Saturday 21 March 2020

Although it’s day one for us, I’m pretty sure it’s like day 8 for everybody else. But, since we were in the U.K. and Jet2 cancelled all of their flights to Spain, it meant that we spent longer at home in the U.K. so missed not only the transition of Spain closing schools, pubs, restaurants etc and then missing the initial lockdown.

I wanted to start sharing a daily diary about what we get up to in this isolation period, for a multitude of reasons. The first being, a lot of people are asking if we’re okay, or what’s happening or what it’s like which is really lovely so I thought it would be easier to update here. The second is that hey, at some point, people in the future might want to know about the coronavirus quarantine of 2020. Who knows, in years to come children might study the pandemic and how it brought a fast paced world to a standstill. The other main reason was for entertainment. Entertainment for you, for something to read, but also entertainment for me. A place to write what we’ve been up to, something to focus on, something to…well do.

There’s a lot of scaremongering going on at the minute, and most disappointingly is there are a lot of “social media influencers” sharing and spreading false information about the isolation period in Spain. People who don’t even live in Spain sharing what it’s like and what our rules are… yet they haven’t got them right.

There’s a few people sharing a graphic around that has so much misinformation on it, it’s unbelievable. Trust me, the hospitals can’t keep up with masks and gloves, neither can the police force. They’re asking citizens to volunteer to sew masks because they seriously can’t keep up. So sharing that supermarkets are handing out gloves at the door and refusing to let you in unless you’re wearing a mask and gloves is just ludicrous.

There’s a lot of misinformation circulating around the police force and what they’re doing. People saying that you get fined for just being outside. People saying they’re unable to drive and they’re not allowed to walk to the supermarket… this again is untrue. You can walk to the supermarket. As long as it’s your nearest supermarket and you’re not using it as an excuse to go outside, there’s no issue. Police aren’t just fining people left, right and centre. In fact, on the whole, it’s a last resort. Caught out without reason on various occasions? Yeah, you’re probably gonna get fined…

The first day of isolation was the most nerve-wracking. I knew once Rio was home it would get a whole lot easier, but it was the idea that he might not be able to come home. That would be some kind of boring isolation!

Alex went out just before 9am to do our shopping at our local supermarket. You’re only allowed a certain amount of people in store at a time, so the others have to wait outside in a single file queue with a 1m distance between them. The queue moves pretty quickly because lots of the shop is shut off. There’s no browsing around the technology aisles, towels and kitchen wear is all shut off. Basically, if it’s not food, cleaning or pharmaceutical then you’re not getting your hands on it.

Of course, deliveries are still happening. If you are in the U.K. and are thinking about updating your tv or games consoles or just do some home-wear upgrades then definitely get them now before the shops start shutting those areas off. Like I say, deliveries are still available though on those products.

The supermarket was fully stocked other than some microwave rice, which is sometimes out of stock anyway. So all in all, the shops are fine. There’s no clothes browsing or anything like that, it’s literally your essentials.

He got back shortly after 10am with a 150€ shop, so that should give you an idea about how much is actually in stock. That should last us the week, but he might need to go again to get some milk or bread later on in the week. You have to go shopping alone, and as Alex is the driver, and does the cooking, shopping is up to him. There are exceptions to this obviously. If you have kids at home who can’t be left alone they can go shopping with you. The same goes for a incapacitated dependant. I think some of the rules are a little bizarre, like if you need to go to work the person you live with shouldn’t give you a ride, instead you need to order a taxi or take public transport – which would put you into contact with more people. Anyway, who are we to question?

He left out not long after to go and collect Rio. The drive is over an hour away, so the three civil guard stops weren’t particularly happy about the journey, but were understanding. They weren’t particularly happy about him doing the trip as they knew Rio had food and water, so didn’t see it as an essential. After a little reasoning about how we’ve only just arrived back in the country and how it’s all additional costs etc, they let him get Rio.

The rest of the day was spent mainly waiting for the next meal. What’s an acceptable time to have dinner? What’s the right time difference between breakfast and lunch? Can a shower be doubled in time? How many Disney movies can we squeeze in? Well, the latter it was apparently three.

I did some yoga and Alex took a Rio on a few walks. He’s not allowed to venture too far away from the apartment block and it’s a case of once Rio has done his business, it’s time to go home.

It’s very quiet in our apartment block, with just a few families that seem to be here. It’s quite daunting looking around and seeing nothing happening. No gardening. No maintenance. Just eerily silent. It’s like everyday is Christmas Day. The building work on Delfin Tower has stopped and the grey, rainy weather that has been looming just adds to the solemn atmosphere.

On the whole though, it’s not so bad. We’ve had the balcony window open to let fresh air in and we’ve watched some movies and played brawl stars. We watched Big Hero 6 for the first time and Alex has certified it as his favourite Disney movie. I loved it too, even though it’s super sad! We watched Brave too for the first time, which has a belter of an opening song and Merida is awesome, the story line is a little naff though. We finished with one of my favourites, Tangled.

We had Chile for dinner whilst watching movies and headed to bed around 11pm. So far, it kinda felt like a Sunday. Lazying around in pyjamas watching movies. I’ll definitely need more activities to do so I don’t end up just sitting on the sofa everyday. I’m thinking about downloading some ebooks to read and I might start one of my adult colouring books which have just been sat collecting dust for a while.

We’re unsure as to how long this lockdown will actually last, which is a little unnerving. Alex is working from home, but the pay drop from me not working is unsettling. Hopefully, I’ll be able to claim unemployment from the state.

Thank you to the supermarket staff, the pharmacists, the police, the army, the doctors, the nurses, the vets, the cleaners and everybody else working front line who are working to keep us all safe.

Keep safe everybody

L x