28 April 2020 – Lockdown Day 47

      

                                                 

25 April 2019 – Alt de Ample (Dead Dog)

Saturday 25 April

Jan did her third shopping trip since lockdown started.   Once again she drove into Jalon to shop at Masymas.

There has been a lot of discussion about which supermarket you have to use.   The official sites insist you must use the nearest shop who offers basic necessities, such as break, milk, meat and fish.  And that you are not allowed to go past the local shop to visit a larger supermarket.   In our cast this would mean that we have to use the village shop.   It is not only small and cramped, but does offer much range and is much more expensive.   Hence Jan set off for Jalon at 10am.

We have not used the car for more than two weeks, so it was a relief that it started first time.   One of our neighbours had to call out breakdown because her car would not start earlier in the week.

You can imagine how Jan felt when she reached the T junction of Alcalali and Jalon to find that there was a large Guardia Civil road block of at least six police cars.    Every car was stopped and checked.  In broken English two policemen asked her where she was going, why and where she had come from.   Strangely they did not check the boot to see if she really had been shopping, nor ask for a receipt.   We had been told this was routine at such stops.   Nor did they ask why she did not use the shop in Parcent.  

It is a relief that it is apparently OK to use Masymas in Jalon.  She said that the whole experience was quite frightening.  However they were not in any way unpleasant.   And no doubt her guilt at not using the shop in Parcent was the real reason it was so unsettling.

Sunday 26 April

For the first time in six weeks, children under the age of 14 are allowed to leave their house today to play or walk, between 0900 and 2100.   Only for one hour, and they must remain within one kilometer of their home.  

It was a lovely sunny morning, and we were quite surprised that Parcent remained as quiet as ever.  We were expecting the sound of children playing, like we do when it is playtime during normal school hours.

Just after 12 noon I walked down to the bins to get rid of a week’s rubbish.   On the way I passed a mother and her son on walking down the road.   He looked to be at the upper end of the age allowed, or perhaps even a little older.   Much to my surprise he did not look at all happy to be out in the sun after such a long time confined to the house.   Perhaps they were at the end of the hour’s walk and he was a little tired.  But he did seem to be grumbling and not at all happy.   Or perhaps he is one of those young teenagers who are never happier than when they are in front of their screen playing one of their games.  

My son Stuart has three children, aged 4, 9 and 13.   Unlike their Spanish counter parts they have been able to exercise outside as much as they like.   But Chloe and Georgia are both restless and want to be back at school.   Jack, the oldest, is quite happy to be playing computer games by remote control with his school mates.   Guess who I thought of when I passed this 13 year old Spanish lad this morning.

Monday 27 April   

Great news today.   

The restrictions on exercising outside the house are to be relaxed next Saturday, 2 May.   It will allow family members to leave the house to exercise or walk.   No further details at present, but it seems it will be similar to the children.   That is to say up to one hour and within 1 kilometer of the house.   It is dependent on how well the children behave, and also the daily stats.

The first day of the children playing outside seems to have gone well.  Obviously reports of some abuse of the relaxation, but in general most have behaved well and stuck to the restrictions.

And the daily stats are also very good.   1831 infections and 331 deaths in the past 24 hours sounds terrible, but it is the best it has been for three weeks.   It is terrible how quickly you become used to these daily stats, and can consider so many deaths “good”.    But it is only a few weeks since it was 900 to 1000 deaths a day!   

          

Tuesday 28 April

There was to be an announcement today about easing the restrictions for adults on Saturday.   It should have been at 2pm, but was delayed all afternoon.   It was finally released about 7pm, but did not give any details about how long, how far, how often

I have posted the sixth Lockdown walking video on YouTube.   It has photographs from two November 2019 walks.   Monday 25^th was Green Horse, and Thursday 28^th Lliber Senija Reverse.   This week the background music is “The Wanderer” by Dion.

You will find the video here

https://youtu.be/s2QjuKCsGRI

24 April 2020 – Lockdown Day 43

    

                                                 

11 April 2019 - Tarbena

Wednesday 22 April

We received a copy of an email from Valencia that 65 and over are to be issued free face masks, but to check with the local town hall to ensure we are registered on the padron.   I sent an email yesterday, and got a reply today to confirm that it is true and we are registered.   They confirmed that we would receive masks and hand cleaner, and that it would be delivered.  However they did not say how many masks or when they would be delivered.

It was also announced today that the lockdown will be extended until 11 May.  The hoped for relaxing of house arrest has also been approved, but only for children under 14 years.   It will come into effect in four days, but no details yet of how it will be applied.   Very typical Spain, all confusion and misinformation.

Once more there is speculation that the restrictions will be relaxed at the end of this next extension.   There is nothing official, just lots of rumour.   After this disappointment we will not be expecting anything after 11 May.    It would be nice if it happens, but we are not expecting it.

Thursday 23 April

When lockdown started we did our daily exercise around the empty villa opposite us.   It has been empty since we moved here in 2006, and we only see people there once or twice a year.   It has a steep drive and we spent twenty minutes up the drive and around the outside area.   We did it twice a day and had no problems, except for a barking dog next door.

Last week we noticed car tyre marks when we did it just after a rain shower.   We didn’t think too much about it.  But last Monday a car drove up just as Jan was finishing her circuit.   The Spanish driver was polite, but told her that it was dangerous using the abandoned house.   We don’t know if someone complained (perhaps the owner of the barking dog), but it seems a coincidence that someone visited the house twice in a week.   Anyway we decided not to use it again.

We then started exercising around our swimming pool.   We walk up and down the outside steps as fast as we can ten times, then we power walk around the pool for fifteen minutes and finish with another ten on the steps.   Within a day or two a few of our neighbours also started doing similar exercise.   This morning our next door neighbours, who are keen ballroom dancers, did some practice dancing around the pool!    It was a most unusual scene with three houses power walking around their individual pools, and a fourth dancing around theirs!

I think this lockdown must be getting to us, but fortunately it has got to the neighbours as well.

Friday 24 April      

Valencia has authorised the issue of facemasks and hand gel, and today we received our quota from Parcent town hall.  Four facemasks and a small bottle of hand cleaner were delivered to the door.   Two of the masks were once only, the other two can be cleaned.

Not too sure why the free issue now, because everyone is still confined to their house.  On Sunday children under 14 years will be able to exercise outside, but they are not required to wear face masks.

According to Facebook some Farmacia issue free facemasks to over 65s.  Not sure if that applies to Parcent, though someone thought that it did.  Next time Jan goes shopping she will call in on the way back and see.

Perhaps this is in preparation for the anticipated relaxation of the restrictions on 11 May.   It is still at the speculation stage, but apparently there is a lot of political pressure to do so.

Meanwhile we have now completed six weeks in house arrest, and have at least another two to look forward to.

21 April 2020 – Lockdown Day 40

Coronavirus Rainbow

Jan picked up this piece of wood on one of our local walks.   Her project on one of our many wet days recently was to convert it into a Coronavirus Rainbow.   It now stands in the porch of our front door.

Saturday 18 April

There was a lot of speculation that the lockdown restrictions would be relaxed on 26 April.   Today there was an announcement that it would only apply to young children.   The rest of us to remain under house arrest.

We follow three main stream Facebook for our information about the crisis.   So far almost all comments have been in support of the restrictions.  And when anyone voiced any disagreement the usual response was along the lines of “if you don’t like bugger off back to the UK”.

However the response to this has been different.  For the first time there are wide spread comments about how unfair it would be on adults.  It would be nice to think that this might result in pressure on government to adopt a more relaxed attitude, similar to the rest of Europe.

Sunday 19 April

The rumblings of discontent continue about the extension of full lockdown for adults.  According to our daily podcast, who pride themselves on checking facts, it has been discussed by government.  

Some local government are demanding that the restrictions be relaxed for adults as well as children.  But the official response is that people cannot be trusted not to abuse any relaxing of the restrictions.   I was really surprised to see that quite a few people agreed with this on Facebook.

Imagine the response if a UK politician made such a statement.    And given how strictly the police here in Spain enforce the regulations, it is much less likely that anyone would get away with any abuse of any relaxing of the restrictions.

Not reading Spanish sufficiently to follow the local newspapers, we have to rely on Facebook for translations.   But I am really surprised that the Spanish, who I always considered anything but strictly law abiding, seem to be taking this really drastic lockdown so well.   Of course it might well be that many locals simply ignore the rules, much as they do with driving and parking.  

We are still hoping that the restrictions might be relaxed on 26 April, but it is now looking very unlikely.

Monday 20 April

Jan has put in an order for a home delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables from a local tradesman.   We have never used this before, but she saw it on Facebook and it would delay having to go to Masymas in Jalon for another few days.

She was quite excited at the prospect, and spent morning looking out of the window.   We didn’t have to stay home to wait for him, we are not allowed to leave the house anyway.   At midday she finally rang to find out where he was, and he told her that today was a festival and where he collects the food from was closed.   So much for a local tradesman, you would think he would know that. 

It say’s much for how much our lives have closed in that we give a second thought to such a thing, let alone spend all morning looking out of the window

Tuesday 21 April

There was an announcement today on our, so far, reliable daily podcast.   From 26 April children aged 14 and below will be allowed to accompany an adult for essential shopping or to visit a chemist.   So much for young children being allowed outside to exercise.  Looks like supermarkets in particular will soon be packed with noisy children.

Completed the fifth lockdown video this morning.   It covers two walks from November 2019, namely Bolulla castle and Denia to Javea windmills.   The background music this week is The Shadows Foot Tapper.   You can find the video on YouTube by following this link:

https://youtu.be/oYobOPxYMH0