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: