Life in Spain under lockdown – an update

Hilary’s lockdown project

At the start of the lockdown period, Hilary decided on a lockdown project – a big job that would occupy him for many months to come.  At the back of our house, there is a little wood that slopes down towards the olive groves.  It consists of a number of oak trees and a massive fig tree (no figs, alas).

Plus a huge amount of fallen branches, brambles, weeds, and the occasional skull of a dead rabbit.  It’s totally neglected, and there’s no easy access.  So what could be better than creating some order by building paths, clearing dead wood and doing some planting.  I’m not sure if this project will be finished by the end of lockdown – I suspect Hilary will have many more months of sawing, clearing, building and planting to do!

My lockdown project

My lockdown project is indoors.  We have a massive attic (used to be a grain store) which we use as a music and games room, but we weren’t sure how to create something that felt a bit more cosy in this cavernous space.  It has a grey concrete cement floor and tiny windows, so little light.  Luckily, just before lockdown we had bought cement floor paint, and my project is to transform our massive space into ‘rooms’ by painting the floors. 

If anyone had told me a year ago that I would be able to paint a straight line without the use of masking tape (which I’ve discovered is worse than useless on uneven floors), I wouldn’t have believed it.  So we are learning new skills in this lockdown, and the house and garden are beginning to look good!

Deliveries during lockdown

When we ran out of paint, we decided to get it delivered, as all shops apart from supermarkets and pharmacies are closed.  Easier said than done in el campo.  Most delivery vans give up when they reach our village and don’t make it to our house.  Instead, they will deliver to the BP petrol station on the main road, but due to lockdown the BP shop and parcel delivery point are closed.

On the paint delivery date, the van driver called me to say that he would drop off the parcel at the BP garage and not to our house.  I tried to explain that the BP shop was shut – in my best Spanish – but nothing seemed to change his mind. 

And so a few days later I went to the petrol station on my way to the supermarket to see what had happened.  I found that the BP shop was closed, and that the only way to talk with the petrol station attendant was through a narrow slot in a  hatch.  When I hesitantly asked for a parcel, the attendant simply asked for my name and then pointed to the shop entrance.

I went there, and outside the front door was a massive cardboard box full of deliveries.  The petrol station attendant came out (making sure we kept 2m distance between us), found my parcel and placed it next to the box.  When she closed the front door behind her, I picked up the parcel.  The system works, and I’m immensely impressed by the honesty of people in our neighbourhood, as the box of deliveries is out there in the open throughout the day.

Emergency dentist via WhatsApp

In the third week of lockdown, Hilary woke up with a bad toothache.  It progressively got worse, and it was clear that he had an infection.  So what could we do, as all dentists are closed?  He sent an email to the dentist he visited a few months ago, and the automatic email response asked patients with dental emergencies to get in touch via ‘wasap’ (the Spanish for WhatsApp).

Within the space of 5 minutes, the dentist had diagnosed and said he should have antibiotics.  All I had to do was to show the WhatsApp conversation on the phone to the pharmacist, which basically acted as the prescription!    What a fantastic straightforward way of dealing with the situation.  Might be an efficient way of doing this even when there’s no lockdown …

Dreaming some more

Lockdown here in Spain in el campo is not such a hardship.  Though we still dream about different times, getting in the car and going places, visiting all those fantastic ancient towns and villages around Spain, and the beautiful countryside that Spain offers.  We’ve started making a long list of places to see and things to do, so lots more to write about in the blog when the lockdown has finally been lifted!  In the meantime, we look at maps, surf the net, and dream …