Yesterday
I was shown disturbing pictures of the build up of traffic in Madrid suggesting
that numbers of people were taking advantage (how appropriate that word now
sounds) of the ‘holiday’ period to escape from the city to the coast and to
second homes. While I can fully
understand the need to find something more congenial than the cramped inside of
a city during a pandemic, as someone living in a costal resort, exactly the
sort of place that city dwellers target during holidays, I have to pray that
Barcelona does not follow the lead of Madrid!
To be fair, Barcelona does not appear to
have followed other parts of Spain, and the indications of traffic flow are
markedly lower in Catalonia than in other parts of the country. But tomorrow, with the Bank Holiday of Good
Friday and the whole Easter weekend and Easter Monday, the temptation to get
out and take the sun in the freedom of a coastal resort might be too much to
resist. I sincerely hope that Barcelona
has not looked at the slackness of Madrid and thought what the hell, what’s
good for the goose etc. and determined to come and visit us tomorrow.
I read this morning that the head of the
National Trust in Britain has issued a statement reinforcing the advice of not
visiting either the buildings in the Trust or the open spaces. I wait to see if this advice will be
followed.
Again, I do know that we are privileged in
terms of space: Toni can be working on his remote distance learning course on
the computer in the living room, whereas I can be working on my computer on the
third floor- two distinct spheres of influence!
How many other couples are so fortunate!
The lure of the coast and the sea is strong, and it is tantalizingly
near, I can see a scrap of sea (if I try hard) from the terrace, but has been
resisted – but we are not cramped together in a small flat.
I know that for some people the addition
of danger adds a piquancy to experience and the idea that something is
forbidden adds a kick of anti-establishment adrenaline, but going against the
Covid-19 restrictions is more surely akin to drunk driving: you put yourself
in danger but you also endanger others.
Like the tag line on the safety belt adverts in cars, “You know it makes
sense!” And, it isn’t for ever.
But just how long will it be for people of
my age? We Baby Boomers have been
speculating how long our isolation may reasonably last and the general
consensus is that we will be well into the summer before restrictions are
relaxed. That is a more than sobering
thought.
In a town like Castelldefels, where our
USP is a long beach, bars, restaurants and hotels, to lose Easter and a chunk
or even the whole of the summer is disastrous.
I wonder just how many restaurants will re-open when they are allowed to
reopen. A few had well established
take-away services before the crisis, but the rest will have had to think on
their feet and find customers at a time when advertising is difficult. Even in the best of times, the ownership of
restaurants is, to put it mildly, fluid; in times of crisis? Who knows?
Our major shopping centre Anec Blau, was
undergoing a major restructuring of a mystifying thoroughness. Most of the shops had had to close causing
economic chaos. Construction has been
postponed, the centre is not ready to reopen any time soon and the crisis must
have added complications that we can only guess at.
Castelldefels is not poor. We have inhabitants who are very, very rich
and some who are world famous e.g. Messi – but reconstruction of a thriving
seaside resort will take time, effort and imagination. And money.
Lots of money. I shudder to think
how all of that is going to be managed.
Still, one has to be optimistic. The most positive element in this crisis is
the way that we have all rallied round the efforts of the services that are
working to keep us going and to keep us healthy. It would be a disaster beyond the crisis if
that fellowship is squandered in the remaking of normality after the crisis is
over. Though, it would be wise to
remember never to underestimate the stupid selfishness that a population is
capable of – just look at the political trash that have been elected!
Today
is National Theatre Premiere Day, or rather evening. This evening the NT At Home is showing their
production of Jane Eyre https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/whats-on
at 7.00pm UK time and 8.00pm for us and it will be available for the next week,
until the next production to be aired.
I am really looking forward to this
production because it seems to be in the tradition of Nicholas Nickleby that I saw in a RSC production in London: an
ensemble production which used clever theatrical devices, that only work in the
theatre. It will be interesting to gauge
my reaction to genre specific techniques in another media type. I remember a production of Macbeth with McKellen and Dench which
transferred from The Other Place to the much larger venue of the Main Theatre
in Stratford: it didn’t work, it needed the intimacy of a smaller venue. But when the acclaimed production was
televised, it worked again because the closeness of the camera restored the
lost intimacy.
The production was excellent, theatrical in
the best sense of the word. A small
musical ensemble and a versatile company utilizing the open multi-level simple
staging. The best thing you can say
about a theatrical production of a novel is, at the end of the performance, you
feel like reading the novel itself. I
urge you to go to the website and see the production for yourself. And don’t forget to leave a donation at the
end of the performance if you have enjoyed it!
Today’s
poem is in a half finished state, but what I have was ‘easier’ than the poem
yesterday which I cant help feeling is going to be hacked around in the next
stage of editing! But that is half the
fun. If I manage to get something on the
poetry blog tonight then it will be on smrnewpoems.blogspot.com
Tomorrow,
Good Friday, when in all past years I have made my annual visit to a
church. Not this year. This year is indeed, different. So different.
