29 March 2020 – Lockdown Day 17

 Not sunny perhaps, but at least not raining

 

 

 

Saturday 28 March

Saturday is shopping day, or rather it is for Jan.  

                                

Only one person per car, and only one person in the shop at a time.   So Jan gets to do the weekly shopping.   I think she would rather not, but needs must.   It is exactly one week since she last went, so we have managed really well.

Apparently it was less busy than last week, and there was chicken available this week.   But no flour, so no more homemade cakes.   I guess everyone must be doing the same.

Although less busy, it took longer than last week.   Less in the queue to get into Masymas, but it was taking longer for each one to be allowed in.  And it soon became obvious why.   They are allowing less people in at one time, so there is more space.  But everyone is doing a very big shop, including Jan.  It would appear many are trying to restrict it to one shop a week.

The main bodega in Jalon is closed, but strangely not the smaller one near Masymas.   So Jan was able to get a 5 litre bottle of red wine.   We still have half of the previous one, but that would not last until next Saturday and our next planned weekly shop.

Today was warm and sunny, a lovely change after yesterday which was wet, cold and really miserable.   And what a difference it makes.   We could get out in the garden and do a bit of work, plus have lunch out on the naya.  And a very pleasant afternoon tea, which went on for a couple of hours.  

More of the same forecast for tomorrow and Monday, then more rain for the rest of next week.     

Sunday 29 March
Another sunny day, we could get quite a taste for this weather.

The news of the infection and casualty numbers in Spain just keeps getting worse day by day.

We are now into the third week of the lockdown.   It would be hard to see how it could be much stricter, especially for individual freedom.   We are only allowed out to do food shopping or visit a medic, no allowance at all to exercise.   So it is really hard to understand why the numbers keep on increasing.

The worst part is not seeing any end to it all.   I can’t see how we could get from where we are now to resuming our previous life style.   We have not been exposed to the virus, so when the restrictions are relaxed we will, presumably, be just as vulnerable to catching it as now. 

The only solution I can see would be to have an anti-Coronavirus jab, similar to the anti-flu jab.   But by all accounts that it at least 12 months away.   Does that mean another year of lockdown?

Probably better not to think about it too much.

At least the sun is shining today.   Tomorrow can look after itself.         

27 March 2020 – Lockdown Day 15

Thursday 26 March

This is a red letter day – it is sunny.

Not a statement you would expect to hear from someone living in Spain, but after two weeks of pretty miserable weather it was something to get excited by.   It started off grey and overcast, but by mid-morning the clouds disappeared and the sun came out.

                                                                                          

Jan disappeared to fill the washing machine, I put on the kettle and took the covers off the naya furniture.   By the time she has put the washing out to dry we were ready to enjoy the sun.   Two comfortable chairs, a snack, a kindle and an IPad.   What more could you ask for.

Sitting enjoying a break in the sun is something we had come used to, and not something to comment on.   It is a good indication of how much our lives have changed in the past two weeks that this simple pleasure took on so much significance.

It also makes us appreciate, even more, how lucky we are to be able to live here in Spain.   Two weeks of wet, cold and miserable weather in March would be the norm back in the UK.   Indeed we hardly noticed the weather as we went about our busy working lives.   I wonder if we would have noticed it more when we retired, had we remained in the UK.  Probably not, because it was just part of life there.    But we would certainly miss it now if we had to return to the UK.

So even in these difficult and troubling times, and even with the miserable weather on top of the other worries, we still have a lot to be grateful for.

Friday 27 March

Not only wet today, but also much colder.   The heating was back on as we faced another day indoors.   It is also two weeks since lockdown began.

Given the change in the weather, and the prospect of at least two more weeks of lockdown, it would be easy to give in and just be miserable.   Indeed it can be difficult not to do so.   But it is very true to remember that many people, if not most, are worse off than we are.

We are fortunate to live on the outskirts of a very small village, in a valley of widespread similar villages, far from the crowded conditions that most people call home.

Imagine what it must be like to have a young family living in a small flat in the middle of a large estate in a crowded city.  It would still be wet and grey.   But you would also have the constant worry of what the future holds for you and your family.   Unable to go out to work and earn a living the prospects are bleak for many.   Your chances of being infected with the virus are much higher and you have to explain to young children why they still can’t go out and play.

Like I say, you really do have to count your blessings.

25 March 2020 – Lockdown Day 13

  
Tuesday 24 March                                                                

Yet another wet and miserable day.  This is the longest period of wet weather we have had since we moved to Spain in 2006.   It is much more like we were used to in the UK, and one of the reasons we moved here in the first place.

Once again the weather has kept us indoors.  So we are even more desperate for something to keep the boredom at bay.   My new task is to update my large collection of photographs.

I keep copies of all the photographs we have taken on our walks on the computer.   After each walk I spend half a day sorting through the 30-50 photos I take during the walk, and selecting 20 for the blog.   As I do so I enhance them, and delete any I don’t want to keep.  So for the past few months there is usually about 20 photographs from each walk.

But previously I didn’t either enhance or weed the photographs.  On instructions from Jan I immediately deleted any which were not flattering, particularly of her.   But apart from that I just kept them all.

So my new project is to go through each file on the computer, enhance the best and delete the rest.   It sounds really boring, but in actual fact it is really enjoyable.   Looking through the photographs of each walk brings back long forgotten memories of friends we have not seen for years, and memories I had forgotten.

Jan brought me a cup of coffee in the middle of one such session, and suggested that I make a video to send to all our walking friends.    In 2018-19 I started making a video of each year’s walks.   It is very time consuming, and I only got as far as 2012.   I keep intending to take it up again and complete 2013 to 2019.  But life gets in the way, and it lingers in the background.

Wednesday 25 March

But I thought Jan’s idea was an excellent one.  It would give me something else to do, and it would help to cheer up all our walking friends from the Monday Ramblers and the Thursday explorers

It is about a year since I made the last one, and I had largely forgotten how to make them.   First I had to select suitable photographs, then I had to transfer them to my IPad to make the video.  This is because the system I use is not available on PC.  

I decided to concentrate on the 18 walks we have done during January, February and March.   It took a couple of hours to select 80 photographs.   It took another few hours to transfer them to the IPad and make the video.   I also had to select some suitable music for the background.    Jan suggested “500 miles” by The Proclaimers.   It is an old favourite, the theme is suitable for a walking video, and it is a very rousing recording. 

I then have to try to fit 80 photographs into the 3 minutes and 27 seconds that the recording lasts.  This is a lot more difficult than it seems.  I have to make sure that each photo is on the screen long enough to identify, but not too long to be boring.   By hit and miss I reduced the photographs to 70, and it seemed to work well.

Then I had to upload it to YouTube.  I am no expert at this, and it took much longer than I remembered.

But I finally completed the task, and had a link to the video on YouTube.

I then sent out an email to all of the 48 members, about half resident in Spain and the remainder in UK, Holland and Germany.  

Jan and I had really enjoyed making the video, and even more watching the finished product.   The sounds of “500 miles” were heard quite a lot for the remainder of the day.  

We were delighted with the response.   Most replied by email and were full of praise for the video, and all said how much it had cheered them up.   Most also updated us on what they have been doing for the past week.   It was well worth the effort, and we are so encouraged we may well do another one next weekend.

If you would like to see the video you can find it here

https://youtu.be/oIcQMP1_oy0