Wednesday 18 March
Another cold and overcast day here in Spain, and as so often happens they have been having much better weather in the UK. The weather is almost as depressing as the new life style we are becoming used to. It is so unusual to have a long run of cold and wet weather at this time of year, and the forecast is for more of the same for the next seven days. It feels like even the weather is against us.
Everything on the UK TV and in the newspapers is about
the crisis, and how hard done by they are over there. At present they have been advised to keep
out of bars and cafes, but many seem to be ignoring that advice. There is no restriction on movement nor
leisure activity. From here it seems
they have it pretty easy. The number of
new contacts and deaths are increasing, but still well below Spain, France and
Germany. So I can understand why so
many seem to be ignoring the advice.
But I do think it is ill advised, and I hope that they will not come to
regret it in a week or two.
It is also depressing that there are constant reminders
that over 70s are particularly vulnerable.
I am 75 and Jan is 71. Neither
of us feel either old or vulnerable.
Both of us are probably fitter than many 50-60 year olds. But of course I understand that your ability
to fight the virus gets less as you grow older.
And I also appreciate that most deaths are in the 70 plus age
range. So we accept that we have to be
more careful and avoid all possible outside contact.
We live on the outskirts of Parcent, and walk in the
surrounding area most days. Even before
the Lockdown it was unusual to see anyone else. Even more so now. So it is annoying that it is against the law
for us to go for even a short walk, not even on our own.
Thursday 19 March
Jan commented that our household waste is
getting out of control. We don’t have a
waste collection from the house here in Parcent. There are a lot of large communal waste
bins, which are emptied most days. And
we usually take our kitchen waste out each day in the car and drop it off at
one of the bins. We keep the larger
“green waste” and take it to the special bins each Friday on our way to Calpe
for our weekly shop. Obviously we have
not done either this week, because we have not left the house.
This morning we received an email from the town hall
confirming that the weekly bulk rubbish collection was suspended whilst
Lockdown is in place. This prompted me
to reply and ask if we were allowed to take our household waste to the nearest
bin. We are still waiting for a reply.
We also raised the same question on Facebook and got more
than 40 replies. Almost all were
already doing so, which prompted us to do the same. Jan has spent the last few days pottering
around the garden, when it was not raining.
I had spent all week inside the house.
So she agreed that I could do the first rubbish disposal run.
It takes about 15 minutes to walk from the house to the
nearest bin, a 30 minute return journey.
I neither met, nor saw, anyone else at all. So I neither risked spreading or catching
the virus. However I did wash my hands
immediately I returned to the house, and did so for two slow “happy birthday”.
It was great to get out in the fresh air, even for such a
relatively short time. And in future
Jan and I will take turns to dispose of the household waste.
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