Tuesday 28th April 2020

Day forty feels like a bit of a milestone. Jesus fasted for 40 days and for 40 nights in the bible, didn’t he? It was also the amount of days from the resurrection to the ascension. Apparently, in the bible it’s pretty significant. I am not religious, but 40 days was the announcement of the deescalation plan for lockdown, so it has to account for something!

Remember when I said I missed sunrise? Obviously my body felt that as at 7am on the dot, I was awake and raring to go for the day. I opened the curtains and let the pink sky come trickling in. The sun was starting to rise and what a gift it was to be able to start the day with a sunrise as beautiful as this.

It had been a fairly regular weekday with Alex at work and me doing bits and pieces. I try to do loads on a Tuesday to allow myself to have Wednesday off. I quite like the idea of a wellness Wednesday so I try to avoid doing too much work on a Wednesday. It used to work out great with work too as I only used to do 3 hours on a Wednesday, just before Christmas I was doing 6 though so it didn’t last long.

Everything just kinda has a flow to it now. We get up, have breakfast, I write my blog post and Alex starts setting up ready for class. The day slots around Alex’s workday so I know for one, the first challenge is going to be adjusting back to my timetable. I was eased in to working until late at night so it didn’t feel such a jump. Going from eating at 3 o’clock and again at 8 o’clock is going to be difficult to get out of. I’ll miss us having breakfast too. There weren’t many meals we’d eat together before. I’d go out for late breakfast, and Alex would have breakfast on the way to work and then a full lunch provided by the school. It would be only dinner that we sat together and by then we were so tired that it was a watching TV on the sofa before going to bed. It was only really weekends where we crossed over. It’s been nice to have all this extra time.

We’ve started listening to a new audiobook, The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger, the CEO of the Walt Disney company. It is so inspiring that you don’t even need to like Disney to appreciate the motivational message of it all. We’re on chapter 3 now, Bob Iger, reads it aloud so it’s almost like you’re sat in one of his board meetings.

Fear of failure destroys creativity.

Within the first couple of minutes, he’d already said at least 3 quotes that I’ll remember for a long time and will stick with me.

How you do anything is how you do everything.

The sheer detail of Disney and the ventures it makes. It’s not afraid to make some changes, try things out while sticking to their original core values. It’s all very clever.

I’d finally finished my book too, which brings me to 11 books during lockdown. The book took far too long to get going, there were some details which were skimmed over (why was an entire trip around Europe in half a page but we found out full names of random people at parties and never heard from them again!?). It also seemed to skim over some pretty traumatic stuff in just a passing comment which I didn’t like. I wasn’t particularly fond of the storyline either. Unless you’re looking for a little 70’s/80’s life nostalgia then I wouldn’t recommend it to be honest. I was glad when it ended. I didn’t even like the ending!

But I’ve started a new book and I’m enjoying this one, I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella. This is much more my style and I’m already a few chapters in. I tried reading it in bed but I was fighting to keep my eye open.

I did my ab blaster and yoga at night, a 6 minute abs and a 12 minute yoga. I had planned to do it earlier, but my watch had gone flat, so it wouldn’t have been able to register the workout. I had been meaning to charge it for a while but kept forgetting. Who knows what I was doing? Probably playing brawl stars.

We FaceTimed with our friends in the middle of the day. Seeing what they’re up to and it’s the same for everyone. It’s just all a bit of a weird time. Nobody really knows what’s happening or how long or anything! I often think we’re not being told the full story. It seems that there’s major gaps in news reporting and it makes me wonder how much other stuff do we not know about. They were having pizza and soup which set us off. Alex had a pizza and I had a chicken soup. Rio smashes his paws on to the table, in the least delicate manner (he’s so clumpy he’s not delicate at anything, unlike Marley) and laughs and glares at food when you eat at the table.

My body shop order also came, I’ve been really excited to smell them. I seriously love smelling new toiletries it’s one of my favourite smells. It came while Alex was doing his workout but he still went and got it (I always order in Alex’s name, it’s just easier!). I ordered the Tea Tree collection, but what actually came was the Fuji Green Tea shampoo and conditioner and the tea tree body wash, which is fine because they all smell delightful so it doesn’t really matter. I think they might’ve stopped doing tea tree because it was the old label on the body wash. I’d also ordered the body shop deodorant stick to give that a go.

I also realised that I’d been sent some products when I was back in England to feature on my blog, but I completely forgot about them with the craziness of cancelled flights and lockdown. I think it was able to give me a more accurate feeling about them though as I’ve been using them for over a month now. I posted about my BIODERMA bits yesterday so I’ll post about the other bits and pieces possibly next week when I can get out and about more. I went out to the front balcony to get some photos of them and noticed just how busy the streets were. The car park was filled with kids playing. The sounds of laughter and squealing circled around the community and it was almost that reminder that normality is coming.

I love my reading nook cross home office. I really do. I’ve sat there and wrote 35 blog posts, finished 11 books, studied languages for about 10 hours, clocked up 80+ hours of work, watched 30+ sunsets and 25+ sunrises during lockdown in that corner. It’s such an inspiring and comfortable place to be. What a difference moving around a little bit of furniture made.

It seems surreal that we’re almost on a schedule now. It feels weird to know that we’re heading back towards normality and going to work properly. I’m not sure how I feel about it. I have really enjoyed working from home and the extra time to be on my own schedule. We have kept to our same sleep routine though, I’m up between 7 and 8 everyday and I’m in bed for just before 11. I fall asleep so quickly it’s unbelievable. Both me and Alex.

As we were having our pork topped with stuffing, which always reminds me of Sunday’s with Alex’s family, I read the press announcement by Sanchez describing the lockdown deescalation measures. It’s a four stage process, and we’re currently heading towards stage 0. He spoke to the nation and N332 Facebook page then described afterwards. I’d urge you to follow them if you live in the area as they post all the up to date news as it happens too. Lots share fake news or rumours, but the N332 is an English page run by police officers who share the proper information.

The process is expected to last 8 weeks. With each of the four stages lasting two weeks. Phase 0 will begin on May 4th, two days after we’re allowed out to do exercise. Small businesses that aren’t in direct contact with people will also be allowed to reopen. Some other businesses will be allowed to open by prior appointment, I’m assuming this will be people like social security.

Phase 1 is due to start two weeks later, but in low risk areas it will begin much sooner. The phases will depend on your own province so each province might move quicker or slower through the stages depending on their response and how the virus is going. Phase 1 for the provinces that have met the criteria will start on 11th May. This phase is when bars and restaurants will be allowed to open and operate, but only outdoor terraces. Further small businesses will be allowed to open, subject to hygiene and social distancing controls. The bars and restaurants will have to operate at 30% capacity to allow for correct table distances. This is also when freedom of movement will be partly lifted, allowing us to travel in our own province. This means we’ll be allowed up as far as Denia and as far down as Torrevieja. Some hotels will also be allowed to open and operate, but again at 30% occupancy, with absolutely zero communal zones. This means no going to the hotel pools or gardens and the restaurants and bars will not operate. Sports will also be allowed to resume, but with strict conditions and shops will have a timetable for the over 65’s. Alex is very happy about kayaking being allowed to resume in the next couple of weeks!

The timescale for phase 0 to phase 1 is only for provinces that have consistent reduced new infections and less than 50% ICU capacity.

That’s when we’d start into Phase 2. This is when bars and restaurants will be allowed to open their interior with 30% occupancy and table service only. Some educational centres will be allowed to open to take care of children, where both parents are working and there’s nobody at home to take care of the children. Some public gatherings outdoors will be allowed to resume with under 400 people and social distancing adhered to.

Phase 3 is when flexibility of movement is returned but with the recommendation of masks. Business, like bars and restaurants will be allowed to open at 50% occupancy. It’s also when beaches will be reopened with distancing measures enforced. We are predicted to reach Phase 3 by the end of June, which means it’s possible I can have a fairly normal birthday! I always loved having a June birthday.

Schools are now officially closed until September, offering home learning until then. Except in the case where the centre is open to allow the children under the age of staying home alone to go to school or the education centre. Movement between provinces and out of Spain is restricted until the situation here improves and an extended state of alarm has been sought for a further 15 days.

It’s a lot to take in, but it shows progression and a clear aim at what we’re working towards. Knowing what we need to do will hopefully mean everybody will come together and adhere to the rules, like the majority have been doing here, to ensure we get to Phase 3 and beyond, as quickly as possible.

I don’t know where my work falls into this, I would assume they’re also not allowed to open until the schools do in September, due to the lack of space to be able to social distance. I am definitely looking forward to being able to go for a walk, or head to the coastline to sit on a terrace with tapas and a drink. We only sit on terraces anyway, so it would just be a case of finding a bar that isn’t at full capacity. I wonder how they’ll monitor it?

There was a fantastic sunrise and Rio sat there good as gold while I was taking photos of him. He’s such a poser. It was a bright pink, one that brings hope and positive energy for the future. We’re heading in the right direction.

Every day is one day closer.

Keep safe,

L x