To
absolutely no one’s surprise the government is going to ask parliament to
extend the period of lockdown, or the extension of the state of the emergency
until the 11th of April, so we have at least another weeks of
restriction.
I wonder if this piecemeal
approach to the lockdown is because the government is not prepared to let us
know how long they really think it is going to be – especially for people of my
age and generation as we slip neatly into the most at risk category, and
therefore we can double or triple the ‘safe’ period for us to be at home?
As someone who is restricted to a house
and a quick circuit of the communal swimming pool, and television in a foreign
language it is difficult to get a sense of proportion about the wider
implications of an extension to the period of confinement. But, of course, that is not going to stop me!
The front of the house looks onto a
important road that runs virtually the whole length of the beach part of
Castelldefels; the back of the house looks onto the pool and the other houses
of our type, together with houses on the first line of the sea and to our left,
a block of flats along the main road.
So, based on that vastly exhaustive sample
of Castelldefels and Catalonia I am now ready to extrapolate from my observed
experience from the three floors of our house and pontificate about the future
direction of the country.
The number of people breaking the rules:
walking in pairs; using the dog as an excuse to go further from the house than
has been suggested; families with kids pushing the boundaries of where they can
‘exercise’; people walking without purpose; people rapidly reaching their
tethers’ ends cooped up with kids – the afternoon especially are punctuated with
childish howls. All this is leading to a
pressure point where people will rebel against restriction. We are not supposed to leave our homes except
for essential outings and that basically means buying food or seeking medical
care and attention. That is not how
people are living their enclosed lives, and it will get worse over time.
In Spain the number of confirmed cases of
Covid-19 is now 28,572 and the official death toll is 1,720, which, according
to my calculations gives a mortality rate of 6%! Of course this does not take into account the
number of undiagnosed cases of Covid-19 there are in Spain, so the real
percentage must be (surely) much lower than 6%?
This is the sort of disaster than strains
the resources of any health service, even one as good as the Spanish. We are going into uncharted territory and
something will have to give.
On
the personal front we are doing well, we have plenty of food, the baker is not
far away, Toni is well into his on-line course and I have sighed up for two
MOOC courses on Modernism and European Painting.
The painting course will be a delight with
easy appreciation, while the second is rather more challenging with the
readings for the first week of the course including Jean-Jacques Rousseau and
Kant! In translation, thank god!
Yesterday
was Sunday, but you would have been hard pressed to have discerned any palpable
difference from any other during our samey days ‘inside’.
It
has been raining heavily this morning, and Toni ventured out to get the
supplies that had been running low. In
spite of the adverse weather, Toni tells me that there were more people in the
supermarket and that the experience was made worse because of some people’s
inability to obey the restrictions about personal space and distancing. It must make these social occasions
dangerous. Toni has returned in what I
would describe as a disgruntled mood, failing to understand lack of adhesion to
simple rules designed for personal safety against death! But that’s people for you! In all senses!
Much
to my horror, our Catalan teacher from school has contacted me with a proposal
to set up an on-line system where we can continue our studies. I must admit that I was fully prepared to let
my school time fade into the general chaos of a society in meltdown, but this
(admittedly positive) offer is something that I will not, in all conscience, be
able to ignore and consequently the Catalan lessons will be up and running
again in some form, and “lo, my fit is come again!”
As far as I understand the proposal, this
will be based on a written form of social messaging system rather than a live
face-to-screen experience, but who knows how this will develop? I will have to knuckle down and get our merry
band together and see where we go!
On
another cultural tack: I have just finished reading an on-line essay called “The Fabric of History. Power and Piety in the Pellegrinaio of Santa
Maria della Scala” on the Academia website that offers a wide range of
papers to read free, gratis and for nothing – though, as ever, there is a
premium service that you can access by paying a fee. I have downloaded two of my own papers on Art
History to the site and have read numerous interesting (and sometimes impenetrable)
papers in return. I recommend it without
reservation.
This particular paper refers to a
Renaissance hospital building in Sienna that is decorated with a series of
murals that reward further study. This
paper takes an historical approach and there is something delightful in having your
memory jogged, as one of the essays on a previous OU course that I took
concerned one of the panels of this very fresco. The rivalry between Florence and Sienna;
popes and anti-popes; humanism and religion; piety and profit; charity and war;
status and death – all are there in the backstory to the frescos.
It was interesting that I read the paper
with an eye that was constantly looking for ideas and quotations that I could
use in my own essay. This would have
been very, very useful when I was doing my own work on the frescos and would
have made my final mark higher I think!
As it is, I can read through with remembered scholarship and relax. The paper is worth reading and the frescos
are readily available to view on line.
And if you have never heard of the place
and don’t know the frescos, then I would humbly suggest that given our
home-bound existence at the moment, you could profitably spend some time
reading and looking!
Don't forget to visit my 'new' poetry blog at smrnewpoetry.blogspot.com
