Writing this before I leave Spain. I’ll post this when I get back home. I had to travel to pick up the keys to my new house, unfortunately in a virus hit area. Thankfully I have been able to isolate myself to a large extent, living in a small town and having my own house to lock myself away in.
The town has a public address system. They use it for a lot of things, but one thing is they announce every death with a deep bong of the church bell. People seem to live a long time here! They also announce positive tests for the virus. I was supposed to stay another week, but on Friday the announcement raised the level of alert with another three cases in the town. So I have decided to leave before travel restrictions set in.
Like many small towns the streets here are washed with disinfectant several times a week, and during the day most people wear masks as soon as they leave their house. There is a local policeman that walks the streets with his fine book at the ready looking for people to punish. The woman I bought the house from told me her husband had walked to the supermarket during lockdown in order to get exercise. The local police stopped him and gave him hard time – they told him they knew he had a car so he should not be out walking.
At night the young people come out without masks (masks are required inside for children over 5, and recommended from age 3). And when I say night I mean around midnight. This is when the children come out to play in the park. The suggestion is that this is why the virus is spreading.
The food is amazing. Sadly I have to go to the supermarket (apply hand cleanser and put on gloves at the door). But it is only 100m away, and a guard is there to make people wear masks. I can’t wait to check my weight on return, I am sure it will be a few kilos down after just 2 weeks.
So now I have to get ready for 14 days locked away in the UK. I can cope with that. In fact I would rather have a test before flying (yes I now it isn’t 100%, but it is 50%) and after arriving, but that seems beyond governments to arrange – amazing how F1 can manage it. But I guess if you look at the numbers travelling we still don’t have enough test capacity for all travellers. Heathrow alone saw over 200,000 passengers a week in a July where they only had 12% of flights.
So there it is – I go straight to my car, I do not pass go, I do not collect £200, I go to my house and I lock the door for 14 days….
Box sets here I come.