We are in this for the long haul so let's fight it together. Our brave new world of coronavirus, lockdown, figures soar, borders close, empty streets and empty shelves, Clara Ponsati's hate tweet on death in Madrid, snow in Montrondo, Elliot turns 6 months old, Suzy leaves for London, home again, schools close down in the UK, walks in our garden, how a positive attitude will help us get through this and other stories.

Sunday  22nd March, 2020

Little Elliot, oblivious to the crisis, munching on a carrot on the day he turned 6 months and in confinement in Valencia, I thought a positive image as my feature photo this week would be comforting and we all need comforting if we are to get through this together. 

How are you my friends?  Riding the storm and most of you confined in your homes, in different areas of the world I imagine, just as we are here. Spain is now one of the main epicentres of  coronavirus in the world and all that that means. Nearly all countries in Europe and in the world, I should add,  are in complete or semi lock down and those that aren't soon will. Spain has the most restrictive measures of all countries at the moment. We woke up on Sunday last to a brave new world, a world even Aldous Huxley would not have been able to imagine, a world of empty streets, empty shelves and the armed forces in cities and towns to make sure people obeyed the order to stay at home unless they were out for something urgent.

Madrid's usually bustling Gran Via, the main thoroughfare in the old town, now empty. 

We are all in shock as we go through different stages of the spread of the virus but I have learned this week that we have to stay calm and try to be positive. After all we are all in this together and together we will fight this invisible enemy. Being united, being collaborative, staying at home is what we have to do today. We are in this for the long haul and, just like in WW2, we have to keep our spirits up.

Just like in war, here in Spain we now have the  army on the streets helping keep order, building hospitals and doing all they can. I reckon they are also  out there to stop pilfering from shops that have had to shut down. I have never seen the army on the streets in Spain and never thought I would. But it has happened as part of the contribution to slowing down the spread of the virus. If last Sunday there were just under 8 thousand cases in Spain compared to only 500 the Sunday before, today there are just under 27.000. The total death toll here is now 1.381. The total global numbers as I write are: 308.564 cases with 13.069 deaths and now at least we are seeing some recover 96k.  Below you can see the figures of the top ten countries as things stand today. Spain is now the 4th country most affected in both the numbers of deaths and numbers of those infected. I wonder what the table will look like next Sunday. Yesterday the Spanish Prime Minister said the worst was still to come. We must brace ourselves.

Table of the top ten countries most affected

What I don't get is why Spain with only 3.000 more cases than in Germany has 1.381 deaths vs Germany's 84. Can someone explain that to me? Spain has more elderly people and more elderly people live with their families here but that can't be the only answer. Maybe they are doing more tests. More tests are apparently next on the agenda in Spain.

The rise in numbers is frightening. I am frightened as I imagine many of you are. I am frightened not only for my family and myself but for humanity but I refuse to panic and try to remain positive.  If this turns out to be like the Spanish flu of 100 years ago, it could kill 50 million people. Did you read that? I can only hope that social distancing, containment, staying at home and all the measures put in place to slow down the spread of the virus avoid as many deaths as possible, allow our health systems to cope and  give us time enough to find a remedy and a vaccine. I believe they will and will stick this out as long as it takes. 

Empty shelves as seen by my friend Sandra in Brussels last Sunday

Lombardy, together with Madrid are the most hard hit areas in the world. Thus when the Catalan fugitive and Member of the EU parliament, Clara Ponsati,  posted a hate tweet that night, the whole of Spain was disgusted. She wrote "de Madrid al cielo" which means "from Madrid to heaven". This is an expression often used to describe the Spanish capital as close to heaven as it is so mountainous and near the skies. Clara Ponsati who is,  by the way, a lecturer at St. Andrews University, was mocking the term and clearly showing her joy at the death toll in Madrid. The ex Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, also a fugitive, gleefully retweeted her post. How diabolical can you get when you wish death on people? I was disgusted. I hope the prestigious University in Scotland takes note. How dare she write that when so many people are suffering in Spain and mainly in Madrid? This is not a time for political debate. It is a time for being united. Here is her later removed tweet proving her hatred of the Spanish capital and its people.

Clara Ponsati's hate tweet showing joy at the death of people in the Spanish capital

It's the people who are united in Spain now, as in Italy. From their baclonies every night at 8 pm, there is clapping and applause for all the health workers  in the country and those essential employees who keep the country going.  I would also like to thank all the supermarket staff for they also play a crucial role during this virus and are the next most exposed to it. I also want to thank all the people working to provide essential services and the press too. There are a lot of heroes out there. 

Everything was uncertainty in Spain and in the world that day and all this week. That day, the regional leaders of the different areas ("autonomías"  - with more powers than federal states in the US)  in the country showed their support to the Madrid government, except of course for the Catalan leaders. Again I say we need to be united on this. The virus knows no politics, ideas or frontiers. Their lack of collaboration comes at the wrong time.

After the measures announced on restriction of movement and all the others, we had no news on air traffic. Suzy was waiting to know if she could get on her Ryanair flight to London on Tuesday. She was even thinking of not going to London but to Bali to sit out the crisis. We told her she was mad as there is little hygiene in that country, let alone a solid health system. I prayed she would come to her senses. Ryanair issued this statement on Twitter last Sunday which worried me. Would Suzy be able to fly and many others of course as countries were stopping flights and transport to Spain and around the world?

Ryanair's statement.

If you are wondering why Suzy traveled to London or worried that she was taking the virus there, let me set your minds at rest. Suzy is a British citizen. She lived and worked in London for 5 years before moving to Bali. She only came home to Madrid when her life in Bali became a death threat and I'm not going into the details. Knowing that, she chose to return to her former life in London which she considers more her home than Spain. She already had a ticket to return on 25th March but when the virus broke out she rescheduled it to this week, worried she would not be able to fly otherwise. Also to set your minds at rest, she self isolated before leaving Spain and is now self isolating in London. She took all the precautions in the world during her trip.

Everything worried me that day. Eladio who is a much calmer person than I am, resorted to listening to Mozart's requiem on You Tube. Maybe I should have done that. Meanwhile in Valencia, Oli and her little family stayed at home in Miguel's flat. They wished they had a dog to be able to take out to walk hahahhaa. Oli told me the highlight of her days is taking down the rubbish to the ground floor of their apartment building. Imagine looking forward to that? They don't even have a balcony so the confinement is not easy but they are keeping their spirits up. While we are separated we get daily photos of our darling grandson who we miss so much. Another repercussion of this brave new world is the separation of families and friends, so much needed in these times. But people are finding new ways of keeping in touch and occupied. There you have it, the fighting spirit. 

Little Elliot in Valencia last Sunday

Last Sunday was the first day of official lockdown in this country. We did not venture out on Sunday. In any case we could not have gone out for a walk with Pippa - walking dogs is allowed but only for a recommended 5 minutes- as it started to snow. Snow had been forecast but it caught me unawares. Thus I got no exercise at all that day. Maybe I should start doing some gym exercises. I need to move as we all do. The other alternative is walking round and round the garden which we resorted to later in the week. 

It started to snow last Sunday

I couldn't read and was only interested in news about the virus. I should stop that and I have (well not really,  rather a lot less) but it took this whole week to come to that conclusion.  I got comfort from chatting to my great Uni friends, Adele in France and Sandie in Belgium. Sandra's brother is in Lombardy so she knows exactly what the situation is in his country. Adele's family is in the UK and we both have many contacts there. We compared notes and they were dour. In Belgium at the time there were few restrictions. There were more in France and people under 70 are now not allowed to be in the street whereas in Spain it applies to all the population apart from those doing essential work. Amazingly, local elections in France went ahead - big mistake - but only half the electorate turned out. Who cares about elections in this brave new world I ask myself? Later in the week, in an address to the nation, the President Macron announced even greater restrictions. My cousin Zuka aged 73 and her mother, my Aunt, aged 95, are not allowed out of the house as anyone over 70 is totally house bound. I can only imagine that neighbours do their shopping for them. I hope they keep safe. Luckily they live in a remote village in the countryside and nowhere near the infected areas. 

Every day there is a televised address to the nation from either the President or the Minister of Health. I like that. It's comforting. That night the 4 main leaders of the crisis cabinet, the Ministers for health, the interior, transport and defence (yes defence!) made speeches to the nation to update us all on the latest movements to combat the spread of the virus. I was happy to know final year medical students, any unemployed doctors or nurses were all being called to do their bit, even retired medical staff. I was also happy to hear that all private and military hospitals were to be used anywhere in the country. Even hotels are being turned into hospitals. I got a comforting feeling that the government is doing the best it can without putting the fear of God into the people. But the government has lots of critics, some saying measures should have been put in place long before they were and that way the now famous virus curve would be flatter. Who knows in these days of conflicting information, advice and news? In general nearly everyone was rallying around, except for a few uninformed British tourists in Benidorm! They have probably gone home now. But didn't they  realise the situation?  There are a lot of trapped tourists in Spain scrambling to find ways out and there are thousands of Spaniards trapped all over the world who are trying to come home.  In fact there are people stranded all over the world. I'm glad I'm not one of them. The Spanish government is doing all in its power to repatriate them. I'm sure my father can equate with this as when WW2 broke out he was in Norway. He, together with other British nationals had to be repatriated. 

There was so much news about the virus crisis, that an important story concerning Spain's King practically went unnoticed. A few days earlier there had been an article in the British press about the former King Juan Carlos which said he had a huge offshore account which was also in the name of his son, the current King of Spain, Felipe VI. There had been other news that the former King received millions and millions of euros in commissions from Saudi Arabia for the contracting of the Spanish high speed railway to the Mecca.  There are other financial scandals around the former king and some noise in the political world here to investigate him but it came to nothing. Even the socialists who are in power, don't want to upset the apple cart which could lead to a constitutional crisis and even the abolishment of the monarchy. That night the news was that his son, Felipe VI, announced that when his father dies he will renounce his inheritance, distancing himself from his own father (ouch).  He went even further and stripped his father of his royal stipend, some 190.000 euros per year.

King Felipe VI with his disgraced father, former King Juan Carlos

That must be peanuts for a man who has such a fortune.  Sex scandals usually come to nothing in Spain but financial scandals are taken really seriously. Obviously the current king wants to distance himself from his father. Who wouldn't? The former king has become a royal pariah but I am not surprised. He was formerly much loved for his supposed role in clamping down on the coup d'état in the 80's but went on to disgrace himself on various occasions. The straw that broke the camel's back was when he was caught elephant hunting in Botswana in the middle of the financial crisis in  2008. That most evidently led to his stepping down as King. I wonder now if this new scandal will be the end of the monarchy altogether. That did not really worry me but it worries my husband who, as child of the post civil war era, is always worried about another civil war. I think for the Spanish King and his father this scandal has come at a good time for them as everyone is so worried about the virus crisis,not much is being said about this announcement to renounce the former king's inheritance which must be ginormous. In fact, I reckon they chose this moment on purpose. 

We went to bed late and well tucked in as it was still snowing outside.I was awake quite early but for some unknown reason fell asleep again and got up  at 8.30 on Monday morning which is unheard of for me. There was a lot of snow and wind when I woke up. It was a beautiful scene but later during the day the sun shone and melted most of it away.

We woke up to more snow on Monday morning.

On normal occasions when it snows there, I love going out to see it first hand. Pippa doesn't though and refused to. She hates rain and snow.

In any case I didn't have any time as for the first time in quite a while I had some urgent work to do for  my main customer, the Swedish owned  fiber internet operator, Adamo. It was a great distraction for me from the doom and gloom I can tell you. There had been noise in the media about a rational use of mobiles and internet in this new situation with everyone at home. Some of the operators are facing difficulties as traffic soars. Data traffic (internet) has gone up to 80% in some parts of the world and streaming giants such as Netflix have had to reduce the video quality to help reduce traffic.  This week too Adamo too noticed an increase of around 40% in its network (and increasing) and I got a call from a journalist to ask how prepared we were vs a vs capacity and bandwidth to last the duration of the crisis with so many people now relying heavily on telecoms systems as they work from home.  I had a conference call with one person in Germany, one in Barcelona but with limited internet as there is no fiber there. We managed it though and after a bit of toing and froing of the text of the statement, it was  ready by before midday. I did not only send it to the journalist who had asked for our position and situation but to quite a network. In our statement which you can read here (in Spanish), we assured our customers that our network was more than prepared to receive any increased traffic because it is future proof built. Unlike other operators recommending their customers to prioritise using internet for work vs streaming and gaming, we only asked our customers, as we always do, to make a rational use of the network. I really didn't imagine getting much coverage in the press with so much noise out there but I was happy to see quite a lot of the media take it up. One journalist, praised me for sending out something positive for a change. It was I suppose. Here is just one of the articles that was published. 

I was instrumental in helping Adamo make a press announcement this week on its readiness for the crisis vs a vs its telecoms network 

That work took up the whole morning and frankly I enjoyed it. It was lunchtime by the time I had finished. I had to be creative in what I cooked that day as were were fast running out of provisions. We didn't dare go to the supermarket in the nearest town because we were scared the shelves would be empty and left it until we had practically nothing left.  I was wrong though as they weren't. Also only one person per household is allowed to do the shopping. If I had sent Eladio to do the shopping he would have come back with all the wrong things even with my list (hahahahaha).   I hate driving on that mountainous and winding road but, armed with courage, I took the trip on Tuesday when I imagined the supermarkets would be better stocked.

The snow had gone in the afternoon and we needed to get out and get some fresh air. Going for a walk there was a difficult option because of the new restrictions and also the worry of what people would say. There are quite a few zealots as there are all over the country and not only during this crisis. It's all about blaming everyone these days. The restrictions on doing exercise outdoors or going for walks really shouldn't apply in this sprawling village but which only has about 11 permanent residents. The measures in place are the right ones for towns and cities but I don't think they are quite so necessary in very sparsely populated areas. When we did go out this week we hardly encountered a soul so I think it's safe to say that going for a walk there holds no danger whatsoever. We felt lucky in our house with terraces, a lot of land and garden, comparing ourselves to whole families shut up in small flats with no access to gardens or terraces. That was the case of Oli, Miguel and Elliot stuck in his small flat in Valencia where they don't even have a balcony.

Miguel who is a cameraman for TVE, Spain's national broadcaster,  had to work though which worried me as, God forbid, he might get the virus and bring  it home. He was careful though. The TV broadcaster they work for, the state owned RTVE, was also taking precautions for all the personnel covering the news out on the streets. Thus they equipped them with protective clothing.

Miguel protected for his work as a cameraman

Oli sent us the photo above of her partner, Miguel, in protective clothing, mask and gloves, ready to go out and work. I was slightly shocked. This is another new image that this brave new world brings us. If the health workers and shop assistants are heroes in these times, so are the news reporters, cameramen and all those bringing us news but at the same time risking their lives or those of others. In my mind, Miguel is also a hero of our times.

Oli told me that when he gets back from work he discards his clothes in a designated room and then washes them separately from all other laundry. He then washes his hands and face and only afterwards does he greet his partner and baby. Young people are not supposed to be at risk unless they have an underlying condition. However, this week the WHO warned that young people can also die, even young people with no previous health problems. We saw that in a 37 year old Spanish policeman this week. The experts don't have the real answer but suppose that those young people who do die from the virus are probably exposed to a higher  viral load. The higher the load the the more dangerous it is.

This week when he was sent somewhere to film, out he went and when he wasn't being sent out to film, he was told to go home rather than return to the news room. That meant Oli and Elliot saw more of him than they had expected. Oli has become our new in house reporter. As a journalist she is glued to the news. She also often has inside information she shares with us. So we often get news before anyone else. Good for her. I love her journalistic spirit. We had a long video call that day and it was great to see little Elliot who is growing every day. He is oblivious to the crisis thank goodness and is just doing what babies have to do;  eat, cry, sleep, play, etc. Bless the little boy.  Eating is his favourite activity but unfortunately he is not so keen on sleeping.  He loves everything he tastes and as he is being weened, he is being given different foods to try. There is nothing he doesn't like. I also heard that whenever his parents sit down for meals he becomes very interested, leaving his rattles, and hoping for something new to try. Hahahaha. In the photo illustrating this week's post, he has a carrot in his mouth! And in the photo below he is happily sucking on his baby feeder with some fruit inside.

Elliot with his baby feeder. He adores food hahaha

Of course we follow the news on TV  much of the time. Eladio watches it less, preferring music concerts on You Tube. I am now rationing myself to twice a day. It was on Monday that the Spanish government announced the reestablishment of frontiers with its neighbouring countries. Wow, borders again! Gosh what a consequence. Then the EU proposed closing the whole of the Schengen part of the EU which went into force the next day.  Meanwhile Germany and Portugal and quite a few others had already shut theirs. Only residents and goods lorries would be allowed through with a few exceptions. The drivers of the goods lorries are also heroes. The poor guys travel all across Europe to bring us food, yet have nowhere to stop on the way, either to respond to a call of nature or to eat as all restaurants, bars, etc are now closed. Finally the UK took the decision to make some restrictions and Boris Johnson announced them on the BBC that night. Rather than restrictions he announced recommendations, asking people not to go to pubs or public places. However none were shut down and kids were still going to school. As the week went on that changed as you now all probably know.

After we had had our fill of news of the crisis, and at around 6 pm, we took the daring decision to go on a short walk with Pippa along the country path to Murias and back. We did not see a soul, not one person, not one vehicle but my friends, I, at least felt guilty. Then I thought to myself, well why? The virus does not spread through the air and there is hardly anyone there anyway, there is no danger whatsoever in going for walks in the countryside.  Social distancing is a way of life in the village, so again, no worries.  In any case, from that day on and for fear of more finger pointing from the zealots  we stopped our walks and instead went up the pathless mountains behind our house which saw me climbing like a goat hahahaha.

We came home to make dinner out of the very last provisions we had. I sort of had to ration our food. The worst was not having fruit and veg. I don't want a diet of rice or pasta and hope it never comes to that. Later we watched and listened to more doom and gloom but then we finally saw a film. Called "The 12th man" it is the true story of a Norwegian soldier saboteur. Trained in Scotland, in the Shetland Islands where my father was based in WW2, 12 Norwegians were sent to Norway on an anti Nazi sabotage mission. On arrival  11 of them were caught but one man escaped.

Jan Baalsrud, the Norwegian national hero, had to flee Norway for Sweden in a deadly adventure which would not have been possible without the help of his very brave compatriots. I was glued to the TV, finally watching something not to do with the virus, until nearly 1 in the morning. No doubt my father would love the film, as he, of course was part of the liberation of Norway, a country as near to his heart as his birth country, England.

Great WW2 film, set in Norway and based on a true story. 

I am now reading the book  upon which the film is based on my kindle and I have ordered the paperback version for my father. No doubt he already knows who Jan Baalsrud is  as his story is legendary in Norway.

Wednesday 17th March dawned and that day Elliot turned 6 months. It's a big milestone in his little life and we were far away. I can't wait to be reunited with him. Thank God for modern technology. We were able to have a video call and got photos from Oli. I chose the one of him with a carrot in his mouth (hahaha) as this week's feature photo as I thought it was something positive to share with you among all this gloom. Of course he was oblivious of both his "month day" and the current crisis and happily played with his father that day. Here they are together. Isn't he gorgeous?

Elliot on Tuesday, the day he turned 6 months old - playing with his father. 

That morning I left in Eladio's car to drive to the nearest town, Villablino, to stock up for our stay there as our cupboards were completely bare. The drive over the mountains was scary, I am not used to driving a manual car, so I went very slowly and carefully. I felt like a champion when I parked outside the supermarket, Gadis, in the usually bustling market town. It was like a ghost town and it felt eerie. I felt as if I was in a science fiction film and wanted to get away as soon as possible.

Surprisingly for me the supermarket was well stocked, there weren't too many people and all sorts of precautions were in place. There were gloves and alcohol at the entrance and in the fresh produce counters such as fish, meat, etc. people were keeping the new reglementary distance of 1.5 metres. Good, I thought.

People queueing at the fish counter 

Everyone was being careful and I was too of course. That is the new norm. As I checked out the cashier told me there was not one case of the virus in the town. I felt guilty just for being there. I then had to go in search of a chemist to get painkillers for my headaches and other stuff I needed. I wanted to get quite a few, so as not to have to go again for a long time. When I found the first chemist, I was shocked but then not shocked to see the new protective system put in place. I had to purchase the medicines through a turnstile without even seeing the pharmacist. This was the method put in place and outside people were queueing in the new way with a 1.5 metre space between each person.

Shopping at the chemist

I was only allowed one item of each product and they didn't stock something quite vital we didn't have, namely a nail cutter. Thus I had to find another chemist. The other chemist had a different method although they also used a turnstile. Only one person was allowed in the chemist and those outside had to wait until that person had left.  Payment on my visa gold card was rejected and I couldn't think why. I had also had problems with an order on Amazon for the same reason. Thus I had to ring my bank in Madrid and thankfully they answered the phone. The card had been blocked as the bank suspected there had been a fraudulent use of it. Later they told me that a purchase I had made to Microsoft for a new office package with Open Wave storage had been suspected as possible fraud! Between the bank lady and myself we went through all the charges on the card and there didn't seem to be any that hadn't been done by me. So, thankfully, in the end my card was unblocked. It was eerie being in the empty streets and on the phone but I didn't have much choice.

Empty streets in Villablino with one woman looking out of her balcony. I waved to her and wished her well. 

As soon as I could, I was back in the car and on my way home on a pretty empty mountain road. Once home, we unpacked the food and made lunch - delicious lamb chops with salad.

Meanwhile Suzy was on her way to the airport in Madrid. Her dearest friend, Elenita, had driven her there. This is the photo she sent us with her mask on. She went well prepared and would be very careful with what she touched and would keep her distance from other people.

Suzy at the airport in Madrid on Tuesday

Seeing the photo broke my heart. When will I see my daughter again in these times I wondered? I have no idea. I could only wish her a safe journey. And a safe journey she had. Suzy told us there was hardly anyone at the airport and only 10 flights, according to her, were being announced. Later she found herself on an almost completely empty airplane. Suzy had bought a bunch of face masks. When she saw the Ryanair staff didn't have any, she gave them some of hers. How sweet. They, in turn, gave her  a seat in the emergency aisle. My elder daughter later sent me a photo of her on the plane with her mask on in the empty rows of seats. How eerie again. That is a word that comes a lot to mind when I think of this crisis.

Suzy with a mask on a nearly empty plane to London

She landed safely that night on what might well have been one of the very last or certainly very flew planes to London from Madrid in these times. Who knows when flights will be back to normal or when anything will be back to normal?  Meanwhile we must sit tight and not complain. Suzy is staying in self isolation at her dear friend, Sandra's. Sandra is a nurse with the NHS, another of our heroes. Let's hope she doesn't get infected. My only consolation is that they are both young and strong.

While Suzy was flying, we decided to walk up the mountain behind our back garden where we didn't even see cows. We walked on rocks and across streams, climbed over stone walls and through thick bushes. It was glorious and still we felt guilty. But we got some exercise and practiced total social distancing except between ourselves. Thankfully we are together. Some people are home bound and alone. That must be extremely difficult.

Again that day the Spanish PM made another announcement to the nation. There were more restrictions; all beaches are banned and only one person is allowed out of each household and then only for essential things like food shopping.  He also announced financial measures to counteract the difficulties many many people are having, often through loss of jobs. Some of them will help though God knows where the money will come from. There was no help offered though to free lance people like me apart from unemployment benefit. That doesn't apply to me for my free lance work but no one is going to reimburse me for all the income lost from Airbnb and that is a substantial part of what I earn. We will survive of course and are in a better position than many but even so it will cause a big hole in our pockets and we shall have to be careful financially. But we will survive and come out of this stronger and more appreciative of life.

As always we watched the news on various programmes until there was nothing new to learn. We then switched to Netflix and started watching a Scandinavian murder series- The Valhalla Murders - set in Iceland. Oh how I would love to travel there. It is one of my father's favourite countries.

Wednesday came, our 4th day of confinement since lockdown went into force last Sunday. Who knows how long this will go on? I read an article in The Guardian which claimed to have had access to a secret government report which was totally catastrophic. Basically it claimed that in the worst scenario possible the virus could last until spring of 2021 and could see 7.9 million people in the UK alone hospitalised. The report estimated that as many as 80% of the the population could be infected at some stage leading to a staggering number of deaths of approximately over half a million people! The doom didn't end there. The thinking was that the virus will become like seasonal flu, hopefully becoming less severe over time, but, like flu, will be with us always. With us always? Really? Oh no, please. I prefer to think there will be a vaccine in place before that.

Wednesday was the day the UK finally announced the closure of schools (from Friday) and all educational centres in the country. The exception is for children of essential workers which I think is rather dangerous. On Wednesday the news was again full of gloom. Do we only get to read bad news? All around Spain and no doubt this is happening in other countries, old people were and are dying in large numbers in care homes. Suzy's friend, Chati, is a nurse at a care home and she told me that the residents were literally "dropping dead like flies". She is another of our heroes. She told  in person of the problem of the scarcity of protective clothing and was given a mask which had to last her 2 weeks when normally they are only good for use for a few hours. My applause goes to her too. She is doing a great job and has all my appreciation as do all health workers, as well as those providing our essential services.

Proud of Chati, Suzy and Oli's nurse friend who is working herself off her feet at a care home during the crisis. 

They were falling ill and dying alone in the care homes, as people are dying alone too in hospitals. No family members are allowed to be with them.   That for me is one of the worst things about this crisis. It was only this first week of confinement that we began to see a huge increase in numbers of victims who will have been infected before the new measures were put in place. Generally people are obeying the authorities but I was appalled to hear from someone in Switzerland, of all places, of the rise in looting. Of course, closed shops are a magnet for thieves and as most non essential shops around the world close, no doubt this dreadful behaviour by unscrupulous people will be on the rise. Thankfully we have the armies on the street to stop that happening here.

There was good news too though. I was pleased to read that the owner of Zara (Inditex), the Spanish millionaire Amancio Ortega, who has closed all his shops around the world, has not only protected most of  his workers, but has offered his help to the Government. His daughter has also promised the gift of 1 million masks as has the President of Huawei Spain. Inditex has offered its logistics platform to distribute masks and other protective wear for health workers and is also putting its factories in Spain to work to produce masks, medical gowns and other necessary clothing. Wow I thought, what a great idea. Many many other companies from different industries are collaborating too. I was happy to hear also how China is doing its bit. Few countries helped China when the crisis started there but now the Chinese are helping us. In Spain and other places, they are sending us medics and experts as well as masks and protective clothing. Hospitals are in great need as they are overwhelmed with cases and lack the material necessary to take care of patients. The big problem everywhere is the saturation of hospitals, especially the  ICU's.  That is the great drama at the moment. But contingency plans are in place and field hospitals, even medicalised hotels are springing up everywhere

Essential services such as electricity and telecommunications are vital during this crisis. Confinement can be borne if we have light, hot water, heating, TV, radio, mobile phones, fixed phones and internet and of course food. Without that it would be unbearable and unsustainable. I know these industries are doing their best but that day in Montrondo, suddenly we were left with only electricity and TV. We had an internet, mobile and fixed phone outage mid morning which lasted for about 2 hours. It was like having no contact with the outside world. Thankfully it came back.  People are comparing this crisis with WW2 but today with new technology it has never been easier to be at home. Plus we have no bombs falling on us and so far, no rationing. This is a different kind of war. The similarities perhaps lie with the collective spirit of the people. Crises like this often bring out the best in people and that is very comforting. I keep wondering how I can do my bit but at my age and the average age of our household the only way of doing my bit is staying safe, staying at home and being positive. There is no use in moaning and criticising.

Even so I had internet problems that morning. I was supposed to join a video conference call with my customer but as we only have slow internet (ADSL) and not fiber at our house in the village, I was not able to join. The only way I could at least talk to one of the people in the meeting was by climbing up to the top of our back garden where I know there is usually a good enough mobile signal. Without good internet, it is impossible to work remotely. That was one of the reasons we took the decision on Wednesday to leave for Madrid the next day. The other reason was to be with my father. After just under a week in Montrondo I knew we couldn't leave him for much longer. Plus we were eager to leave the somewhat hostile environment there.  My father was being well cared for physically but I did not want him to feel abandoned. No doubt he was very pleased to see us come back. Of all of us he is the most vulnerable.

Thankfully when internet was restored I was able to access my emails and after the phone call from the hill top, I could do my work. Again it was a great distraction.

Our 4th day of confinement was fine but frustrating in that we couldn't really go out or if we did we were stigmatised. So, again, we went up a steep and rocky path behind our garden and up into the mountains. But the path was full of pot holes, rocks, water and was difficult to navigate. More than a walk it felt like an obstacle race. We came to a part where it was impossible to continue and turned on our heels and made our way down slowly. Oh how I miss our normal daily walks. Once home, we thought Elsa and Norah would benefit from the new rules for society which allows people to take dogs out.  However, taking dogs out is not  equivalent to going on a 7km walk and just  5 minutes is what is recommended.  We shall not be going on our much needed long walks for quite a time now but as I told you we found the solution to that.

That night at 9 pm, the Spanish King addressed the nation. What did he say? Well not much. It was mostly platitudes. I think many people, like me, were thinking of the financial scandal caused by his father rather than what he was saying. There was a movement in society that day to protest from balconies and demand that the money in the ex king's offshore account - more than 100 million euros - be given to the health authorities for their fight against the virus. Wouldn't that be great? Don't get excited though as it won't happen.

After a marathon of  coronavirus news watching, Eladio and I continued our Icelandic murder series on Netflix but went to sleep early. So far my husband had been quite calm about the whole situation. Listening that night to the head of the WHO describing the virus as a battle against humanity, he could only agree, especially after the news of the elderly dying alone everywhere in Spain.  His own mother, aged 98, is also in a care home, and he is worried for her. It was that night in bed that he turned to me and said, "tomorrow we are going back to Madrid". I agreed with him. I wanted to be with my father and felt bad for having left him, if only for a week in these  terrible times. We were going back to the eye of the hurricane, Madrid, but thankfully live on the outskirts and would do all in our power to keep safe. On most important matters in life, we nearly always see eye to eye. What would I do without him?

Thus on Thursday, as soon as we had had an early breakfast, we got ready to leave. At about 10.30 we were off but had to return for Eladio's phone (haha) which set us back about half an hour. We only stopped once on the way and that was to answer a call of nature. Frightened of being in a public place it was answered on a patch of grass in a layby for parking.

Monday was Fathers' Day in Spain but of course there would be no celebrations. While Eladio was driving, Oli posted a lovely photo with her father on Instagram. This is it.

Oli's Father's day post

I read out what she had written and he told me to tell her he was "melting with love". Her words in English were: "I love you Daddy. When all this passes, I will give you a hug for each day we have been apart". Happy Fathers' Day. Suzy sent him a photo on Whatsapp. This was it and it needs no translation, except for the headline which means "Happy Fathers' Day". What a wonderful father the girls have and they know it.

Suzy's Fathers' Day photo

We were worried we would be stopped by the police or army on our 4 hour drive home but not worried we would be in trouble as returning home to one's main residence  is, thankfully and still,  allowed. In some countries they are putting a stop to people going to their holiday homes - although not by law - and here it is frowned upon. In France, although criticised by the locals, it is allowed as it is allowed in the UK and in Italy - this last until yesterday. In a way, I regret our rush decision to "flee" to Montrondo when we did on the Thursday before last. Had I known what I know now, we would not have gone. However, not everyone was obeying the recommendation in Spain that day. It was a public holiday in some areas and we were astonished to see cars queueing up on the motorways in part of the country, taking off in their cars with their children for the bank holiday. Crazy. We, on the other hand, were returning home, a good decision I think. I think most of them got fined and had to turn back.

The stories related to the spread of the virus were very alarming. That day Italy surpassed the number of deaths in China but with only half the number of cases (80k in China and 40k, that day, in Italy). How could they have double the amount of deaths with half the amount of cases? Well, one explanation is that Italy is one of the countries with the oldest population. I'm not buying that as it's pretty similar in Spain and it's the same in Japan and no doubt China. What I am buying, perhaps is the fact that many Italians are flouting the restrictions. It was said that day that up to 40% of the population were not maintaining proper social distancing, the confinement rules were pretty lax and there was no Army there, until very recently, to ensure the stay at home rule. As to the amount of people dying, the images of coffins piling up told their own story.

Coffins piling up in Italy

In Italy the hospitals are now applying that dreadful strategy, triage, usually used during wartime. Triage is the word used for deciding the order of treatment of patients, depending on the degree of urgency and chances of survival.  In real terms that meant the doctors were no longer admitting people over 80 (think it is 75 now) into the ICU's, giving priority to younger people with a greater chance of survival. I had never heard of the term "triage" until the virus came. Nor had I heard of "eugenics" although I vaguely knew what it meant. In Spain there is much talk too about triage but I think the ethics of choosing who to treat here  is not so much to do with age but with who will most likely survive and with a good quality of life.

There was good news though that day. For the first time since the outbreak there was not one new case in China, apart from some newly imported cases. But the million dollar question is: How can they stop the virus returning if they lift restrictions? I think no one has the answer to that or to whether people who get over it are really immune.

The night before leaving Montrondo I noticed a slight sore throat. Oh God I was worried. It was still there the morning we left but now it's gone.  Thankfully I didn't have the main symptoms, a fever and dry cough but I was still slightly worried.  By the way, this is a chart of the symptoms of coronavirus vs a common cold or flu. When I saw it, my fear receded (sigh of relief).

Coronavirus symptoms vs those of a common cold and flu

People around the world getting the disease, are no doubt feeling some of these symptoms. That day it was announced that both Michel Barnier (the Brexit negotiator) and Prince Albert of Monaco tested positive. Nearer home, in Madrid, the famous woman politician, Esperanza Aguirre, aged 69, and her husband tested positive and were hospitalised. I do hope they recover quickly.  Today I read the former Real Madrid President, Lorenzo Sanz, aged 76, died yesterday. RIP. It's quite obvious the virus does not distinguish between classes or people and is extremely contagious.

It was on Thursday that Boris Johnson in what I think is a daily appearance on the BBC,  continued to recommend social distancing. He had already recommended people avoid the pubs and public places but hadn't  shut them down; probably for economic reasons. That would change on Friday.  So far he had left the responsibility of social distancing to the people.  His other message that day was to announce massive virus testing. That worked in South Korea. Let's hope it works in the UK and elsewhere. He suggested that a regime of mass testing and social distancing can "send the virus packing" and that the next 12 weeks could "turn the tide of this disease". Does he really think that in 3 months time it will go away?  I hope he is right.

Schools in the UK prepared for closure the next day. Did you know that Eton had closed two weeks before the measure? But it was when I saw a tweet from the headmaster of Bradford Grammar school about closing the school that it really brought it home to me. Never in my life could I have imagined reading that Bradford Grammar School was closing because of a global pandemic. Neither could my father.  The headmaster  wrote: "Popping in and out of Bradford Grammar School Clock House, Junior school. House Music this morning - wonderful spirited performance and smiles everywhere. This gruff Yorkshire lad had a tear in his eye". I had met the headmaster, Dr. Simon Hinchliffe, last summer when he welcomed Eladio and I to visit the school on the occasion of my trip in the UK to my father's roots and he was instrumental in the school joining in the celebrations of my father's 100th birthday. He is a Yorkshire man and I immediately warmed to him. My father, if you didn't know, was a senior Master of languages at the school known as BGS, from 1961 to 1983. It was on our doorstep and I knew many of the boys there. Thus BGS has a big place in my heart. Later Simon reached out to me by email asking how we were, being in Spain in the eye of the hurricane. I reached out to him too sending him my best wishes and some advice about how to prepare for a possible lockdown as, in Spain, we are a few weeks ahead of the UK.  This is the beautiful school which will now be closed for some time, who knows how long? God bless good old BGS.

Bradford Grammar School also closed down this week

No one knows what will happen about exams and University entrance at this moment. But really who cares? All that matters now is that as few people as possible die and that a cure and vaccine become available as soon as possible. Only then we will be able to get back to normal although by then we will be a very damaged society in many ways, especially financially. But crises come and go and one day we will bounce back.

In this brave new world of lockdown when we can no longer go out, be with friends, travel, go to restaurants, do sports activities, etc, etc, I think we only really appreciate what we have when it's gone. No doubt, those of us who survive, will be happy and celebrate a return to life as we knew it, although there will be big changes. Hopefully, some of them will be positive.

I miss being with friends and family and I miss travelling. I had hoped to go to Scotland this summer but that's probably not going to be possible.  My dear friends, Sandra  in Brussels, and Adele  in France, are in touch constantly. That day we had a virtual meeting using Zoom. People all around the world are using Zoom, Skype, Facetime, Whatsapp, etc. So we decided to do so too and what fun it was. My friends had out their wine and champers while I had a cup of tea. Here we are during our reunion. We shall be doing more. I set up one for our family for the next day.

The 3 friends, Sandra, Adele and I

Adele with Bernard, me and Magda (aged 95) with Sandra. 

Magda, Sandra's 95 year old mother and Bernard, Adele's husband, as well as Eladio later joined in.

Spurred on by the success of the video call, I rang (video called) my dear cousin Katty in New Zealand. If it was 7.30 pm in Spain, New Zealand being our antipodes, it was 7.30 in the morning there. New Zealand is only just waking up to the dangers of the virus. Last week when I spoke to my cousin there were 2 cases, that day there were nearly 30 and today there are 66. She is very aware of what is going on as her mother and grandmother live in France, her brother and family live in the UK  and she has me in Spain. Few precautions have been taken there, so far,  so she has taken her own, the most important being having lifted her children, Sam and Ruby, out of school, 2 weeks ago.

It's a great comfort to have friends to reach out to during the crisis and we must all try to stay in touch and help each other. After ringing Katty I messaged my oldest and dearest friend, Amanda, who lives in Devon in the UK and we scheduled a skype call for this weekend. I then rang my daughter Oli to touch base with her and get news of Elliot. I couldn't get hold of Suzy who I knew was self isolating in London, near Acton Town. We would talk the next day.

By then it was dinner time and Eladio and I had the kitchen to ourselves with no guests (sniff) which has its benefits but if felt strange. The best thing about coming home was of course to see my father who told me he had been well looked after. The next best thing was to sleep in our own bed with its memory foam mattress. We must both have been very tired as soon after the news we fell asleep.

I was awake early on Friday morning. If I normally sleep badly, I have to tell you I am sleeping even worse now because of thoughts of the crisis. I was very frightened that is the truth. Thus I got up at 5.45. My friends Adele and Sandra who are equally frightened were awake too.  But how will I last this if I panic and am frightened, sad at all the negative news? I got the answer that day from my former Swedish boss while we were messaging about some work. I told him that we had reached 20.000 infected in Spain with a death toll of over 1000. His answer was sage and I took note. After his recommendations I decided to change my attitude from negative to positive, both in my life and online. This is what he said and I hope his advice helps you too: "Yes and it is easy to become paralysed by fear. It will get a lot worse, more than 10.000 will die in Spain within a short time frame. 3 tips how not to get paralysed: 1) Don't check the news every hour, only twice a day, 2) Find something to focus on, either work, gardening, knitting, reading etc ... the more physical activity you do, the better you will sleep, 3) Stay away from social media if you can (I can't), more than 50% of all posting is fake news (most of it from Russia)". He added, "trust me, if you are going to allow yourself to feel sad every time news like this comes out, you will not be able to help the rest of your family. Stay strong, safe and organised". Oh what wise advice. It all summed up as turning my negative attitude to a positive attitude as part of the fight to win this war.  That day I went from negative to positive and engaged friends to do the same.

I had lots of work that morning to keep me occupied. Keeping occupied and following a routine are vital to sticking this out. I also took my Swedish boss' advice to do exercise. Both Eladio and I agreed that day that we should not take the dogs for a walk even though we live in an isolated area. Instead, we decided to go for a walk in our own garden. Thankfully we have one. Thus we did a brisk walk of around 45 minutes which is about 22 laps around our garden. Here I am in the middle of our walk. Ah, yes, and I am carrying my little handbag - I always do in this massive house and garden hahahaha.

On our first walk in our own garden on Friday

I felt so good after the exercise that the walk around our garden will now become part of our daily routine. I came back to check on the news (it was more than twice that day sorry) and was happy to read the UK had now announced pubs, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, etc were to be closed. Even happier news was the government's plans to pay wages for workers facing job losses. What a marvelous measure.

A short while later we had our family video call, except that Oli had forgotten. In her excitement at going out shopping in her first stray from home since confinement started, she had not remembered we had a video call scheduled at 7.30 pm. It was her first time shopping since the new measures were put in place and her first time witnessing the 1.5 metre distance between people in the queues. She posted this photo, not a great one of her, but a keepsake of our lives in this crisis that one day her grandchildren might look at and understand what happened in 2020.

Oli obeying the new rules while shopping - her first experience since lockdown began

Thus it was just Suzy, Eladio and I on the Zoom call. The connection was not as good as the day before so we resorted to Skype. Suzy is staying with her great friend, Sandra, a nurse and her daughter in their flat in Acton Town. Very sadly, this week, Sandra's sister who was on holiday (I think) in India, died there in a fire. How dreadful. Poor Sandra. When the crisis is over she and her family will go out to mourn her sister's death in India.

Suzy was very supportive of my new and more positive attitude to this lockdown and crisis and applauded my new attitude which had me feeling a lot better psychologically. It was lovely to see and talk to her and she even got to see my father who sent her lots of kisses. Oh how important families are and if we can only be in touch virtually, so it may be and thank God for new technology.

Oli and Elliot in confinement in Valencia yesterday

By the time we had finished our call, it was time for dinner. Suzy had told me that during the confinement, her flat mates and her were busy taking the time to make lovely meals. Well, I thought, I will too as I do love cooking. That night I made a dish of grilled plaice (or similar) served with garlic, runner beans and spinach. That's very healthy isn't it? We have to eat healthily to keep our immune system up and also to keep our figures as it is very tempting in these days of confinement to find comfort in the wrong types of food, e.g. chocolate, cakes, biscuits, crisps, fatty foods, etc. I dread to imagine how much wine my British compatriots will be consuming in these times. We, on the other hand, hardly touch it. However, I think I would drink more if alcohol didn't give me a headache so I am not pointing any fingers at anyone hahaha.

I had a headache that night anyway but that didn't stop me watching more of the Icelandic series which is quite recommendable. Not for us, science fiction, comedy or horror films. Who wants more horror these days?

On Saturday, I was awake again very early, at 5.45 but determined to make the most of the day. Saturday was, by the way, the first day of spring. It didn't feel like it though as it was wet and cloudy. Yesterday was the first day I would put into practice my new positive attitude. I passed on my advice to Oli who was getting tired of confinement and she told me the advice helped. So what did I do yesterday? I spent part of the morning writing this blog - I write a bit every day as all of it on a Sunday morning would be impossible. Writing is a sort of catharsis for me. It helps to get things off my chest. Also writing in these times, is writing a chronicle of the crisis which I hope, one day, my grandchild and even my great grand children might read. I should be taking advantage of all the time I have on my hands to continue the research into my mother's book but for the moment my mind is not at rest and I can't do it. I hope I can soon.

I spent part of the morning reading the Norwegian book, cooking and keeping up with friends. That afternoon I had a lovely Skype call with Amanda (mentioned above). She is in a remote part of Devon so sort of safe although she tells me this morning that hordes are arriving from the city. We spoke for 1.15h and I found we were a great comfort to each other. We have now agreed to have a video call once a week.

Keen to keep a routine in these days of confinement, after the call we went on our "walk" in the garden. We called the dogs who got excited. But when they saw we were only walking around the garden they soon lost interest, except for loyal little Pippa, hahahaha. We kept it up for 45 minutes. During the laps we went past my father's room. He was reading a book in Norwegian (rather than a Norwegian book) but looked up to wave at us occasionally. He was pleased to see us taking our exercise. After about 23 laps I was in quite a sweat but felt so much better for the exercise.

These days of course we can no longer go to restaurants. Gone are the days of our Friday night dinners out. Cooking being a great pastime during confinement, I decided to make a meal from a new recipe, a dish called "patatas revolconas" that Eladio loves and which we had for dinner last night. I had never made it before but it's quite easy. Basically it's a potato dish to which you add paprika, crunchy strips of pork belly and garlic. This is what it looked like. Eladio was happy with the result and so was I. I have been very careful with my diet and was happy to see the results on the scales that morning showed another kilo down. So yesterday's "patata" dish was an exception to the rule. I think I deserved it. Don't you?

The potato dish I made for dinner last night called "patatas revolconas"

Sticking to our routine, we went up to our bedroom after dinner to watch the news. Again the Prime Minister was live on TV. His speech was very serious but upbeat, despite the rise of the virus curve. I was happy to hear from him that for the large, the majority of the population are adhering to the new rules. Good I thought. Again he warned the worst was to come. More uplifting was the news of a great big hospital with 5.500 beds including many to be used for intensive care, that had been set up in record time at the big exhibition centre in Madrid (Ifema). He also announced more medical equipment was on its way as is massive testing.

Later we relaxed watching a film with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin called "It's complicated".  It's a fun, part drama, part comedy film. I would have liked to watch it all but fell asleep before it finished.

This morning I woke up to day 8 of confinement. The sun was out which I know will help us through the day. The sun is always good for morale.

Now I am at the end of the tales of this extraordinary week, our first week of confinement, our first week under a state of emergency, something, that no doubt will be the subject of history in 100 years time, as was and is the Spanish flu. We are living extraordinary times and we must be positive, keep safe and keep your morale up.

So, where ever you are, chins up everyone and happy Sunday.

Until next week,
Masha