"Lockdown" : The First Ten Days!

"Together!" As displayed  in many Italian eateries

The PM (Sanchez) was on the TV during Saturday evening (14th). After the cancellation of Carnival and rumours of the banning of large assemblies we had a feeling that Straight Ahead would not be playing in the square that evening, and indeed they were not so we wandered up the high street and decided to go to Santa Ana - an old favourite for well-served Rioja and a warm welcome. There weren;t many there and the locals who were were watching Sanchez. The Spanish was beyond Ruth, but it looked serious! We got into conversation with a newly-arrived but frequent British holiday-makers from Twickenham, and stayed for quite a while. It was clear that the closing of bars and restaurants was on the cards, so we decided to make our second stop another place very popular with locals - Tu Casa - where we were told that after closing that night that would be it! And for Greyrocks it was the last drink in a bar!

Playtime is off!

Details emerged next day: there were restrictions that would last initially for 15 days. All bars, cafeterias and restaurants to close, trips for food shopping to be by individuals only, and otherwise everyone to stay at home. Sunday was rather relaxed with plenty of couples - us included - going for a walk in the sunshine and stopping to chat with others. Children's playgrounds were also cordoned off. But on Monday there were patrols enforcing the rules for anyone out and about, and soon security staff at supermarkets were insistent on singletons only, use of gloves and distance between customers - especially at the tills! A strange collection of non-food shops is staying open with heavy separation at the doors, and pharmacies, of course!  A few items in the supermarket, like frozen pizza and dried pasta disappeared fast, but otherwise there is no sign of panic buying. (Gunter told us yesterday that this in German is Hamsterkäufe which is nicely descriptive!) There are enough ripe bananas as anyone could wish for, and -in contrast with UK - toilet rolls a plenty! One irritating difference with regulations since adopted in other European countries is that of exercise. No provision has been made for simply walking - even alone!  Hence the most common accompaniments - apart from face masks - are large shopping bags and dogs! People have been frequently challenged to show receipts if their "defence" is   shopping! Ruth's physiotherapy is off, as are routine GP appointments,and swimming indoors or out.

Absolute figures for 21st - not proportional by population

A way of life is getting established involving a lot of home cooking; a lot of Netflix and TVMucho, and checking the global statistics online. Data for Spain as a whole is - of course - scary; but the Canary Islands was at first showing as the safest area in which to be living when tabulated in terms of population. This has slipped a bit as Tenerife develops as a "hotspot", but our island has -as of yesterday - 24 cases - only a couple of which are hospitalised and no fatalities. Greyrocks feels more secure that they would in UK or France!

All tourist accommodation had to close by this Tuesday, and down at the "big beaches" the goats have taken over: Enjoy!