happened to me almost at the end of my 'joglet' this afternoon. I had run and walked (well, mostly walked) to Cap Salou and back and stopped on the way back for coffee and cake. A girl I know came over and we started talking. We 'chinked' elbows, somewhat conspiratorially, and,  much as I enjoyed the experience, I thought it quite strange as when I got home I then had to wash my elbow as well as my hands. Hey ho, isn't life grand.

I wanted to finish with a short video in Russian, showing quite a few examples of Russian "смекалка", which roughly equates to savvy or nous. Some of them are quite brilliant, and others quite stupid. I'll leave you to decide...

439: Lockdown week 11 - Light at the end of the tunnel?

Speaking to regional premiers on Sunday, Pedro Sánchez said that the exceptional measures would begin to be lifted in the coming days “if nothing goes wrong”. 

On Monday, the majority of the country (including Salou) will be in Phase 2 of the government’s deescalation plan, which runs from Phase 0 to Phase 3. After Phase 3, regions and other territorial units will enter what the government has dubbed “the new normality,” where social distancing will still be required but full freedom of movement will return. 

He also said that overseas tourists will be able to return to Spain from July (although he didn't say whether he meant the 1st or 31st!). Clarification is filtering through that "Spain will have to do deals with other countries if tourism is to restart." Just a little too late for my sister to come on her long-planned visit in June. They do need tourism though as it's some 12% of GDP and an enormous employer of people.

I've dusted off the crystal ball and booked return flights to UK in June, allowing for a 14-day perod of self-isolation in my house in Cambridgeshire before returning to Spain. Of course that will depend on there being a 'green light' at both ends of the journey. And the flights not being cancelled. So far a Vueling flight on 11th and a BA flight on 11th have been cancelled. Fingers crossed that the third attempt will take off (and land!) as planned.

As part of the transition to Phase 2, McDonalds has announced that they will re-open tomorrow. I shall make a point of visiting them at some stage tomorrow and gorging myself on a Big Mac and fries. Because I can. I have missed you Ronald! Maybe not so much the 30-minute walk there and 30-minute walk back. 

As usual, a few GIF's, memes, JPGs etc. I hope I'm not repeating any.

 To finish, a coronavirus video in the style of the renowned Stanley Unwin. Who remembers him? N.B. If you're not a native-Brit and you're not older than fifty something you probably won't understand a word of what he's saying!

438: Lockdown week 10 - more good news

The good news, as 'my' part of Spain progresses through Phase 1 of the de-escalation process, is that there were 'only' 87 CV-19 deaths in the last 24 hours. Sadly the number of deaths reported over the weekend is generally under-reported as there are less staff around to submit the stats (we used to call them bean counters in the Army). But it's a downward trend and welcome news indeed.

The bad news is not only do I need to know what day of the week it is (for Skype lessons and virtual lunches etc), but I also need to remember what I'm allowed to do (and with whom). I can go for one period of exercise and one walk 0600-1000 or 2000-2300. I can go shopping at any time and, now, I can sit outside and drink coffee (or beer) at any time at any of the 'coffee shops' that have re-opened.  Once we roll over to Phase 2 I can drink coffee (or beer) inside, provided their capacity is limited to 40%. If I find myself in the wrong place at the wrong time, doing the wrong thing, then I could be invited to pay a hefty fine.

I also read today that the specified timings for walking/exercising no longer apply for towns/villages of less than 10,000 people. It had been 5,000 people but that limit has now been doubled. It doesn't matter here anyway as Salou has a population > 26K. (which probably doubles when the tourists arrive). 

I need to invent a new word in the English language! It's far too much trouble to say most mornings I go 'interval training: one minute jogging and two minutes walking' (not too shabby for an old fart like me). From now on I'm going to talk about going for a joglet! Can you help me get it incorporated into the English language lexicon? 

I've prattled on for too long. Stay safe (and sane)

Here is this week's collection of memes, GIFs etc for your entertainment and amusement. I hope you like them, otherwise I'm wasting my time - a commodity which is valuable to me, even in a lockdown.

	2nd week of quarantine with hubby. I've decided to knit him something.

And, to finish off, two more corona virus parodies:

437:Lockdown Week 9 - Some of us move to Phase 1

What a joy it has been to go running and walking on the streets and along the beach. Each day I see more and more people out and about enjoying the fresh air. I'm lucky enough to have a balcony but there are many who were stuck in their flats for 7 weeks. In general the people I've seen on the streets have been behaving themselves apropos social distancing - and I know how difficult that is for Spaniards as they are quite an emotional people. (O.K. I know I shouldn't stereotype but I couldn't resist it.) It's also difficult for those who live in the big cities, e.g. Madrid & Barcelona, to practice social distancing, as my first picture shows.

But tomorrow 51% of Spaniards (and a significant percentage of Johny foreigner) can transition to Phase 1. The document, explaining what you can and can't do, is almost long enough to be a book but to summarize: groups of up to 10 people can now come together, coffee shops & restaurants with terrace seating can utilize 50% of their seats providing the social distancing rules are still kept, small businesses can re-open. 

The good news from Spain, earlier today, is that 'only' 143 have died from corona-virus related illness during the last 24 hours. Fingers crossed we really are 'winning' in the fight against COVID-19 and it's not just waiting in the wings to hit us with a second 'spike'. I read that the 'flu epidemic of 1918 (aka Spanish flu) killed 50,000,000 people - i.e. one third of the world's population. So far, globally, we're 'only' running at 280,000 deaths. Some countries, Spain included, are, hopefully, past the peak but for many countries the worst is yet to come. 

But the jokes just keep coming. The 'black' humour sustains us in these difficult times...


And two more musical parodies: