Week 4 of coronavirus lockdown, Boris Johnson in hospital with the virus, the Queen addresses the nation, Oli and family join us, Miguel's birthday, family time in the garden, Easter week in confinement and other stories.

Easter Day, Sunday 12th April, 2020.

With smiling little Elliot yesterday in the garden

Good morning all and Happy Easter. It's a funny Easter week this year due to lockdown all over the world. Imagine pilgrims not being able to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem? Imagine, nearer home, Spain's most elaborate "Semana Santa" (Easter week) without processions? Well, that's all because we are in lockdown, at least most of the world with some countries reaching the peak and some a few weeks behind.  Last Sunday was Palm Sunday, the sort of  official start to Easter when St. Peter's Basilica and the square are usually swarming with people from all over the world except that this year they were empty. The Pope gave his homily from inside the Vatican and Catholics had to make do with watching him remotely. Palm Sunday for me is a happy memory as a child. I remember going to church in Ruskington (Linclolnshire) where we lived when my father taught at the RAF college in Cranwell. We were all given palm leaves in the shape of a cross and I loved them. Perhaps I loved best spending the few pennies my parents gave me to buy sweets at the local confectioners. Many years later, Easter found Eladio and I in Chile. It was Palm Sunday and we were visiting the outskirts of Santiago the capital. I remember visiting Valparaiso but also Reñaca nearby and either being given or buying a very elaborate palm leaf. I kept it for years. No doubt children all over the world that day would be missing a very special Sunday.

Last Sunday the virus figures were dire and this week they are worse as is to be expected.  Last week I reported there were a total of 1.182.830 cases in the world and a total of 63.925 deaths. The top three countries in that most terrible of leagues were the USA, Spain, my beloved adopted country, and Italy. Not far behind were Germany, France and the UK. In Spain alone there were 124k cases and a reported number of 11.744 deaths. Last night the total number of cases in the world has jumped to 1.760.971 and deaths are up to 107.645. In Spain we have gone from 124k cases to over 161k and from 11.744 deaths to 16.353. However both in Italy and Spain the numbers are progressively falling and we are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.

Here are last week's figures and below the figures just one week later. Many have doubled.

The figures for Saturday 4th April

The figures for last night 11th April 2020

But life continued for those of us behind closed doors, all counting our blessings we were not in hospital or suffering from the virus. Who was suffering was Britain's Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. After 10 days of symptoms which were not receding he was admitted to St. Thomas' hospital in London on Sunday night.   I hoped he would get well soon. I am no fan of him as a politician but as a fellow human being, a father and expecting another child, I can only wish him well. He did look a bit rough in some of his online addresses to the country I must say.

Boris Johnson admitted to hospital last Sunday

St. Thomas' hospital was  where my mother's sister, my Aunty Dara, trained to be a nurse, sent from Bulgaria especially to London. She stayed there until after WW2. I wonder what she would have thought of the pandemic?  The remainder of her later life was spent as a Russian Orthodox nun in New York where, amazingly, she succumbed to TB in the 90's. How could someone get TB in this day and age and in New York?  She would be appalled I'm sure, especially with her home town, New York which was and is one of the main epicentres of the pandemic today. Insiders from Downing Street admitted to the press that Boris Johnson had been hit hard by the illness, perhaps more psychologically than physically I hope. As we see again and again, this nasty tiny little virus that is causing havoc across the globe does not distinguish between classes.

But if anyone was to give us hope that day it was The Queen when she addressed the nation in one of its darkest hours.  There is only one Queen in the world who is referred to as "The Queen" and that is The Queen of England, the 94 year old longest living monarch in the world and a dearly beloved figurehead in the UK. 

The Queen wearing NHS green in her broadcast to the nation

The Queen only usually addresses the nation at Christmas. There have been very few exceptions to that; notably when her mother died, when Princess Diana died and I think on her Diamond Jubilee. But exceptional circumstances require an exception from The Queen and she made that exception on Sunday night when in her speech she evoked the wartime spirit to rally the country together in the fight against the virus. She told her people that "better days will return". She also made a reference to the famous Vera Lynn song during WW2 when she said "we will meet again". She also spoke of her very first speech which she made to children around the world when they were being evacuated at the beginning of the war. That was some 80 years ago when she was just a child herself.  She did so together with her beloved sister, Princess Margaret. If she comforted people as a teenager, she certainly comforted them this week. I, at least, took great comfort from her words. Her main message was of course for the nation to come together and for people to stay at home. You can watch her here if you haven't already seen her wonderful speech, written, by herself and not by politicians. I love the fact that she is apolitical. It makes her very credible. 

Sunday for us was another quiet Sunday. It was warm in the sun but cool in the shade. In between cooking, I sat and read outside in the sun, labouring with my book about Winston Churchill. He was the Queen's first Prime Minister and undoubtedly her favourite. Eladio, meanwhile, was busy in the garden. That day saw him turn into a bricklayer, mending tiles on the drive and around the house. My philosopher and ex priest husband is very good with his hands and is a great handyman which is very useful when running a large house like ours. Something nearly always needs mending. He had been meaning for a long while to mend some of the tiles and that day got down to it. Here he is pausing for a camera shot with a big smile on his face. Eladio doesn't complain about lockdown and is never bored. Oh what a rock he is now and always. 

Eladio the bricklayer

He only stopped to talk to the girls when they made a video call. Suzy was in a quiet park in London near where she is staying in Acton Town. There were lots of stories of people disobeying recommendations to stay at home and taking advantage of the warm weather flocking to parks and beauty spots. I wish they would stop. Suzy thankfully was at a very empty park.

Suzy is staying with her friend Sandra, a nurse, together with Sandra's mother who came from the US to mourn the death of her daughter in India. Also there is another sister of Sandra's and her daughter. Suzy told us the ages of the group of six range from 7 to 73. I pointed out she might have been more comfortable staying with us at home in Madrid but Suzy is a free spirit and often finds more comfort in other people rather than with her own family. 

It was Suzy who recommended me to watch a series called The Missing. I thought I had already seen it but when I looked on Prime Video I saw that I had seen season 1 but not season 2. I was delighted to have a new series to watch. I always seem to be attracted to films about children being kidnapped. Maybe it is because it is one of my greatest fears as a mother. 

Later I had a nightmare. In the nightmare, I don't know where I was, but my mobile phone, my iPad and my kindle were all stolen from me. That was a real nightmare for someone like me who has to be in touch with the world, the news, friends and family constantly.  I think the nightmare may have been an expression of our need of contact with the world in these strange circumstances. Thankfully I woke up to find it wasn't true.

I was up on Monday at around 6.30 and had lots to do. That day, Oli, Elliot and Miguel were returning from Valencia. Oh what joy. We hadn't seen them for a month and a month in the life of little Elliot is a long time. The next day would be Miguel's birthday, a birthday in confinement, so I decided to make him my standard Victoria Sponge cake. It has the same ingredients as any Victoria Sponge cake but I fill it with whipped cream and jam and decorate it with icing and fruit on top. As the jam was bilberry, I decided to put real fresh bilberries on top. This is what it looked like. I was quite proud of it and again it was great occupational therapy in confinement. I find comfort in cooking I have to say.

The Victoria sponge birthday cake I made for Miguel on Monday

I also popped out that morning into our brave new world, first to the chemist to get some stuff for my father. There I asked if, on the off chance, they might have face masks. Of course the reply was no but I was put on a list for when they do get them.  I then drove to our local bakery and cake shop, "Alverán" to pick up some pastries I had ordered for the birthday breakfast the next day. I was sad to see the cafeteria part shut and only one person serving. It was the owner, doing all the work herself. The other staff had been furloughed, that nasty new word which seems to be a synonym of being laid off temporarily. To cheer her up, I told her no doubt she would be doing roaring trade when normality comes back as Alverán is the best bakery in the area.

While we were having lunch with my Father, Oli, Miguel and Elliot were leaving Valencia. Here is a photo of my darling grandson setting off in the car. He had been cooped up in a small flat for one month, hardly seeing the outside. He needed our garden, more space and fresh air as did Oli and Miguel.

Happy little Elliot leaving Valencia on Monday

They arrived here at around 5.45 and were a joy to greet. Both Oli and Miguel were wearing masks and wary of touching us but I was not as I know Oli and Elliot have been self isolating and that Miguel while out working has taken extreme care. It was Eladio who first picked up our little cherub who now weighs a ton compared to when we last saw him. I was next and as I had predicted, our darling 6 but nearly 7 month old grandson did not remember us. Well how could he, he is so small? But soon he was smiling. He seemed to be amazed to be in the open air, surrounded by trees and a green garden and the dogs. It was the dogs he was most interested in. Soon we had him in his high chair in the kitchen and I was feeding him his afternoon fruit puree made of mango and pear. He loved it.

My father was delighted to see Oli and Elliot though both kept their distance from him - just in case. I had to explain to him the reason was the danger of coronavirus.

It was then time for our walk which Oli found hilarious as she has never seen us walking around the garden hahahhaa. She, meanwhile, stayed outside with her baby, breathing in the fresh air. At around 8 pm we could hear people clapping as they do every day to applaud hospital and other essential workers.

Oli and Miguel had brought lots of food from his flat and offered to make dinner. I was fine with that. It was nice to have a break. They made Spanish tortilla with a side dish of runner beans dashed with fried garlic and ham. I made a salad. We had our first meal together in the dining room and so did Elliot although his was different - some sort of chickpea and vegetable puree. We had some wine to celebrate and luckily that night I didn't get a headache. It was just so good to be together again.

Oh what joy, we are together again

Who was very much out of luck that day was Boris Johnson. Since being admitted to hospital on Sunday, his condition deteriorated on Monday evening and he was taken into intensive care. We heard this was a precautionary measure and that he was on oxygen but not on a ventilator. We could not escape the fact though that if he was in Intensive Care that meant he was very sick although we were told he did not have pneumonia. Today I read that his circle were told he had a 50/50 chance of living. Imagine. Very much all there, although suffering from the virus quite badly, he appointed the First Secretary, Dominic Raab, his "designated successor" and instructed him to "deputise for him where necessary" and lead the Government's fight against coronavirus. What extraordinary times we are living when even those in power leading the fight can fall ill with the virus. I was quite shocked as was the whole country and many people around the world. As I said above, I might not like the man's politics but as a fellow human being, partner, father, father to be, I am very sorry about his condition and wish him a speedy recovery. I think when a country's PM is taken into intensive care, the news shocks a whole nation and makes us all realise just how dangerous this virus is. I also think that for a politician like Boris Johnson, or any politician at the forefront of a nation's fight, to get the virus badly and see how it affects them must certainly open their eyes to the reality of the disease. I am trying to say that maybe in this situation they will be better prepared to take the virus even more seriously to the benefit of the nation they are fighting for. I was shocked when the former Mayor of London was admitted to hospital but even more shocked when he was moved to IC. I wished him a speedy recovery.

The day ended with Eladio and I watching more of our latest series, The Missing, until way past midnight. I was awake at 5 am and, unable to sleep, got up at 5.45. I was the first one up, obviously, and got to feed the dogs. My first thoughts were my worry over the fact that all the TVs in the house, except ours  -and we have a lot of TVs - were not working. Miguel being a cameraman is our in house TV expert. He thought the reason had to be due to the recent change in TV frequencies; the current ones being set aside for when 5G comes into operation. So what to do? Even Miguel was stumped. He tried to use smart TV box devices we have around the house to get some of them to work. Then, as if a miracle had occurred, suddenly the signal was back and all the TVs worked again. We reckoned it was because there must have been some local work going on vs a vs the TV masts or whatever. The good thing was that we didn't have to call a technician.

But back to Tuesday morning. That day Miguel turned 45 which to me sounds so young, except that I remember when I turned 45 I thought it was a big deal. We all had a birthday breakfast together and I ate far too many pastries and croissants which had me feeling far too full. If I was full after breakfast I was not hungry at lunch. For the birthday lunch I made everyone's favourite; beer battered fish with mountains of chips as well as mushy peas.  All this was followed by my Victoria Sponge cake fortified with thick icing and an even thicker layer of whipped cream inside. Here is Miguel with Elliot about to blow the candles.

Miguel's birthday cake moment

It was a lovely day all round. I think my coronavirus panic moment is now over. Of course I am still worried but at the same time relieved to see the number of cases and deaths slowly going down here in Spain and in the country's epicentre, Madrid. Also, having Oli and family brought me so much joy that  my mind was more on them than on the virus which has had a very positive impact on me.

I was stuffed after lunch and had a siesta but didn't sleep long as at 5.30 it was time for my weekly Skype call with Amanda, my oldest friend, who lives in Devon. She was to see Elliot for the first time during our call. We mostly spoke about Boris Johnson being in hospital and the consequences. Oli mentioned to me that morning that a journalist colleague of hers had already been asked to prepare his obituary just in case. Apparently, Andy, Amanda's partner, had said that morning that no doubt lots of the media would be writing one in case. I just hoped there would be no need to publish one and somehow felt hopeful that it wouldn't as whatever Boris Johnson may be, at the core of his being he is a fighter.

After our call we would all go on our respective walks. Amanda told me how when they had walked into their village that day they had come across a huge rainbow banner (rainbows are popping up everywhere I think to cheer up people in the midst of so much gloom) with a warning for people not from the area not to come and to stay at their primary home. As in Spain and many other countries, people have been warned not to go to their secondary or holiday homes. Who fell foul of the recommendation and lost her job because of it, was none less than the Scottish chief medical officer, Dr. Catherine Calderwood,  who, despite her own advice, went twice to her holiday home. She later apologised but the damage was done. Similarly in New Zealand, the Health Minister, David Clark, flouted the lockdown measures and went on a family trip to a beach. When the deed was discovered, he apologised, describing himself as an "idiot". I think, he too has been stripped of some of his responsibilities.

Our walk was not a 12 mile stroll on the beach like the New Zealand Minister, but our daily walk around the garden, 21 laps in 45 minutes. Well actually we only did 18 laps as on the 18th lap it began to rain heavily.

Once back inside the house, Miguel and Oli were beginning to make our dinner. But no way was I hungry after having eaten so much that day. However, I did try some of Miguel's delicious vichysoisse and that's all I had apart from a mandarin for dinner that night.

With Oli and family here now, I am seeing a lot less of the news as after our meals we tend to linger around the table chatting in what is known in Spanish as "sobremesa", a term that I don't think exists in any other language. So we only really catch the tail end of the news programmes now. Perhaps that's a good thing. Later we watched the last but one episode of The Missing.

I was awake at 7 am on Wednesday morning. Since Oli and her family came on Monday evening, our lives have changed for the better. I, at least, feel more relaxed, less worried and now have less time to follow the news as religiously as I did before. Of course I still follow it but with less intensity. Best of all is having little Elliot here who, of course, is completely oblivious to the pandemic.

However, I am still sleeping badly and not getting enough shut eye. That morning, after my domestic chores, I sat down to read my Churchill book and found myself nodding off. Thus at midday I trudged upstairs to bed and slept for 2 hours. Oli woke me up for lunch but I think if she hadn't I may well have slept longer. We missed the news after lunch but by scrolling through the news on my phone, I was happy to hear that Boris Johnson's condition was stable and that he was sitting up in the ICU at St. Thomas' hospital. I was not so pleased to hear that the death toll in Spain had gone up after we had thought the peak was over and the pandemic was stablising here. It would though in the following days but we are nowhere near out of the woods yet. It is in the US, the UK and France the numbers are rising alarmingly now.

Again I slept after lunch and I slept for another 2 hours. I really needed that extra sleep. I woke up to find a photo from Eladio of Elliot and Miguel in the garden on a blanket. I rushed to join them but making sure I took a cup of tea with me.

Elliot and Miguel on Wednesday afternoon in the garden

Wednesday was probably the sunniest day of the week and a lovely day to be out in the garden. It got quite strong so someone found a very old sun hat to put on Elliot's head to protect him from the sun. Oh he did look funny.

Elliot in the sun on Wednesday afternoon

Eladio was weeding the grass and Olivia was helping him. On our walks we had noticed lots of weeds, so maybe that is what prompted my husband to do some more gardening that day. Here he is, with a funny sun hat on like Elliot.

Eladio weeding on Wednesday

Oli showing me some of the weeds she had picked

On our walks I had also pointed out to Eladio that some of the leaves on one particular palm tree were dry and needed removing. However, they are quite high up and the job was not easy. Here is Olivia removing some of the leaves. I think it was the first time she has ever done any gardening and it is of course thanks to confinement brought about by lockdown. We all have so much time on our hands.

Oli with the dry palm leaves

All in all our time spent in the garden on Wednesday afternoon was special. Like Elliot, for a few hours at least, I felt oblivious to what was happening in the world. It felt like a normal thing to do with my family and I have to say it's nice to do "normal" things these days.

On our walk later we inspected the grass and found more weeds which had not been removed. They will have to be seen to in successive gardening stints.

Our day finished late but it didn't really matter as, as I say, we all have so much time on our hands. Miguel went to do some emergency shopping for our dinner while Oli and I prepared the rest of it. We made one of my flagship dishes for dinner; tuna fish salad. The ingredients are: tuna fish, chopped spring onion, home made mayonnaise, tomatoes, asparagus, avocado and boiled eggs. This is what it looked like.

Tuna fish salad for dinner on Wednesday 

In a way our routines are less rigid since Oli and co got here. I generally make the lunches and Miguel and Oli the dinners or sometimes the other way round. They make such a mess in the kitchen I am very grateful that Lucy comes and does the washing up and clears up after them hahahahaha.  As dinner was late we missed the 9 pm news again and so went straight to Netflix to watch the last episode of The Missing. Excuse the pun but we definitely missed it after that.

Thursday came, Maundy Thursday of course. I was up at the unearthly hour of 5.45. It was raining and we would not get any sun that day so would put off more gardening until the better weather came.

Everyone else is usually up after about 8.30 and it's lovely to greet Elliot at that time. He is always in such a a good mood in the morning - not like me hahahhaa. I need at least 2 cups of coffee before I can face the world. But by the time Elliot is up I'm all ready for the day. Oli caught him on camera with his grandfather and I have to share with you the picture she took of the two of them together that morning at breakfast.

Grandfather and grandson smiling

I went shopping on Thursday. For the first time I wore a mask, one Oli had given me. It was strange to wear it and made me feel very warm and itchy. I honestly don't know how hospital staff wear them all day long, not to mention other essential workers. Mercadona was closed so I went to Carrefour. I was lucky to be there quite early when there wasn't much of a queue. But, oh my, was the queue long when I came out. I suppose people were stocking up for the Easter weekend.

I came home to unload everything. Miguel was making a gigantic chickpea stew and Oli all sorts of different purees for Elliot which she would freeze. It was good not to be in charge of lunch for once. It was that afternoon that Boris Johnson was moved from the ICU to a ward or I suppose a private room at St. Thomas'. I wonder how long he will remain there. He would not have been happy to see the unhappy death toll of 765 that day and the rise to over 8000 in total. The pattern emerging looks dangerously similar to the experiences here and in Italy. Oh how I mourn for Spain, my birth country and the world.

The weather did not help to cheer me up on Thursday as it rained on and off all day. Even our walk was wet but, armed with rain coats and an umbrella we finished our 21 laps.

I was in charge of dinner that night - prawn, mango and avocado salad. In the middle of chopping the ingredients, I got a call from my customer for yet another press release they need me to write and send out. It's great to have some work in these funny times. Thus I sort of missed a call with Suzy on whatsapp but hoped to talk to her another day.

Elliot enjoys being with us while we are eating. He sits in his high spec Nordic high chair and when he has eaten his puree he enjoys a crust of bread. He takes to laughing for no apparent reason. Someone sneezed (no worries, not corona) and he began to laugh. To stir him on, we all started to pretend to sneeze and he just kept giggling so much we had to have him on camera. Here is the video of him chuckling away as his father pretends to sneeze. Isn't he funny?

We had a very healthy dinner but afterwards Oli persuaded me to open the Lindt chocolate egg to try the miniature eggs that came with them. I thus resisted temptation and have to admit I ate 5 in a row. Thankfully I did not get a headache later although I expected one.

Bereft of The Missing, we watched the first episode of the new version of The Name of the Rose based on the book by Umberto Ecco. I well remember the version with Sean Connery which apparently was made 33 years ago. I didn't like it then and wasn't impressed with the new version either. That's because I'm not particularly interested in the story line and nor am I particularly interested in Medieval times. So, no, not the series for me. Thus I fell asleep early and thus my friends I was up at 5.20 on Good Friday.

I had been looking forward to Good Friday for a long time. That's because we could finally taste the hot cross buns I had made for Easter and which in my family we can only begin to eat from Good Friday onward. Wow they were delicious. My father and Olivia thought so too.

That was a nice way to start the day. There was some good news too coming from Brussels to help the economies of the member states coping with the crisis. Spain, France and Italy had hoped for Euro bonds or Corona bonds. Instead the consensus came up with a 500 billion euro package. It's a start but I think not enough for the countries which are going to suffer the greatest financial crisis since the Wall Street Crash.

I spent time that morning doing a thankless but important task; i.e. gathering together all my invoices and receipts to send to my accountant. She will then work out how much tax I have to pay for January, February and February period which will amount to quite a lot and leave me out of pocket. Leaving me even more out of pocket is paying towards my pension at over 1000 euros per month, not to mention all the losses from no more Airbnb guests. All that will put us back financially but I know we will cope. Other people have it a lot worse. One of the things we won't be doing this year, if air travel comes back, is to go on an expensive holiday.

Once my administrative work was out of the way I concentrated on making everyone's lunch. I made the salmon and leek parcels which Miguel and Olivia had not yet tried. I was rewarded with the remark that the dish I served was top restaurant class. Thanks. It's so easy to make that's the truth and also very healthy.

My salmon and leek parcel dish

What was not so healthy but oh so delicious was giving into the temptation to eat some of the chocolate that came with the Cadbury Easter egg I had bought. I do think that since Oli and Miguel came we are eating more and also eating tempting things like chocolate which up till now I had been very good about. I vow to stop that from tomorrow or at least I hope to.

After the news and a siesta - well actually I never got to shut my eyes - the TV was still on and the time loved film, The Ten Commandments was on. Of course it's Easter and the TV, at least in Spain, often plays old films based on the Bible. Filmed in 1956, a year before I was born, it is a classic and stars Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner as well as Edward G. Robinson and others. It really is the story of Moses (Charlton Heston) and how he leads the Israelis out of Egypt and to the Promised Land. The film is 3h 40 minutes long so when it got to 7 pm, we had to leave it because it was getting late for our walk. I have seen The Ten Commandments countless times but for some reason I think I have never seen it from start to finish. It's a timeless film and for fans of religious history, a must. Both Eladio and I enjoyed it thoroughly and were sorry not to see the end.

Meanwhile, Oli and Miguel were cooking - a favourite pastime of theirs. By popular demand Miguel made his flagship soup, vichysoisse , again which tastes delicious, no doubt because he puts lots of cream in it hahahahahaah.

We went on our 21 lap walk and each time we passed my father's room or the kitchen we greeted our family. At one point Oli was on the phone to Suzy and Suzy thought our walk was hilarious. We came back in after 45 minutes to good news from Oli. Her boss had rung to say that she would be working from home when she goes back to work tomorrow after her maternity leave. That is great news. Her boss did not want her to be exposed to the virus because if she fell prey to it she would have to be separated from Elliot for 14 days and he is far too small. I thought that was very considerate. She will be going back to her usual programme on TVE, España Directo. I think a technician will be coming to set her up so that she can work from here and also do live reports.

Oli, happy with the news - and so were we as it means less danger to us all - carried on cooking. She made falafel that day with a delicious yoghurt sauce to which she added fresh mint leaves from our garden.

We didn't watch the news as we finished our dinner rather late that night. Of course though I was up to speed on the latest as I continually scroll on my phone for news. I was upset to see the very high death figure in my home country, the UK that day with over 980 dead. That's the highest record in Europe on any one day. In Europe both France and the UK are getting closer to the figures of Spain and Italy. In the US things are getting desperate, especially in New York and that day we saw mass graves being dug for the piling dead bodies. It doesn't bear thinking about.

Once in bed that night, I commented to Eladio how strange it is to be virtually locked inside our own home and not be able to go out apart from to get food and that I wondered how long it would go on for. My husband told me he preferred not to think about it as if he does it gets him down. I am now very glad we came back from Montrondo where we would have gone up the wall not being able to go out on walks. That's quite ridiculous really as the paths there are almost empty. I mean only a handful of people live there, not more than 11. The local town hall in Murias de Paredes issued yet another order or ban this week,  continuing with their campaign to stop people coming from the cities. It's hardly as if the hordes have gone as only a handful of people from other cities have a house there. The order asked people to report on any people coming from the cities. One villager who lives in Madrid commented icily that it would be a good idea if the bullish local mayoress could be as insistent in on getting the many needed services the village doesn't have (wifi, good TV signal, health and banking service, etc), as she is in publishing orders for city people to stay away. Miguel commented that if we aren't allowed to go then we shouldn't be made to pay taxes. My daughter commented that the order to keep city people away and for local people to snitch on them, was very similar to the practices of totalitarian governments, be they communist or fascist. I commented that this virus brings out the very best in people but also the very worst. It did seem a little fanatical I must say.

Fanatical is the Scientologist Church I thought after watching a documentary on it that night. More than a religion it seems to be a money making machine and a fanatical and dangerous one at that. I hate sects and always did.

Joy of joys I slept quite well that night and in fact woke up at 6.50 yesterday morning. I enjoyed more of the Hot Cross Buns and then got down to some work. I had to do another press release for Adamo. It was handy to have my journalist daughter Oli at home to give me her feedback. By 10.30 a.m. I had sent off a version I was very pleased with.

Easter Saturday, day 29 of lockdown, was a busy and pleasurable day, despite confinement. Oli went off to her flat to get lots of clothes for Elliot as he has grown so much in the past month, now weighing 10 kilos (8kg is the average for a baby his age) as hardly any she had here fitted him any more. I went to Mercadona to do more shopping as it was closed on Thursday. It was my second time out with a mask on and again I asked myself how anyone can bear wearing one all day. I could hardly bear wearing mine for more than an hour it get's so hot inside.  

I didn't have to worry about lunch that day as we had plenty of leftovers. I think our cupboards and fridge have never been so full. The ingredient out of stock these days seems to be yeast as a lot of people are doing home baking. There wasn't any to be found at Mercadona. I still have some left over from when I made the  hot cross buns. 

Our siesta was short as I was keen to be outside in the sunshine. For once the rain remitted. I sat in the sun on one of the benches in the kitchen patio with my cup of tea and Churchill book on my kindle. Eladio was gardening and shortly we were joined by Miguel, Oli and little Elliot also keen to enjoy the good weather. Again we had lovely family time in the garden. Here is Oli feeding Elliot with his afternoon fruit puree. He ate it all.

Elliot enjoying his fruit puree in the open air  

I then held Elliot and Oli took a super picture of us together. It's the one I have chosen to illustrate this week's blog. She tried to get one of us with all three dogs and this is the result.

With Elliot and the dogs yesterday in the garden

I then took Elliot to our old swings at the end of the garden. They have quite a history. Eladio bought them for the girls when we moved to our old house in Río Tajo. They were 3 and 4 at the time and many a happy moment was spent on them. When we moved to this house in the summer of 2006, we brought them with us. They have only been used since then by children of our Airbnb guests. So it gave me enormous pleasure to see Elliot enjoying them for the first time ever. Here he is on the swing smiling away. He actually had tried them out earlier in the week but on his parents' laps, not on his own and he really enjoyed the experience. 

Elliot enjoying the swings for the first time yesterday

I love swings too and always have so soon I joined him swinging up and down in the air although they are a little low for me.

On the swings with Elliot yesterday

Eladio continued gardening, doing a lot of late pruning and shearing of bushes. He was helped by Miguel who was introduced to gardening for the first time this week. There is a lot more pruning and cutting of bushes, etc to do, so I hope to see the two of them at work again in the coming days as our garden is still looking pretty wild after the winter.

Eladio and Miguel gardening yesterday

Soon it was time for Elliot's bath and time also for our walk. Just as I was starting on our walk I got a message from my school friend Geraldine. She had written to tell me she had visited her parents' graves at Charlestown Cemetery in Baildon (West Yorkshire) to place flowers on them and that she had put some on my mother's. She has done that many times and it always makes me so happy. She also told me that there were some white flowers already on my mother's grave which rather mystified me. Geraldine looked to see if there were more of them on graves nearby put there randomly by people visiting but there weren't. I really would love to know who had put them there. It's a complete mystery. All the people who were close to my mother and still alive today live far away and are elderly. In any case it cheered my heart to know that someone had put them there and it cheered my heart too that Geraldine always remembers to put flowers on my mother's grave for me. It was a lovely sunny day there with the blossom out and this is the photo my friend sent me. Thank you once again Geraldine. 

My mother's grave at Charlestown cemetery in Baildon yesterday with Geraldine's yellow roses and some mystery white flowers.

We came back  in later from our walk  to prepare a simple but tasty meal of salad and ham, followed by strawberries and more chocolate!

We went to bed late last night and watched a debate on coronavirus and the next steps to take etc. For once it was a debate between doctors and health specialists rather than politicians. Sleep came early and after a rather fitful night I was up this morning at 6.50.

Today is Easter Day, a day of joy for many Christians. No one of course will be able to go to church anywhere. We wouldn't have gone but we always respect Easter Day. I shall be making a special lunch and finally we shall be able to eat the chocolate Easter eggs. Tomorrow will be another day,  the day I say goodbye to chocolates, etc.

It looks like it might be another sunny day too and I look forward to spending more time this afternoon in the garden with Elliot. I am so lucky; 1) to have a garden and 2) to have Elliot here with us. No doubt many many grandparents are missing their grandchildren. He makes confinement so much easier.

Now all that remains my friends is to wish you a Happy Easter in confinement. 

Cheers till next week.

Masha

Coronavirus, 3rd week of lockdown, the first things I want to do when this is all over, photos from the past challenge, cooking, reading and watching films in confinement, Olivia Fátima is born and other stories.

Sunday 5th April 2020

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. 

Figures for Saturday 28th March

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.

My leek and salmon pies

If you want to know what they look like inside, here is a close up.

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.

Carefree days in Alicante 2 years ago. Here with Pippa at Kiosko Peret. 

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. 

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.

Oli and Elliot on Monday morning

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.

Me, aged 2 in Cambridge in 1959

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.

Me, in Madrid, 60 years later

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.

Bosco was born into this funny new world this week

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.

Video call with the girls, Elliot and Miguel on Monday evening

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.

Veggie loaf for lunch on Tuesday

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.

A tremendous spy and war story set in Norway and in Berlin

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.

My Easter egg hoard

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.

The path we have created in the garden

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.

Elliot with 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.

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.

Cooking yesterday

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. 

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".

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)