Corona-Lockdown Spanish Edition - D78 - Good times!

Definitely a much more cheerful weekend than last week! YAY for "Fase 1" and restaurants / bars / cafés having opened up their terraces and being able to get together with friends (up to 10) for a drink / snack / meal! 🥳

Corona-Lockdown Spanish Edition - D76 - Flags at half mast

The government announced a 10-day period of mourning for the lives lost to Covid-19. It started with a minute of silence at noon and flags in all official buildings and monuments lowered to half mast.

I only heard about it on the news at lunch... but already a couple of weeks ago when I went into town there was a giant black ribbon at City Hall. And a minute of silence while at the supermarket on Saturday.

As we see the light at the end of the Covid-tunnel (this stretch of it at least), as we start breathing a sigh of relief as business reopen, we get to see our friends and families again, it feels right to take a moment to think of those who have succumbed to this virus. So often alone. To their families who couldn't say proper farewells. 

Corona-Lockdown Spanish Edition - D75 - Dipping my toes

AT LAST! Finally dipped my toes in the Mediterranean... summer is inching closer and the sea has been looking more and more enticing each time I go out for my evening walk. 

I just hope by the time the days heat up and we're begging to get in the water, that we'll be allowed to get in the water. Supposedly Phase 2 is when full beach access will be allowed around here (and not just for walking or water sports athletes), and if all goes well in Alicante that would start next Monday. They just have to figure out the social distancing recommendations, and how to monitor their implementation.

I'll have to admit though... Once the crowds start, I'm going to miss walking along almost empty beaches.

Playa de San Juan

Corona-Lockdown Spanish Edition - D69 - Thankful for Nature

Went for a lovely walk along the Cape this evening... was hoping there would be fewer people out than usual what with the possibility to meet up with friends at cafés or homes (there weren't).

Calm waters. Lovely sunset. Has been wonderful being able to come out for a walk in the evenings since the desconfinamiento started and they've been slowly letting up on the lockdown restrictions.

My happy place!

Corona-Lockdown Spanish Edition - D68 - FRIENDS!!!

The absolutely most wonderful thing about progressing to Fase 1 of the de-escalation? Getting to finally meet up with FRIENDS!!! Also family 😉 Basically someone you don't live with! Maximum groups of 10 people (ideally maintaining social distance recommendations). Either in someone's house, or in a restaurant/café terrace (allowed to open now at 50% capacity, indoors waits until next phase).

I didn't head out anywhere yesterday, decided to let the people who were a bit more desperate go out and get it out of their system (we've seen a pattern here, first day in the rule change people tend to go nuts and just ignore the rules!). But tonight was a lovely little dinner party with friends overlooking the Med! 🥳 So nice to be able to just hang out for a few hours... 

Although the whole "keeping our distance" thing lasted all of 2 minutes...

Corona-Lockdown Spanish Edition - D66 - Fase 1, hola!

Day 1 of Fase 1 in Alicante. So far no change! But because I decided not to go out and try it... I figure being the first day there would be too many people out and about (has been the pattern so far), and people are still confused about the dos and don'ts. Alicante City Hall has circulated helpful infographics on social media channels (ditto various sports clubs, cultural websites etc.) , and yet the comments in them show people with still lots of very basic questions. And it's not really that complicated!!! *sigh* The main things that have changed (that people care about) is (1) you can go to a small business without having to have made an appointment previously, (2) restaurants/bars/cafés can open up their terraces for sit-down service (take away is also an option), (3) churches can open to 30% occupancy level, (4) gatherings in private homes of up to 10 people are allowed. All that with social distancing recommendations. Oh, and a few more people get to go back to work...

One of my colleagues sent a message to our office WhatsApp group this afternoon. She lives downtown and goes out for a walk with her daughters every day. She said it had a pre-quarantine feel to it. Terraces full of people, with tables too close to each other. A lot more people milling on the streets, man of them taking advantage of the fact that the police can't check up on everyone so they could be out for a walk with friends and just say "oh I was going to the café"...  Hopefully lessons will be learnt, people will follow the guidelines, and we don't get an increase in infections because of rule-breakers.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to hanging out on a friend's balcony tomorrow evening, enjoying a nice glass of wine with some good company while overlooking the sea!

#stayhome, #quedateencasa, #restecheztoi

Corona-Lockdown Spanish Edition - D65 - Farewell sunset, Fase 0 adiós!

We did it! Whatever it is we were supposed to do... but the entirety of the province of Alicante will be in "Fase 1" of the lockdown de-escalation tomorrow.  🥳 

To celebrate, I decided to head out for a walk to the Cape and enjoy the sunset...

So privileged to live near such a beautiful spot! 🥰

Corona-Lockdown Spanish Edition - D62 - By the sea

Depending on wether you support the government or are in the opposition, the take on this whole 4-step "desconfinamiento" (de-escalation of the lockdown) process has been something between "they're making it up as they go" to "they set out their instructions, then listen to the criticism, and amend it where they think the criticism made sense".

Some of that shifting among the restrictions has been lifted by the national government, but others by regional or local governments. And the changes that have caught the most attention in Alicante are those related to use of the coastline. Namely the beaches. Which makes sense considering we're a beach city and all!

Playa de la Albufereta (our small beach)

Corona-Lockdown Spanish Edition - D60 - Adiós Hogueras

Well that's it... no Hogueras this year! 😢

After postponing the June holiday to September, today the mayor announced that the 2020 edition was canceled. So no giant sculptures will be burnt to a crisp with firecrackers until June 2021. *sob*

I've been expecting this announcement ever since the city of Munich announced the cancelation of Oktoberfest a few weeks ago. I figured if an event that big (with the economic impact it entails), and that was set for a month after the Hogueras new dates, was canceled, then our holiday was heading for the chopping block.

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - D57 - Downtown!

My first visit downtown in 2 months... wow! So weird to see empty streets, solitary bus stops, that would otherwise be bustling with Saturday morning shoppers... Well, not completely empty. When I went into town it coincided with the "over-70" exercise time, so there were a few elderly couples out for a stroll. You could tell they weren't used to dealing with traffic anymore, plenty sauntering along in the middle of the street! 😝

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - D56 - Confusion

There's a lot of that going around. People are confused about what they can and can't do as they move from one phase of the de-escalation to another, regional and local governments are confused as to the criteria the national government is using to decide which areas get to pass from one phase to another... some of us are just permanently confused! 😉

For a while there yesterday and today I thought I'd be heading into the office to work Friday next week, and Thur/Fri the following week, as we assured a "minimum presence" (1 person) during Phase 1. There was a bit of confusion as those of us designated for the office babysitting job switched days with each other. Then there was confusion because it wasn't clear if we actually needed to be there, and a couple of hours ago it was finally confirmed that we don't. And then a few hours after that the announcement came in of which provinces moved from Phase o into Phase 1 (allowing bars and restaurants to open up terraces at 50% occupation, social gatherings of max. 10 people - including in private homes, etc), and the Valencia Community was highly confused when half of us didn't make the cut! Including Alicante city and neighboring areas dependent on our two public hospitals...

Confusion all around! Oh well... hopefully clarity will come with more info from the government on Monday. Or not.

At least I got to head out and stretch my legs for a few hours and smell the sea. I'm good! 🥰

#stayhome, #quedateencasa, #restecheztoi

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 52 - Star Wars Social Distancing

I just want to take a few minutes to share some laughs in the form of more Covid-19 memes, in honor of Star Wars Day. 😉 (once again I know not the source, these have circulated on social media)

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 51 - Celebrating apart

I think I've said it before, and I'll say it again... I don't know how we'd be getting through this lockdown without video conferences!!! Especially when there's something to celebrate.

Today is Mothers' Day here in Spain, and my mom is all alone at her place! Due to the quarantine rules she can't come here and I can't go there (other than to take her groceries, but since today is Sunday and shops are closed - if I get stopped by the police on my way over to her house it's a 600€ fine!). And my sisters are in Sweden and the UK!

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 50 - A taste of freedom!

50 days locked in. 50 days at home, only going out to take the trash to the bin up the street, or to do the grocery shopping (usually both the same day).

Today we were finally allowed OUT! 🥳

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 49 - Emotional triggers

You know that expression, the straw that broke the camel's back? It seems quite accurate at times... especially emotionally. When you're already functioning at a high level of stress, anxiety, emotional distress, just holding it in daily, from time to time you allow yourself to forget that things aren't great with you (or you manage to fool yourself along with everyone else). But then the proverbial straw appears and triggers an overwhelming emotional response, completely disproportionate to the straw itself.

That's me today. 

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 46 - Announcing deescalation!

Well here's something to look forward to! We finally have information on the Government's plan to slowly roll-back the lockdown rules. Gotta love the name "Plan for the Transition Toward a New Normality", really rolls off the tongue, lol!

It starts on Saturday with everyone allowed out (finally!) to do individual walks or work-outs, and restaurants that offer take-out options will be allowed to re-open (but not for seating). Then gradually, province by province (not all at the same time due to different conditions in each, and no movements between provinces if they are in different phases) we go through several phases:

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 44 - A glimpse of freedom

There was more activity outside today than the last 6 quarantine Sundays combined! Why's that? Today was the first big loosening of the lockdown, and as promised children up to 14 (with a parent) were allowed outside to play in the streets or the parks for the first time in 6 weeks! My friends and colleagues with kids have been celebrating all day. 🥳

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 43 - Still not celebrating

Six months ago yesterday was my mom's 70th birthday. It's a good thing my sisters and I took her out to a concert at the Philarmonic as an early birthday present, because on the day itself we didn't celebrate. We were surrounded by family and friends, but at my dad's funeral... 💔😢 Definitely not good times... but we were still trying to look forward to something, and we decided that 70 deserved to be celebrated, so we'd just celebrate 70 1/2 and postpone the party to 6 months later! (today instead of yesterday because Saturday).

But it's kind of hard to throw a party when not only are gatherings not allowed, but everyone is stuck at home, and two of the main organizers are in different countries (Sweden & UK).

At this point, between quarantine regulations and most of the potential guests being "at risk population" for the virus, who knows how long we'll have to wait... 🤔

So many celebratory events on hold... a friend of mine has her wedding here at the end of September, and she's already talking about postponing it since she's not sure non-EU guests will be able to come from overseas (including her mom!).

#stayhome, #quedateencasa, #restecheztoi

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 41 - Happy International Book Day!

During this time of quarantine when we'd all like to escape from this insanity I'd just like to say...

YAY FOR BOOKS!!! 🥳

They'll take us on a trip to Mars, to Middle Earth or to Medieval days... among thousands of other places!

So far we're at almost 6 weeks of quarantine, and I'm at 8 books to date (well 7,5 considering I was halfway through one of them when we got locked down). I've switched showers for baths on many an evening, and it gives me a leisurely hour to escape to a watery library and lose myself in a book until the water begins to feel chilly. 😉 7 of the books are by Sharon Kay Penman because whenever I pick up one of her books it inevitably leads me down the path to others of hers, so my TBR pile is feeling a bit neglected... The reading has even interfered with my quarantine movie project as I find myself divided in the evening between stretching out on the sofa with a movie or a going for a nice long soak in the tub with a good book!

For International Book Day this year I think we should all just

#stayhome #quedateencasa #restecheztoi

Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 40 - Alicante fauna

Happy 50th Earth Day! 🥳

I imagine everyone has seen the photos and memes about "Nature is healing" during the quarantine?Dolphins in the canals in Venice, animals roaming city streets... Well this is the Alicante edition! (well, my neighborhood edition, as this is what I've seen at my place and my mom's when I've taken her groceries)

We've got wood pigeons hanging out on the ground instead of in the treetops

Squirrels sauntering along the street (missed the photo-op, he scurried up a palm tree when I got close).

Seagulls and ducks enjoying a freshwater bath in swimming pools.

Not exactly "wildlife", but we do what we can. 😉 I'm sure if I could go walking in the park on the Cape I would see hedgehogs... How about in your neck of the woods? 

By the way, quarantine = 40 days, right? Can we go out now??? 😓

#stayhome #quedateencasa #restecheztoi