It’s just over 10 months since the pandemic hit Spain with a wallop. I think this time last year we were beginning to hear the first rumblings of a new ‘virus’, but given that we (at the time) didn’t really consume much news, it sort of passed us by.
It was in the latter part of February that we really became aware of things in Italy…. and here we are today.
As we know, Spain has very much taken a localized approach to managing the virus which has allowed the schools, universities etc and business (well, some) to keep going, with villages or towns getting locked down where and when necessary. The main common feature across all of Spain still remains the nighttime curfew, which is a minimum of between 12 and 5, but principalities can adapt that as they see fit. So ours is currently 10 – 6, and some have curfews have just changed them to start earlier at 8. Obviously people can travel to and from work and other essential things – but it’s to cut down on socializing.
Things have got tougher in Extremadura and we’re very much in the ‘third wave’. It started with the big cities having restrictions on capacity being limited in bars, cinemas etc. However, this has changed and all social gathering places in populations of over 3k people are now shut. We also cannot travel outside our municipality for non-essential reasons. So someone from here, for example, couldn’t travel to Llerena to meet a friend, but they could to go to school or work. We could go to the bank in Llerena and to the vet in Zafra, but travel for any non urgent or important purpose is banned. Being under 3k people, the bars are still open, but only till 10 and I think at 50% capacity. Which given the time of year would be about right anyway. Casual sport is banned (kicking a ball around the park), but organized sport (local sport league) is allowed. Cinemas are now closed – but only in towns over 3k people. I think it’s safe to say that would be all of them!
Some shops are keeping open by having staff members stood by the door and then people shouting their shopping lists at them and the staff member then goes off to fulfill the orders. Obviously not the big shops which have online ordering – but quite a good idea for smaller shops which may find complying with new laws difficult.
The compromise that is being made to keep schools and businesses going is to stop socializing – which is something that hits some people more than others (given that many from the village can turn a queue in the post office into a party, they I am sure will be many who are feeling it!)
There is a much less of a focus given to the vaccine as a ‘way out’. Probably because of the priority list which puts care homes, health workers, essential workers including teachers at the top of the list, then it goes into age bands, so for many people, they’re looking at weeks or months ahead.
In fact, I looked at the front page of two Spanish newspapers today and the vaccine wasn’t mentioned on the front page – not even the delays getting the vaccine. The virus is mentioned on the front page, with facts and figures and the latest changes, but it feels very much like we’re living the ‘new normal’ with life with the virus and accepting we need to adapt to manage it.
There is also news about a new treatment which is supposed to be more reliable and reduce recuperation time. It’s actually produce from some sort of thing found in the Mediterranean. Admittedly, reading that back it sounds improbable, I am assuming I didn’t dream that.
I do wonder what things will look like in a year’s time. While many businesses can stay open and are trading well – others, for example small bars, I guess will never recover. I suppose on the plus side, many Spanish people go into hibernation during the winter, so many bars don’t open or open on reduced hours in the winter, so that perhaps will lighten the load a bit.
They say that last year was the worst for tourism since 1970, which I suppose is completely unsurprising. I’m not sure that this year will be any better. There was certainly a lot of mixed feelings in July of last year when Spain ‘opened up’ again as people felt there was a tradeoff between tourism $$ and the fact there would be more infections.
In other news, I was a tad surprised to see this on eBay – import duty from the UK to Spain! Over 60 pounds in import fees on top of postage, which is an astonishing amount. It is now significantly cheaper to buy from America and pay import duty than it is from the UK with import duty. I must admit I sort of zoned out during the latter stages of Brexit, once I knew our status was clear and it all seemed to be focusing on whose fish is it anyway, plus the fact it was going to happen regardless, I didn’t bother to read the small print of the done deal. Hence it came as quite a surprise! But, happily I don’t think there is too much now (except Marmite, which I guess I will have to smuggle) that we need to buy from UK.
We’re thinking again about different ways to sell the house – I read over the weekend yet another article about Madrid people wanting to move to the country – so it is those people we want to reach. According to the newspaper articles, they are typically young families wanting to be in a village but with easy access to wide open space. Just need to think of the best way to get to them…