Sunday 5th April 2020
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| Being able to sit out in the sun reading and with a cup of tea is very luxurious confinement. That was me last Sunday when it was still sunny. |
Hello again family, friends and readers.
How has your week been in the different parts of the world? Here where we live on the outskirts of Madrid, we started our 3rd week of confinement after lockdown was pronounced on 14th March. Last Sunday couldn't have been quieter and to tell you the truth a bit like most Sundays with or without confinement. The difference being on a normal Sunday Oli, Miguel and Elliot are usually here for lunch and of course we go for our walks. Otherwise it was pretty much the same.
Well, there was a difference actually as last Sunday we woke up to find the clocks had gone forward one hour. That's always difficult to get used to. One benefit for me though was that instead of getting up at 6 in the morning I was up at 7 or maybe even 7.30. If we had been robbed of one hour of the day, in my case I was robbed of 2 but that didn't matter as it's not exactly as if we are busy these days.
I read the news over breakfast this morning and mulled at the rising number of those infected and those who had died all around the world. Now nearly half the world is in some kind of lockdown. Last week the total number of cases in the world was 663.079, double that of the week before. The total number of deaths was 30.087 compared to 13.069 the week before that. In Spain the total number of cases was 73.235 cases and a death toll of 5.982 compared to 25.496 and 1.381 respectively the week before. Today the total number of cases and deaths in the world have risen to 1.182.830 and 63.925. In Spain, one of the worst affected countries in the world, the number of cases last night, one week later, is a staggering 124.736 and the number of deaths has risen to 11.744. We have overtaken Italy in the number of cases. The US has the biggest number in the world with New York being the world's epicentre right now. My home country, the UK, now in lockdown and with its PM, Boris Johnson, infected, is seeing a rise some never thought possible. Last week they had just over 17k cases and just over 1.000 cases. Today they have jumped to 41k and 3.7k. I sincerely hope the UK doesn't suffer as much as we have and are suffering here. On the upside the number of people who have recovered is 246.760. Below you can see the tables for last week and this week.
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| Figures for Saturday 28th March |
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| Last night's figures, Saturday 4th April |
My blog is now becoming a chronicle or diary of life under Covid_19. How sad. This is a totally new world to us and a totally new way of life we have to cope with. In a way it is as if life is virtually on hold and we have gone into hibernation like bears. But what will our world be like when we come out of hibernation? How many people will have died? Will the virus still be there? When will a vaccine become available? Will there be more lockdowns as the virus resurfaces? There are so many questions and so far no answers. The negative economic effects are terrible and who knows what life will be like after the virus. It will no doubt be worse than the 2008 financial crisis. Some are saying it will be worse than the Great Depression after the Wall Street Crash. Worse though is that we will have lost a lot of people. I feel for those losses and thank God that so far we have been spared.
All this week I have again tried to be positive but can't help feeling worried about the whole situation and very sad at the number of cases, the number of those who have died and in what terrible circumstances.
Again to turn my thoughts to more positive things, I resorted to cooking which is a great therapy for those of us who like to cook. I like to cook but it is also my job at home to feed the family. That day I planned to repeat the salmon and leek parcel recipe but this time decided to make the parcels into pies, like my Russian "perushki". That's much more fiddly than placing the salmon, leek, dill and creme fraiche onto tin foil but far more tasty. The downside is the extra calories. This is what they looked like when they came out of the oven.
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| My leek and salmon pies |
If you want to know what they look like inside, here is a close up.
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| Leek and salmon pies with creme fraiche |
After lunch we had a short nap. Mine didn't last long as I wanted to make the most of the sun. Thus at around 4 pm, I made a cup of decaf tea and took it out to read on the swimming pool terrace. That was a lovely afternoon and didn't feel at all like confinement. I asked Eladio to take a photo which is this week's feature photo. When I shared it with the family, Oli, confined in a small and dark flat in Valencia with no balcony or terrace, said "lucky you". She was right. I realise that there are classes when it comes to confinement and as I have said before, there is a big difference in lockdown if you have a garden and don't live in a town flat with no access to outdoor space like the majority of Europeans in big cities, especially in the South of the continent. In England where every man's home is a castle, nearly everyone has a garden however small. I read too that suppliers in the UK are running out of table tennis tables, bicycles, garden games and even garden furniture. In the US, guess what people are stockpiling? Guns my friends, guns. Believe it or not arms' shops are considered "essential business" on the other side of the pond!
That afternoon in the sun I finished the excellent book, the 12th Man, about the incredible escape of Jan Baalsrud, the Norwegian saboteur and started rereading Unorthodox. I wrote last week about the mini series created by a German production company but I have to say the book is much better as it is an autobiography. I wrote about that too last week, but if you are interested and want to get the book it is called "Unorthodox: the scandalous rejection of my (Jewish) Hasidic roots".
I love being in the sun and good weather is one of the things I enjoy most about living in Spain. This week Facebook reminded me that 2 years ago this week we were in Santa Pola at our seaside bolt hole. Oh how I wish things were different and oh how I miss travelling there and to Montrondo as well as other places. Here I am 2 years ago with Pippa at a favourite bar of ours which is more like an ice cream parlour, "Kiosko Peret" on the famous "explanada" in Alicante. It's sad to think that Kiosko Peret is now closed down as are all bars, restaurants and hotels. Gosh it was sunny that day.
Whilst reading in the sun at home that afternoon, I felt immune to the outside world until Eladio told me that a care home just 1 km from where we live with 24 residents had been evacuated as all the staff but two had fallen prey to the virus including the doctor. The only two remaining staff just couldn't cope. Thus the elderly residents were evacuated to the newly converted hospital at Ifema, Madrid's main exhibition centre. To think that no so long ago it hosted the World Climate Talks. I had thought, naively until then that we lived in a virus free area. Not so unfortunately and who knows how many more there are. Later during the week when I went to our local chemist, I asked Angeles, the pharmacist and owner, if there were people in the area with coronavirus."Oh yes" she said, adding "it's everywhere". Well, she would know.
I love being in the sun and good weather is one of the things I enjoy most about living in Spain. This week Facebook reminded me that 2 years ago this week we were in Santa Pola at our seaside bolt hole. Oh how I wish things were different and oh how I miss travelling there and to Montrondo as well as other places. Here I am 2 years ago with Pippa at a favourite bar of ours which is more like an ice cream parlour, "Kiosko Peret" on the famous "explanada" in Alicante. It's sad to think that Kiosko Peret is now closed down as are all bars, restaurants and hotels. Gosh it was sunny that day.
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| Carefree days in Alicante 2 years ago. Here with Pippa at Kiosko Peret. |
Many people are posting and sending coronavirus related jokes, videos, etc on Whatsapp and on social media. A friend of mine, Juana, told me recently she didn't want to see them anymore after parents of some of her friends had died from the virus. I don't really want to see them either. So far we haven't been touched in that no one we know has been badly affected but still this is too serious to joke about. I don't mind some of them but after seeing a parody of Julia Andrew's Do re mi song, I was totally put off. For me The Sound of Music reminds me of happy times. I don't want to listen to a parody about the virus using a song from my favourite film ever. Sorry, I don't.
Our walk that evening was especially pleasant as it was sunny and of course got dark much later that night, at 8.30 pm. Dinner was a small affair and after a dose of more news on the crisis - from Monday all non essential work in Spain would stop for 2 weeks - we turned to Netflix. We finished watching the excellent, if rather dated, film called Mrs. Brown. It tells the story of the relationship between Queen Victoria, after the death of Prince Albert her beloved husband, and his gilly, John Brown. Judi Dench plays the Queen who withdrew from public life and sought refuge in Mr. Brown (Billy Connolly) to help her get over her grief. He rose to enormous power in her court and was hated by many. There were rumours they were lovers but there has never been any proof. If you like period dramas, this is a film for you.
Later we watched a German drama film called Nowhere in Africa. It had won an Oscar for best foreign film and tells the story of a Jewish family who move to Africa to escape the Nazis. It was slightly disappointing. In fact I fell asleep before it finished. That night I slept well. I woke up at 5.40 to realise I hadn't taken my sleeping tablets, promptly took then and then woke up at 8.30. Wow I haven't woken up at 8.30 in the morning since I can remember.
Monday dawned and as I said, late for me. I was rewarded that morning with a photo of my dear youngest daughter Olivia and baby Elliot. That put me in a good mood.
Oh how I miss them though.
That day coronavirus crept closer to me and my circle when my dear friend Sandra who lives in Brussels told me that her friends Robert and Andrea who live in Madrid were both down with the virus. I do hope they are coping ok. Later in the week I heard that my ex Nokia colleague and friend, Marta, was convalescing from the virus. When she got ill, she sent her husband and 4 year old daughter to stay with his parents while she self isolated and coped with the illness on her own. Poor Marta.
As if to dampen the week, the sun left us that morning and only made its appearance on Thursday. The cold weather came and it felt like winter. Even so we went on our walks when we could.
Friends from England, concerned with the stories coming out of Madrid wrote to us. One was my father's ex pupil, Robert at Bradford Grammar School, who was later his physiotherapist. That was so kind. He told me he and his wife, Sue, take walks around Lister Park. Oh Lister Park, the park on Manningham Lane near where we lived in Bradford. How I would love to walk around it too. I also heard from Richard, a colleague of my mother's at Leeds University. It's funny to imagine my mother's old work place and my father's, Bradford Grammar School, both closed down.
During this confinement I keep thinking what I want to do first as soon as it is all over (when will that be?). I asked Eladio what he would like to do first. His answer was go out to dinner with me. I would like to do that too. My other firsts and not particularly in this order are: resuming our walks, going out to dinner, having lunch with friends, seeing the family (of course) and definitely travelling. Where do I want to go first I ask myself? That's easy to answer; to Yorkshire of course where I have so many roots. Talking about roots but hair roots in this case, the first place I need to go to after this is all over is actually the hairdresser, haha. What do you all want to do first when this is all over I wonder?
If last week there was a challenge on FB for people to post photos of themselves when they were young, this week the challenge was to post a photo of yourself as a child, baby, toddler, along with a recent one. There have been lots of similar challenges to post photos of dogs, the sea, etc, all with the purpose of filling social media with more positive content. Always up to a challenge, I went and found a photo of myself when I was just 2. It must have been taken in Cambridge as that was where I was born. Of course it is in black and white as in those days (the late 50's) there were no colour pictures. So here you have me aged 2 looking, as someone commented, quite determined.
I'm not sure whether I was determined but I know I was very independent. My mother always told me that when she tried to do things for me, such as tying my shoe laces, I would always reply: "by myself". So, I was stubborn too hahahhahaa. My hair was blonde then and my eyes green as they are today.
And here is a photo of me taken in Madrid 60 years later. Gosh! (what an old fashioned word but I still use it) I do wish my mother could see me now but sadly she left this world nearly 21 years ago on 1st October 1999.
It was on Monday that we heard our equivalent of Chief Medical Officer, Fernando Simón, had tested positive. His name and face had become so familiar to everyone as he was the person until that day to announce news of the crisis, mostly the dreadful spike in numbers of cases and deaths each day. I had quite a bit of faith in him as he is apolitical but when he advised there was no health threat in taking part in the huge 8th March Women's day demonstrations, I lost a lot of that faith. It turned out the demonstration of 120 thousand people in Madrid was one of the trigger points in the rise of cases here.
I was not that sorry to hear that on Monday the evil man behind Britain's government, Dominic Cummings, was self isolating after experiencing symptoms. He was the man pushing for that awful "herd immunity" strategy. I don't wish him any harm but wouldn't it be wonderful if he had to self isolate forever? I was much sadder to hear from Olivia that one of Miguel's fellow cameramen, aged just 48, was in hospital with the virus and lung trouble. That was another case that brought the virus closer to our circle.
Oli told me recently that at TVE there are many cases of coronavirus - well of course there would be as journalists, technicians, cameramen, etc work closely together and go to the source of the news. But that day the story was bigger. The director of her programme, España Directo, had fallen prey to the virus and most of the people who work in that newsroom are now in quarantine. The programme was cancelled until Wednesday when it was run by a very short staff. We are all wondering what work Oli will be going back to when she returns to her reporter job with TVE for España Directo on 13th April.
But I did have some good news that day. On Monday, a little baby boy called Bosco was born to Lucia. Lucia is a member of what I call my "Spanish family", the family I lived with when I was in Madrid on my year here as part of my degree in Hispanic Studies at Nottingham University. I lived with the González Gálvez family; the mother Pili, her husband Gerardo and their kids, Gerardo, Irene, Julieta and Toti. When I was pregnant with Suzy, Pili, in her late 40's was pregnant with Lucia. Sadly she became blind afterwards. It was Pili, who sent me the video of the newborn baby, Bosco, a wonderful addition to a wonderful family. It's such a pity Pili cannot see her new grandchild. It's such a pity too that no one from the family, apart from the parents, can visit the baby because of lockdown. In any case, it was wonderful news. Welcome (bienvenido) Bosco to this brave new world and I am sorry you were born during the coronavirus crisis. Visiting Lucia, Juan Carlos and Bosco is now on my list of things do when this is all over.
At 17.30 I had my second Skype call with Amanda and we both agreed to have one every Monday at the same time. It was lovely to chat to my oldest friend for an hour that afternoon. We both tried to steer away from the virus crisis, but apart from discussing books we are reading or films and series we are watching, it is the only other topic of conversation. Thus we discussed how we are both coping with confinement. Amanda and Andy live in Devon in an isolated spot near the beach but of course beaches are now out of bounds.
After our walk which was a bit wet, we had a video call with the girls. Oli couldn't remember her Skype password so we resorted to Whatsapp which is never as good as other providers of video calls because of the screen and audio quality. In any case it was great to see the girls, Elliot and Miguel. Here is a screen shot taken during our call.
Of course we spoke about each other's experience of confinement. Oli was the worst off as they have no balcony or terrace and can only go out to get provisions. Suzy who is in London can go out on her bike and we have the garden.
Dinner was late that day and I made a frugal meal of grilled hake with spinach and garlic and actually felt a bit hungry when we were in bed watching the TV. The news, as usual , was dire and later we turned to a new series on Prime Video. Set in Yorkshire and called the Red Riding Trilogy, it looked promising but it was actually a little disappointing
I didn't sleep so well that night and was up at 7 am the next day which I suppose is the old 6 am. There was nothing much to look forward to that day as there isn't any of the days really. In a normal life, we all have something to look forward to, be that just a coffee with a friend and now all that has been taken away from us. So we have to be inventive to fill our quiet lives.
Maybe I should have been more inventive on Tuesday which was a very grim day but I didn't have the heart to be and succumbed to sadness, sadness about all that is happening around me. I didn't even try to snap out of it. I just felt low all day. I'm normally a very positive person and if this virus is is getting me down I dread to think how it is affecting people who are generally more negative or who have mental health issues. I shouldn't moan but this virus is getting me down. I have to add, it's not myself or my family I am so worried about, it is humanity in general.
Yes Tuesday was a grim day in all respects. The weather was foul and the forecast looked pretty grim too. Gone was the lovely sunshine of last Sunday. It's Spring but felt like Winter at the beginning of the week. I was wearing my warmest clothing. I wonder what you are all wearing at home now that we can't go out. I tend to wear soft leggings, a thermal vest and a thick jumper or one of my Marks and Spencer fleeces. That is how I feel most comfortable. I don't bother with lipstick, never mind make up nor do I put on jewelry and only wear my wedding ring and a watch. I still put perfume on as I've got so much of it I'm worried it will go off if confinement continues for a long time which I think it will. Why would I bother to wear a pretty dress? There is no point. I'm sorry for the fashion or clothes industry as no doubt most people around the world feel the same as me and no one is buying any new clothes, unless it's new leggings, pyjamas or similar.
Tuesday's numbers were as grim as Monday's and Spain was registering over 800 new deaths per day. Do you know what that means? We are at the top of the table as far as deaths is concerned, just below Italy and soon we will catch up. I remember a few weeks ago complaining to someone that Spain had 1000 deaths. He replied we would soon have 10.000. He was right. No doubt we will have more too. Where is God these days I ask myself?
The Spanish government who are doing their best in the worst crisis since WW2 seem out of their depth. However they announced more financial benefits to offset depleted earnings and loss of jobs but it was not enough. It never can be. For the self employed, like me, they offered suspension of the payment of taxes for a few months. But as they say in Spain "that is bread for today and hunger for tomorrow - "pan para hoy, hambre para mañana" - as the self employed will still have to pay the taxes and in a few months time that will amount to a lot. I am quickly losing faith in this government's ability to handle the crisis.
Again the highlight of the day was cooking. On Tuesday for lunch I made a "vegetable loaf" from a recipe a journalist friend, Ana G, had given me a few years ago. Basically it's layers of different types of semi cooked veg, soaked in egg and tomato and cooked in the oven. It is served with a mushroom sauce and is wonderful. This is what my creation looked like.
The other highlight of the day was watching a film in the afternoon while it poured with rain outside. Called Two Lives it is set in Norway and East Berlin and tells the semi true story of the fate of a group of children born in Norway in WW2 to Norwegian women and Nazi Germans to be brought up as "true Aryans". Some of them were sent to Germany, including what would become East Germany. The children were known as the "Lebensborn" or War children. One woman claimed to have escaped and was reunited with her mother in Norway. However in the film, the happy ending of such a reunion is marred by espionage on the part of the Stasi. If you are into films about spies or WW2 then this is a film for you. The film is based on a book by Hannelore Hippe called Ice Ages but I couldn't find it anywhere. I had never heard of the term "Lebensborn". When I looked it up I was horrified. This is what it was: "Lebensborn (virtually "spring of life") was an SS initiated, state supported, registered association in Nazi Germany with the goal of raising the birth rate of Aryan children of persons classified as "racially pure" and healthy based on Nazi racial hygiene and health ideology". No doubt they found many in Norway. How disgusting. The fate of these children born to Nazi soldiers was a life of misery. Their mothers were vilified and so were they. The film tells of how a group of these children were sent to Germany but the majority stayed in Norway.
Wednesday came and as my father reminded me at lunch on Tuesday, it was 1st April and April Fools' day. But I was not in the mood for jokes. I must snap out of this.I think it must have been the first year since the War that the UK totally ignored it. Certainly there was nothing to laugh about.
However, contrary to what I wrote above, I did have something to look forward to. Of course I did; Oli, Miguel and Elliot are coming tomorrow and next week is Miguel's birthday and of course it will be Easter. I am all prepared for Easter which will be a chocolate feast as you can see from the photo below.
It will be the first chocolate I eat since Christmas and I cannot wait. I also can't wait to try my hot cross buns on Good Friday.
That day again the number of deaths was in the 800's and the highest recorded till that day. It would be even higher the next day. We were told we had reached the peak of the curve but I wondered if we had. In the UK their highest death toll was recorded too at 563. Again I do hope they don't suffer as much as we are suffering here in Spain.
The best way to keep my mind off the news and this new world of ours which I can't get used to, is to watch films, cook and read. That afternoon before our walk I watched a film called "The last thing he wanted" about a journalist and her arms dealer father. Not bad but a bit difficult to understand the plot. These days I need easier plots to follow. That night we watched a film right up our street called In Transit. It is a Russian British drama film based on the true story of a group of Nazi soldiers who are imprisoned in a Russian concentration camp run by Russian women.
I found it difficult to sleep afterwards, my thoughts once again on the nightmare we are all a part of.
Thursday came and brought the sun with it. Hallelujah. It was day 20 of confinement and as all the days of confinement pretty much the same; similar routine, more dire news, some cooking, our walk, watching films or series and reading. Ah but that day I went to do the shopping. My last purchases had lasted 9 days not the 2 weeks I had hoped for.
It was funny to be out again, normal at the beginning and then a sudden realisation that life is not normal at all. That's because of all the new shopping rules and our efforts to keep virus free. As I hadn't been out for 9 days I kept having to remind myself not to get close to people, to make sure I sanitised my hands before and after putting gloves on, joining long queues and hardly talking to anyone. I did remember though to be as cheerful as I could to the cashiers and shop staff. They deserve a lot more appreciation for their role in this nightmare. I went to Mercadona, to the chemist and then to Carrefour and the whole expedition took me 3 hours, nearly double the normal because of all the new precautionary measures.
While queueing for fish, I got the news of the latest numbers of cases and deaths in Spain. We had now reached over 10.000 people who have died which, my friends, that day equated to 20% of all victims worldwide. The other bad news was the number of people joining the ranks of the dole, more than in God knows how many years; over 900.000 people who have lost their jobs and growing daily. It was so depressing I wanted to cry for those dead in Spain and the new dead in the UK, over 500 that day. The only glimmer of hope came from the figure of the percentage of those falling ill. It seemed it was decreasing. Worldwide, the number of cases passed the 1 million mark. Then you have countries scrambling for equipment and material for hospitals and hear stories of the US robbing France of cargoes they had paid for. The Spanish government has been accused of mishandling purchases for tests from China that turned out to be defect. But that is happening everywhere. Isn't it funny or rather isn't it dangerous that we now all have to turn to China for the much needed material? We can't trust them either with the purchases or with the figures they reported on the number of deaths. It's suspiciously low.
The only thing to cheer me up that day was a lovely video of little Elliot in his little play area in the flat in Valencia. He smiles for the camera as he always smiles for anyone. I can't wait for him to smile at me when he sees me tomorrow. I just hope he remembers us. This is the video by the way.
Our walk, as usual, was the highlight of our day. We normally put our coats and trainers on at around 6.30 and, as you know, take our walk in the garden. It was sunny that afternoon. Only Pippa followed us. The other dogs now know they don't get to outside and don't see the point in following us around the garden. Since walking in our garden we have created a veritable footpath which is not good for the grass. Hopefully it will grow again when this is all over and we can resume our walks in the fields up the road. See what I mean by the path we have created.
Dinner, one of our favourite moments of the day, was had, as always in the kitchen and accompanied by the news on my iPad - more doom and gloom.
That night our choice on Netflix was a Norwegian detective series called Borderline. I'm not sure I'm very keen on it but it kept my mind occupied which is the important thing. Again I found it difficult to sleep. We are living a nightmare and I would be very grateful to get a good night's sleep every night rather than have to battle with my wide awake mind under the sheets.
The next I knew it was Friday morning our 21st day of confinement. We would not be going out for dinner of course. On the plus side, we are spending literally nothing on dining our, travel or petrol but our income has been depleted because of Airbnb. I wonder when we will ever have guests again?
There really is nothing of interest to tell you about Friday. It was just another quiet day of confinement. We know now that there will be another two weeks of lockdown and I'm sure it won't end there. After all the people in Wuhan where the virus originated were put into quarantine on 23rd January and the city is only just coming out of confinement and slowly too.
The sun shined on Friday although it wasn't very warm with the temperature reaching just 18ºc. I can't wait for the good weather and opening the swimming pool. That afternoon I finished the book "Unorthodox" sitting in the sun by the covered pool until it was time for our walk. That day was the first we have not worn a coat on our walk. Oh come on summer.
I came back in to check my whatsapp messages. I am always hoping for photos of Elliot and I got one, well actually two. Let me share with you the one of my little grandson holding a loaf of bread. His parents love bread (preferably wholemeal) and no doubt he does too. Spaniards consume tons and tons of bread, eating it with lunch and with dinner. In England I wasn't brought up to eat bread with meals and only had it as toast for breakfast. When Eladio first visited England and stayed at our house, he saw there was no bread on the table and asked for some. My father promptly brought him some sliced white bread - you know the "door stopper type". He looked at it aghast. I have never understood the Spaniards' obsession with bread but I have to say I do like it with butter but try not to eat it for obvious reasons. Anyway, here is the little cherub clutching a loaf of bread.
Needless to say I didn't have any bread with our tuna fish salad for dinner and Eladio did. Later that night we watched the most ridiculous documentary. Everyone was talking about "Tiger King" on Netflix but I'm afraid it just wasn't up our street. Besides, I hate seeing wild animals caged up in zoos or similar.
But life continued in this crazy new world where we feel cocooned in our massive house and garden and very privileged too. We went on our walk, came back in, had our dinner, went to bed to watch more news and at about midnight fell asleep. Meanwhile in Miami, Fatíma's niece Gloria, aka "Piyo", was giving birth to her first baby. Her parents Gloria and Carlos, her sister Sara and cousin Fátima (my friend Fatima's only daughter) had all planned to be with her but coronavirus put a stop to that. At about 11 pm last night she gave birth to a baby girl who will be called Olivia Fátima. I love that she has the same name as my daughter and her dear deceased aunt's name as a second name. Nearly all future mothers in the world choose to know the sex of their baby before it is born but Gloria wanted it to be a surprise. The only people who knew were those who performed the scans and, my friends, her Aunt Fatima, my dearest friend, who Gloria knew would not be with us when her baby was born. So some months ago, she asked a nurse or doctor to write on a piece of paper the gender of the baby. She then folded the paper without looking inside and posted it to my dear friend Fátima who took the secret with her to her grave. If only she was here to enjoy meeting a new member of her family. What would Fátima my friend think of coronavirus and the fact that it robbed Gloria's family of being there when little Olivia was born? But without further delay, let me present you to little Olivia Fátima and her delighted parents. I hope Olivia has a wonderful, happy and productive life. Welcome Olivia Fátima, "bienvenida".
That was the news I woke up to this morning and it made me feel very cheerful. It's wonderful in all this chaos to be able to report on the birth of two new babies this week. There is life in the midst of this nightmare.
I only hope I have more good news to report on next week as the crisis continues. I hope you are all keeping well, sticking to the rules of lockdown and, above all, keeping safe.
That's it from me now until next Sunday,
Masha
(Day 21 of lockdown)
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| Oli and Elliot on Monday morning |
That day coronavirus crept closer to me and my circle when my dear friend Sandra who lives in Brussels told me that her friends Robert and Andrea who live in Madrid were both down with the virus. I do hope they are coping ok. Later in the week I heard that my ex Nokia colleague and friend, Marta, was convalescing from the virus. When she got ill, she sent her husband and 4 year old daughter to stay with his parents while she self isolated and coped with the illness on her own. Poor Marta.
As if to dampen the week, the sun left us that morning and only made its appearance on Thursday. The cold weather came and it felt like winter. Even so we went on our walks when we could.
Friends from England, concerned with the stories coming out of Madrid wrote to us. One was my father's ex pupil, Robert at Bradford Grammar School, who was later his physiotherapist. That was so kind. He told me he and his wife, Sue, take walks around Lister Park. Oh Lister Park, the park on Manningham Lane near where we lived in Bradford. How I would love to walk around it too. I also heard from Richard, a colleague of my mother's at Leeds University. It's funny to imagine my mother's old work place and my father's, Bradford Grammar School, both closed down.
During this confinement I keep thinking what I want to do first as soon as it is all over (when will that be?). I asked Eladio what he would like to do first. His answer was go out to dinner with me. I would like to do that too. My other firsts and not particularly in this order are: resuming our walks, going out to dinner, having lunch with friends, seeing the family (of course) and definitely travelling. Where do I want to go first I ask myself? That's easy to answer; to Yorkshire of course where I have so many roots. Talking about roots but hair roots in this case, the first place I need to go to after this is all over is actually the hairdresser, haha. What do you all want to do first when this is all over I wonder?
If last week there was a challenge on FB for people to post photos of themselves when they were young, this week the challenge was to post a photo of yourself as a child, baby, toddler, along with a recent one. There have been lots of similar challenges to post photos of dogs, the sea, etc, all with the purpose of filling social media with more positive content. Always up to a challenge, I went and found a photo of myself when I was just 2. It must have been taken in Cambridge as that was where I was born. Of course it is in black and white as in those days (the late 50's) there were no colour pictures. So here you have me aged 2 looking, as someone commented, quite determined.
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| Me, aged 2 in Cambridge in 1959 |
And here is a photo of me taken in Madrid 60 years later. Gosh! (what an old fashioned word but I still use it) I do wish my mother could see me now but sadly she left this world nearly 21 years ago on 1st October 1999.
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| Me, in Madrid, 60 years later |
I was not that sorry to hear that on Monday the evil man behind Britain's government, Dominic Cummings, was self isolating after experiencing symptoms. He was the man pushing for that awful "herd immunity" strategy. I don't wish him any harm but wouldn't it be wonderful if he had to self isolate forever? I was much sadder to hear from Olivia that one of Miguel's fellow cameramen, aged just 48, was in hospital with the virus and lung trouble. That was another case that brought the virus closer to our circle.
Oli told me recently that at TVE there are many cases of coronavirus - well of course there would be as journalists, technicians, cameramen, etc work closely together and go to the source of the news. But that day the story was bigger. The director of her programme, España Directo, had fallen prey to the virus and most of the people who work in that newsroom are now in quarantine. The programme was cancelled until Wednesday when it was run by a very short staff. We are all wondering what work Oli will be going back to when she returns to her reporter job with TVE for España Directo on 13th April.
But I did have some good news that day. On Monday, a little baby boy called Bosco was born to Lucia. Lucia is a member of what I call my "Spanish family", the family I lived with when I was in Madrid on my year here as part of my degree in Hispanic Studies at Nottingham University. I lived with the González Gálvez family; the mother Pili, her husband Gerardo and their kids, Gerardo, Irene, Julieta and Toti. When I was pregnant with Suzy, Pili, in her late 40's was pregnant with Lucia. Sadly she became blind afterwards. It was Pili, who sent me the video of the newborn baby, Bosco, a wonderful addition to a wonderful family. It's such a pity Pili cannot see her new grandchild. It's such a pity too that no one from the family, apart from the parents, can visit the baby because of lockdown. In any case, it was wonderful news. Welcome (bienvenido) Bosco to this brave new world and I am sorry you were born during the coronavirus crisis. Visiting Lucia, Juan Carlos and Bosco is now on my list of things do when this is all over.
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| Bosco was born into this funny new world this week |
After our walk which was a bit wet, we had a video call with the girls. Oli couldn't remember her Skype password so we resorted to Whatsapp which is never as good as other providers of video calls because of the screen and audio quality. In any case it was great to see the girls, Elliot and Miguel. Here is a screen shot taken during our call.
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| Video call with the girls, Elliot and Miguel on Monday evening |
Dinner was late that day and I made a frugal meal of grilled hake with spinach and garlic and actually felt a bit hungry when we were in bed watching the TV. The news, as usual , was dire and later we turned to a new series on Prime Video. Set in Yorkshire and called the Red Riding Trilogy, it looked promising but it was actually a little disappointing
I didn't sleep so well that night and was up at 7 am the next day which I suppose is the old 6 am. There was nothing much to look forward to that day as there isn't any of the days really. In a normal life, we all have something to look forward to, be that just a coffee with a friend and now all that has been taken away from us. So we have to be inventive to fill our quiet lives.
Maybe I should have been more inventive on Tuesday which was a very grim day but I didn't have the heart to be and succumbed to sadness, sadness about all that is happening around me. I didn't even try to snap out of it. I just felt low all day. I'm normally a very positive person and if this virus is is getting me down I dread to think how it is affecting people who are generally more negative or who have mental health issues. I shouldn't moan but this virus is getting me down. I have to add, it's not myself or my family I am so worried about, it is humanity in general.
Yes Tuesday was a grim day in all respects. The weather was foul and the forecast looked pretty grim too. Gone was the lovely sunshine of last Sunday. It's Spring but felt like Winter at the beginning of the week. I was wearing my warmest clothing. I wonder what you are all wearing at home now that we can't go out. I tend to wear soft leggings, a thermal vest and a thick jumper or one of my Marks and Spencer fleeces. That is how I feel most comfortable. I don't bother with lipstick, never mind make up nor do I put on jewelry and only wear my wedding ring and a watch. I still put perfume on as I've got so much of it I'm worried it will go off if confinement continues for a long time which I think it will. Why would I bother to wear a pretty dress? There is no point. I'm sorry for the fashion or clothes industry as no doubt most people around the world feel the same as me and no one is buying any new clothes, unless it's new leggings, pyjamas or similar.
Tuesday's numbers were as grim as Monday's and Spain was registering over 800 new deaths per day. Do you know what that means? We are at the top of the table as far as deaths is concerned, just below Italy and soon we will catch up. I remember a few weeks ago complaining to someone that Spain had 1000 deaths. He replied we would soon have 10.000. He was right. No doubt we will have more too. Where is God these days I ask myself?
The Spanish government who are doing their best in the worst crisis since WW2 seem out of their depth. However they announced more financial benefits to offset depleted earnings and loss of jobs but it was not enough. It never can be. For the self employed, like me, they offered suspension of the payment of taxes for a few months. But as they say in Spain "that is bread for today and hunger for tomorrow - "pan para hoy, hambre para mañana" - as the self employed will still have to pay the taxes and in a few months time that will amount to a lot. I am quickly losing faith in this government's ability to handle the crisis.
Again the highlight of the day was cooking. On Tuesday for lunch I made a "vegetable loaf" from a recipe a journalist friend, Ana G, had given me a few years ago. Basically it's layers of different types of semi cooked veg, soaked in egg and tomato and cooked in the oven. It is served with a mushroom sauce and is wonderful. This is what my creation looked like.
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| Veggie loaf for lunch on Tuesday |
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| A tremendous spy and war story set in Norway and in Berlin |
However, contrary to what I wrote above, I did have something to look forward to. Of course I did; Oli, Miguel and Elliot are coming tomorrow and next week is Miguel's birthday and of course it will be Easter. I am all prepared for Easter which will be a chocolate feast as you can see from the photo below.
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| My Easter egg hoard |
That day again the number of deaths was in the 800's and the highest recorded till that day. It would be even higher the next day. We were told we had reached the peak of the curve but I wondered if we had. In the UK their highest death toll was recorded too at 563. Again I do hope they don't suffer as much as we are suffering here in Spain.
The best way to keep my mind off the news and this new world of ours which I can't get used to, is to watch films, cook and read. That afternoon before our walk I watched a film called "The last thing he wanted" about a journalist and her arms dealer father. Not bad but a bit difficult to understand the plot. These days I need easier plots to follow. That night we watched a film right up our street called In Transit. It is a Russian British drama film based on the true story of a group of Nazi soldiers who are imprisoned in a Russian concentration camp run by Russian women.
I found it difficult to sleep afterwards, my thoughts once again on the nightmare we are all a part of.
Thursday came and brought the sun with it. Hallelujah. It was day 20 of confinement and as all the days of confinement pretty much the same; similar routine, more dire news, some cooking, our walk, watching films or series and reading. Ah but that day I went to do the shopping. My last purchases had lasted 9 days not the 2 weeks I had hoped for.
It was funny to be out again, normal at the beginning and then a sudden realisation that life is not normal at all. That's because of all the new shopping rules and our efforts to keep virus free. As I hadn't been out for 9 days I kept having to remind myself not to get close to people, to make sure I sanitised my hands before and after putting gloves on, joining long queues and hardly talking to anyone. I did remember though to be as cheerful as I could to the cashiers and shop staff. They deserve a lot more appreciation for their role in this nightmare. I went to Mercadona, to the chemist and then to Carrefour and the whole expedition took me 3 hours, nearly double the normal because of all the new precautionary measures.
While queueing for fish, I got the news of the latest numbers of cases and deaths in Spain. We had now reached over 10.000 people who have died which, my friends, that day equated to 20% of all victims worldwide. The other bad news was the number of people joining the ranks of the dole, more than in God knows how many years; over 900.000 people who have lost their jobs and growing daily. It was so depressing I wanted to cry for those dead in Spain and the new dead in the UK, over 500 that day. The only glimmer of hope came from the figure of the percentage of those falling ill. It seemed it was decreasing. Worldwide, the number of cases passed the 1 million mark. Then you have countries scrambling for equipment and material for hospitals and hear stories of the US robbing France of cargoes they had paid for. The Spanish government has been accused of mishandling purchases for tests from China that turned out to be defect. But that is happening everywhere. Isn't it funny or rather isn't it dangerous that we now all have to turn to China for the much needed material? We can't trust them either with the purchases or with the figures they reported on the number of deaths. It's suspiciously low.
The only thing to cheer me up that day was a lovely video of little Elliot in his little play area in the flat in Valencia. He smiles for the camera as he always smiles for anyone. I can't wait for him to smile at me when he sees me tomorrow. I just hope he remembers us. This is the video by the way.
Our walk, as usual, was the highlight of our day. We normally put our coats and trainers on at around 6.30 and, as you know, take our walk in the garden. It was sunny that afternoon. Only Pippa followed us. The other dogs now know they don't get to outside and don't see the point in following us around the garden. Since walking in our garden we have created a veritable footpath which is not good for the grass. Hopefully it will grow again when this is all over and we can resume our walks in the fields up the road. See what I mean by the path we have created.
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| The path we have created in the garden |
That night our choice on Netflix was a Norwegian detective series called Borderline. I'm not sure I'm very keen on it but it kept my mind occupied which is the important thing. Again I found it difficult to sleep. We are living a nightmare and I would be very grateful to get a good night's sleep every night rather than have to battle with my wide awake mind under the sheets.
The next I knew it was Friday morning our 21st day of confinement. We would not be going out for dinner of course. On the plus side, we are spending literally nothing on dining our, travel or petrol but our income has been depleted because of Airbnb. I wonder when we will ever have guests again?
There really is nothing of interest to tell you about Friday. It was just another quiet day of confinement. We know now that there will be another two weeks of lockdown and I'm sure it won't end there. After all the people in Wuhan where the virus originated were put into quarantine on 23rd January and the city is only just coming out of confinement and slowly too.
The sun shined on Friday although it wasn't very warm with the temperature reaching just 18ºc. I can't wait for the good weather and opening the swimming pool. That afternoon I finished the book "Unorthodox" sitting in the sun by the covered pool until it was time for our walk. That day was the first we have not worn a coat on our walk. Oh come on summer.
I came back in to check my whatsapp messages. I am always hoping for photos of Elliot and I got one, well actually two. Let me share with you the one of my little grandson holding a loaf of bread. His parents love bread (preferably wholemeal) and no doubt he does too. Spaniards consume tons and tons of bread, eating it with lunch and with dinner. In England I wasn't brought up to eat bread with meals and only had it as toast for breakfast. When Eladio first visited England and stayed at our house, he saw there was no bread on the table and asked for some. My father promptly brought him some sliced white bread - you know the "door stopper type". He looked at it aghast. I have never understood the Spaniards' obsession with bread but I have to say I do like it with butter but try not to eat it for obvious reasons. Anyway, here is the little cherub clutching a loaf of bread.
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| Elliot with a loaf of bread |
Saturday came and it felt like a Monday. In fact days are so quiet they always either feel like a Monday or a Sunday. Again the sun shone but we were warned by the weather forecast people that rain would be coming soon. On Saturday, I cooked again and made another shepherd's pie for lunch - I always try to make food that is soft enough for my father to eat as he has very few teeth left (poor chap). I also prepared artichokes for our dinner. Now that's a long job but I find that working with my hands and creating dishes for us to eat keeps my mind away from darker thoughts. Eladio captured me on camera as I was about to peel them and I can tell you they need an awful lot of peeling. Here I am smiling spontaneously as if the world was all right, except that it was all wrong and I had forgotten for a moment. I am wearing a lovely home made apron my school friend Grainne, who is good with her hands, made for me some years ago.
In between cooking I spent some time reading in the sun on the swimming pool terrace. After The 12th Man and Unorthodox I was back to Churchill by the historian Andrew Roberts. It's a bit uphill and I'm still on WW1 desperately waiting for Churchill's finest hour which was when he led the country during WW2.
It was during the news after lunch that the Spanish Prime Minister announced for the third time a further 2 weeks of lockdown which he calls "state of emergency". In real terms that means lockdown until 25th April. Well we can bear that and more. He warned of further lockdowns but with less strict measures. He also announced the non essential industry workers would return to work after Easter. That is very necessary for the economy as since the crisis started, 3 million jobs have been lost or put on hold. Imagine! We were also told that day that we had passed the peak of the famous curve but still 809 people had died and new cases totaled over 7k. But we were reassured confinement was working as the percentage of new cases had dropped from 20 odd percent to about 7%. Also encouraging was the number of cured and the decreased number of hospital and ICU admissions.
Meanwhile the fight for medical material and supplies, mostly respirators, continued. That day we learned that it was our neighbour France who had confiscated material purchased in Sweden and destined for Spain. France complained of similar tactics from the US so tit for tat I think. Countries are scrambling to get hold of equipment while the EU looks on. Yes there have been funds provided but not enough and the EU is not as united as it should be during the crisis. I wonder if all this material, so hard to come by, will maybe arrive too late when too many people have died and the curve is on the descent. Yes, companies all over the world are reinventing themselves and manufacturing equipment but there is still chaos and we still depend mostly on China.
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| Cooking yesterday |
It was during the news after lunch that the Spanish Prime Minister announced for the third time a further 2 weeks of lockdown which he calls "state of emergency". In real terms that means lockdown until 25th April. Well we can bear that and more. He warned of further lockdowns but with less strict measures. He also announced the non essential industry workers would return to work after Easter. That is very necessary for the economy as since the crisis started, 3 million jobs have been lost or put on hold. Imagine! We were also told that day that we had passed the peak of the famous curve but still 809 people had died and new cases totaled over 7k. But we were reassured confinement was working as the percentage of new cases had dropped from 20 odd percent to about 7%. Also encouraging was the number of cured and the decreased number of hospital and ICU admissions.
Meanwhile the fight for medical material and supplies, mostly respirators, continued. That day we learned that it was our neighbour France who had confiscated material purchased in Sweden and destined for Spain. France complained of similar tactics from the US so tit for tat I think. Countries are scrambling to get hold of equipment while the EU looks on. Yes there have been funds provided but not enough and the EU is not as united as it should be during the crisis. I wonder if all this material, so hard to come by, will maybe arrive too late when too many people have died and the curve is on the descent. Yes, companies all over the world are reinventing themselves and manufacturing equipment but there is still chaos and we still depend mostly on China.
But life continued in this crazy new world where we feel cocooned in our massive house and garden and very privileged too. We went on our walk, came back in, had our dinner, went to bed to watch more news and at about midnight fell asleep. Meanwhile in Miami, Fatíma's niece Gloria, aka "Piyo", was giving birth to her first baby. Her parents Gloria and Carlos, her sister Sara and cousin Fátima (my friend Fatima's only daughter) had all planned to be with her but coronavirus put a stop to that. At about 11 pm last night she gave birth to a baby girl who will be called Olivia Fátima. I love that she has the same name as my daughter and her dear deceased aunt's name as a second name. Nearly all future mothers in the world choose to know the sex of their baby before it is born but Gloria wanted it to be a surprise. The only people who knew were those who performed the scans and, my friends, her Aunt Fatima, my dearest friend, who Gloria knew would not be with us when her baby was born. So some months ago, she asked a nurse or doctor to write on a piece of paper the gender of the baby. She then folded the paper without looking inside and posted it to my dear friend Fátima who took the secret with her to her grave. If only she was here to enjoy meeting a new member of her family. What would Fátima my friend think of coronavirus and the fact that it robbed Gloria's family of being there when little Olivia was born? But without further delay, let me present you to little Olivia Fátima and her delighted parents. I hope Olivia has a wonderful, happy and productive life. Welcome Olivia Fátima, "bienvenida".
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| Gloria and her husband delighted with their new born baby, Olivia Fátima who was born last night in Miami |
That was the news I woke up to this morning and it made me feel very cheerful. It's wonderful in all this chaos to be able to report on the birth of two new babies this week. There is life in the midst of this nightmare.
I only hope I have more good news to report on next week as the crisis continues. I hope you are all keeping well, sticking to the rules of lockdown and, above all, keeping safe.
That's it from me now until next Sunday,
Masha
(Day 21 of lockdown)
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