17 March 2020 – Lockdown Day 5

 

 

Monday 16 March

Today was overcast and wet.   The lovely sunny weather of the past four weeks had been replaced with cold and wet weather more suitable to the UK than to Spain.

The weather did nothing to improve our mood, which was also pretty miserable.   The only consolation was that even without the Lockdown we would not have done our usual Monday walk.

                                                                                                

We followed developments on Facebook and the local English speaking radio station.   There were minor adjustments to the restrictions, such as children could accompany one adult in a car.  But only one adult per car, unless taking someone to a hospital appointment.    It was clear that the original harsh restrictions would not be relaxed, and would be strictly enforced.

Most of all we missed being able to go for a walk.   We are used to walking most days, if only an hour circular walk from the house.   We are fortunate to live in a lovely area, and there are lots of alternative walks.    Most end in a local village for a coffee or cold drink.    Now we are not even allowed to leave the house together, let alone go for a walk together.

Tuesday 17 March

We are now getting really restless.   The weather is better, and we could sit on the naya and get some fresh air.     We both do exercises each day, but they are strengthening ones rather than really hard work.   However Jan suggested that we run up and down the starts.   We started with 5 up and 5 down, but it was more “power walking” than “running”.   However it was enough to make us pant, so it must be doing some good.

The UK TV is full of the virus panic in the UK.   It feels really strange to be living in Spain, but getting really very little official advice or information.   And at the same time getting masses of information and comment about the situation in the UK.   At present the biggest problem seems to be panic buying in the supermarkets.   The TV is not the most reliable source, as they tend to report the extremes.  But there seems to be a lot of empty shelves in the shops there.  

We have not been shopping here since the Lockdown.    We did our usual weekly shop last Friday, just before the restrictions were imposed.   So we have plenty of everything, at least until the end of the week.  

We are both in our 70s, and are well aware that we are one of the vulnerable groups.   Consequently we are happy to avoid large groups, or even small ones.   So we do not intend to visit any shops until Friday.

We seem to be coming to terms with the crisis.   The restrictions here in Spain are much worse than in the UK, and the infections and deaths are also much higher.   Second only to Italy in Europe.   But people here, at least on Facebook, seem to be accepting much better than in the UK.

Fortunately we are both “glass half full” rather than “glass half empty” types, and as there is nothing we can do to improve the situation we are determined to just take it one day at a time and make life as pleasant as we can.