Tuesday 12th May 2020

I’ve been considering bringing this daily blog to a close. I don’t know how everybody else feels about that, but I think it’s coming to a natural close and we’re broaching into a new routine with fairly regular patterns. We’re now out and about much more meaning that I have less time to spend on the blog.

Maybe it’s more interesting now we’re out and about? Or maybe I just can’t commit to writing nicely now I cannot be at the iPad posting each morning. I’ve been lax with posting times too which makes me feel bad. I hope you don’t mind. I’m spending a lot of time sorting out stuff behind the scenes here, especially in my own life and even more so sorting out working from home. Work has really picked up in the last week or so, so it’s getting difficult to find the motivation to do things I’d been doing in full lockdown.

I’d always knew that the day would come and suddenly I wouldn’t have the time to do the things I’d been enjoyed doing in full lockdown. We now don’t find time to do just dance, I barely squeeze in reading time in the day and studying languages has taken a backseat. I still go on to do my daily 10 minutes, but I’m spending the minimum time as possible. It seems everybody loves the videos and being able to see the Costa Blanca, and even just walking our local area is an hour of the day which we didn’t spend before. With all the commotion going on and new activities, I’ve got less time sitting at home with nothing to do.

Or maybe I need to plan my time better in the day. I don’t know. Do you still want daily updates or do you fancy just weekly updates now? It’s hard to know what people want without posing the question.

I’d woken up relatively early but jolted awake. I’d dreamt that I woke up and had slept in until 14:00. It was an absolute nightmare. In my head, I’d missed meetings, I’d missed deadline. I’d missed the morning walk and the livestream. I’d missed an important phone call. I was in a frenzy rushing to my phone to check the time. 7:30. Phew.

We headed off on our daily walk and stopped off at Portus Massai for a coffee. I opted for a coffee solo with ice. It’s basically a shot of coffee made into an iced coffee. Similar to the Starbucks cold coffee bottles you can buy at all supermarkets. I much prefer an iced coffee during the summer months than a hot coffee. It felt weird being out and sitting on a terrace. Surreal. But nice.

As we sat and watched the sea rise and fall over poniente sand, it felt like I was living somebody else’s life. Watching through a screen. For the first time in months, we were sitting on a terrace, watching the world pass us by. Everything went by in slow motion. Thoughts whirring around. The staff wore masks and were sanitising and disinfecting between each visit. Tables and chairs were sanitised, menus aren’t available neither are shared condiments and bits like that. I’m so proud of how Benidorm as a community have pulled together during this.

So many bars have adapted so well in terms of spacing tables out, keeping cleaning at an absolute maximum and handling the situation by following all protocols. Around the poniente area, I haven’t seen one bar breaking the rules or even one client breaking the rules. Of course, I haven’t been out all the time so if it has happened I wouldn’t have known, but I saw a few things on the news about other places and people had posted photos online so I think I would’ve heard. In the world today, everybody has eyes everywhere thanks to (or with the blame of) social media.

We got home and Alex was off to work. We actually had to run home so he’d make it in time for class. Is this the working from home equivalent of traffic? Luckily, we sprinted the whole way and with 7 minutes to spare he was there and ready. He always plans his classes in advance so he was prepared. He just needed to be there to give the class. Which he was haha!

We stayed home for the rest of the day. I had some work to do and Alex had a full timetable of live classes so it was a case of both knuckling down and getting on with it. I’ve really got used to this working from home malarkey. I don’t know why it wasn’t a thing before. People would ask me to do their social media or marketing for them, but when they found out I couldn’t travel into their office they didn’t want to know. Why? What difference does it make if I sit in an office or I sit in my house doing the same work? A lot of people have had to move with the times and use conference calls via technology and I think we’ll see a big shift in the future. Twitter have already announced that their staff will all have the option to continue working from home. For some people, the home-work life balance is completely out of shift being at home, but for me it works perfectly. I know Alex is keen to get back to work though, schools are completely different in that sense!

I read some of my book but it’s honestly just not moving on. I counted that there were TEN characters names on one page. I’m 30% through and still can’t work out which one is the main character at times and who all these people are. I know, I know, I should just give in and not read it, but I’m not a quitter!

Rio loves going out for his walks now he’s allowed to venture a little further. He has a great time and makes so many people smile on his walk. The woman in the bar was pointing him out and telling him how beautiful he is and Rio just soaks up all the attention. He loves meeting and dogs when he’s out. I watched them on their walk from the balcony. The rain started to pour but the sun fought and shone through. It was beautiful to see. Drizzly rain and shining sun. The promise that a rainbow would be happening somewhere and that the light will always come. Rio came to join me when he got back from his walk and we sat there for a while, him just giving me love and cuddles.

Alex made salmon topped with pomegranate and rice with peppers and chilli flakes and spinach for dinner which I had with some shloer. I still can’t finish a full dinner, but I ate much more than I have been doing for the past couple of days. Sometime in the evening, the time had passed me by and it was already dark. I don’t know what I’d been doing. I hadn’t been watching TV or anything. I guess I was on the phone for longer than I thought. It seems the day just passed us by in a blur, the same for Alex. Neither of us managed to do our exercise, but I did sneak in a 8 minute yoga practise at midnight so it counts! I think we all have these what happens now days don’t we. We’re just whirl-winding into this new normal and it just feels so surreal. I feel like I’m in a movie. One that I’m watching myself in.

The Spanish government announced that as flights may be operating shortly, they’re going to be implementing a 14 day quarantine for those who have travelled from abroad. It means they will have to stay in their residence (no going to bars or daily exercise and stuff like we can!) but they will be allowed to go to supermarkets and pharmacies but must wear a mask. I think the U.K. government have said more or less the same which means anybody wanting to travel when it happens will be looking at 30 days worth of quarantine.

I hope everybody is keeping safe and well.

L x