LOCKDOWN CASTELLDEFELS . Day 89 - Friday 12th June

LOCKDOWN [Phase 2] CASTELLDEFELS - DAY 80 – Friday, 12^th June

Going to have my swim an hour later than normal jolts my sense of the rhythm of the day, not enough to dislocate me too much, but still unsettling.

     As we only shop once a week, our lives are basically centred on the house – with one or two lunches out a week.

     This pattern is about to be suddenly changed.  Tomorrow is Toni’s Name Day and The Family is going to make a joint visit to celebrate with him.  This will be the first time that we have had someone other than ourselves in the house for around three months.  We have not seen friends or family in that time as well.

     True, I have seen people I know in the streets from time to time, but just in passing.  The only conversations that I have had have been with people in the sports centre.  I suppose that I have had a more social experience of the lockdown than Toni has had, so this visit will be a real difference.

     We are not sure about the protocol for the visit.  At least two of us will be in the most at-risk category and none of the people meeting together have been tested.  We can eat outside on the terrace of a restaurant and maintain physical distance?  We can touch elbows?  We can wear masks?  It may well turn out to be one of the oddest Name Day celebrations that we have experienced.

     This weekend will be the end of this particular phase of the lockdown and we should be in Phase 3 on Monday.  Whatever that means.  We get nearer and nearer to the old normality but I don’t think that many consider that the sort of life that we will be living will be anything like what we almost remember from February and earlier.  How little it took to change our lives and our expectations!

     The weather has not been wonderful over the last few days, but it is getting more and more summery and people will want to go on to the beach and swim in the sea.  I think from Monday, we will be allowed to do that.

     The beach cafes have now all been constructed.  Restaurants are allowing people to eat inside as well as on the terraces.  More shops are opening.

     The end of this month is when the ‘normal’ school holidays in this country would usually start.  Spain has decided that students will not return to school until September at the earliest.  Teachers I know have been trying to deliver at least some of the curriculum via the Internet and there is every likelihood that at least part of the curriculum will still be delivered via the Internet using Zoom or Goggle.

     In the UK the government has talked about summer school catch up sessions but there has been no discernable efforts to make those a reality, and god alone knows who the government expects to teach these kids. What extra teachers are going to be in place for September to teach the extra classes that are going to have to be created to deal with physical separation?  But, there again, why should we expect forethought from this bunch of Brexit blinded trash?

     The next couple of week should be very revealing and will define the eventual success of the response to the virus.