A future tinge of normality

 

I have been able to book a place for a swim on Saturday! 

     We have not been informed that the pool is actually reopening then after our latest bout of lockdown, but I am taking it as gospel and will be there, bright eyed and bushy tailed.  Well, as b.e.a.b.t. as one can be at 7.15 am after a couple of weeks of indolent snoozing in the morning courtesy of Covid - restrictions rather than the disease I hasten to add.

     I have to admit that it will be a relief to get back to my early morning routine, as the swim gives a sort of impetus and structure to my day – as well as exercise of course!  I am not sure that restaurants and cafes will be open again, so my cup of tea might have to wait, as will my writing in my notebook, as that seems heavily dependent on my being in the café as well.

 

 

 

 

I have made an executive decision to stop counting those people not wearing masks as I take my daily bike ride along the paseo.  My insufferable superiority in always wearing a mask when I should, as opposed to the lesser breeds without the law who do not, is already at such astronomical levels that it is impossible to boost further.  All I do, therefore, by my continued counting is to make myself angry as I give hard looks to all those unmasked selfish viral assassins who feel themselves allowed to parade (literally) their homicidal proclivities as I cycle by.  This is not productive.  I must open my sense of forgiveness and pretend to be blissfully unaware of their murderous irresponsibility. 

     I have to admit that it makes the bike ride more enjoyable as well as I can concentrate on the more scenic elements in my journey rather than noting in every face I meet marks of weakness marks of woe.  And I just know that bonkers old Blake would be much more forgiving than I.  So, I really should make the effort.

 

Although my new watch does not have the battery life of my old Pebble (Ah! The watches of yesteryear!) and not even the battery life of my old-new Amazfit, I have decided that the life that I am getting from the new-new watch is, one might say, acceptable.

     As is always the case with watch/app co-existence there are always problems with synchronizing, but I have come to understand that as par for the course and I take such irritations in my stride.  Though I have to admit that the last instance of my app not recognizing the watch in spite of Bluetooth being on and the bloody watch being next to the mobile phone was difficult to work out.  And, although I tried a number of things to make it work (and yes, I did try switching in off and then on, more than once) when it did, finally, decide to do what it had done perfectly normally up to yesterday, I am not sure what it is that I did that worked.  But, extensive experience with things electrical means that I accept success and a glowing screen with a look of quiet competence rather than total surprise.

 

 

Tomorrow is my flu jab.  This is not going to be administered in our medical centre, but in a civic building in the centre of town.  I understand that the flu injections are being administered on an industrial scale and medical centres are pooling their resources and making the process fully central.  Presumably this is something like a dry run for the truly frightening logistics that will have to be run when the Covid vaccine (DV) is finally available for use.

     As far as I can work out, my age group is likely to be in the third tranche of the general population, at least going on the UK’s way of measuring these things I would be.  It will be interesting to see how the state (any state) copes with what is going to be a mammoth undertaking.

     I am not sure how far ‘normal’ doctoring will be affected by the vaccination of the entire population, though we have already seen a change in the way that our medical centre is working and that change can only be more radical when the roll-out of the vaccine is in full flow.

     This part of the world rejoices in bureaucracy which can always be a pain, but at the same time we all have readily available numbers and cards so we can be fairly easily be ticked off on some great flow chart in the sky.  It remains to be seen how fluidly this flows!

 

Meanwhile, two bike rides today – and neither noted by my fitness app because of the recalcitrance of my watch.   

     But tomorrow, things will be different!   

     And roll on Saturday and my first real swim for weeks!

LOCKDOWN CASTELLDEFELS - DAY 48 – Saturday, 2nd May

Two good, long bike rides!  By me!  After six weeks this is something to write about!  Literally!

     Enough with the exclamation marks.  It was not as liberating as I thought it would be.  I got up at 7.00am and was out of the house in double quick time, adopting the normal swimming pool technique of brushing teeth, quick wash and shower after the ride.

     There were far more people around than normal.  There were the usual unhappy looking runners of all ages; couples taking a walk; dog walkers; people walking on the beach; surfers and we cyclists.  It will be interesting to see if the same numbers of people are around tomorrow after the delight of pseudo-freedom has worn off and the unaccustomed aches in parts of the body that have been ‘resting’ for the last number of weeks are a little more real!

     We have seen pictures of television where the numbers of people who came out onto the streets made physical distancing very difficult, and my perception is that people are disinclined to continue the restrictions.  This does not bode well.

     As an example, as I am typing, a group of (noisy) people have made a little party around and in the communal pool.  The composition of the group includes parents, children and rat dogs – with dogs being specifically banned from the pool area.  In some ways I suppose it is good that they are able to act as though there was no Covid-19 crisis at all.  Good luck to them, one might say.  But the one thing that has demonstrated itself with crystal clarity is that the virus does not fall back in baffled frustration when confronted with people who do not take infection seriously, it feeds on such irresponsibility and thrives and does not restrict itself.  And kills.  Over a third of those who are ill enough with the virus to go to hospital do not leave it alive.  That puts silly sociability into proportion!

     Castelldefels is a seaside town, where walking the Paseo is an essential part of living!  As we move into the clear summer months and more and more people (quite understandably) want to be by the sea, and it is going to be more and more difficult to sustain anything approaching the requisite distancing that shows the necessary respect to reject the fatality of slackness.  I think that previous sentences is stupidly complex and involved, but I’m too lazy to strike it out.  People are going to become more and more easy going, as the weather gets hotter.  And we are not going to take things seriously until there is another spike in the virus deaths and then it will be too late.  For some.

     Perhaps people are seriously thinking in percentages and thinking that it is probable if they are young(ish) and healthy(ish) that in percentage terms that they are likely to survive.  And they are, of course, likely to be right.  Unless they are wrong.

     But I did go out for a ride.  I should look on the positive side, and go out for another one when our next authorized period starts.  I can go out just after the daily 8pm clap for the health and essential workers.

In my third ride of the day on my bike I actually saw two people whom I knew, but didn’t stop to talk.  There were still lots of people about (and three illegal kids – NOT their time to be out) with many groups and people talking and interacting with an ease that suggests that they consider that the crisis is just about over.  Which it most assuredly is not.