"Strange times, indeed!" - Phasing for dummies!

There were six days during which the town's children were allowed out on the streets for an hour's exercise with one adult. but otherwise it was just the solo shopping trip. Then - on Saturday 2nd May - a form of liberty came into force with the national phase 0 for all! The rules were certainly much simpler than the arcane Canarias proposal that had been widely publicised but fell on stony ground! The practical difficulties with this one were first that a kilometre doesn't get you very far, and enforcement was going to be nigh-on impossible. This seems to have been overcome by having little or no enforcement! Second - and crucial for Greyrocks and friends - is what to do if you are a mixed couple in terms of the 70 years-old boundary. Those with children have been complaining that the specified hours for their release from home coincide with the hottest part of the day.

Others, though, would be happy to be out and about at that time, for the "surfistas" (unless over 70 - as per Jimmy Buffet!) have to stop by 10 am! As they are not supposed to drive to their chosen spot they have been visible in large numbers from our balcony, and this video shows up to 800 enjoying themselves on the first Saturday from Las Canteras beach in Las Palmas!

"Off you go!"

By 10.10 am on that Saturday we had met four other British neighbour couples with at least one "oldie" triumphantly promenading round town, and seen many others of various nationalities. The "out of range" partner is nominally the carer, which has irony in some cases! Bob has had some long bike rides on his "new" one, and Ruth is working up to another attempt to get in the saddle! Alongside this new freedom to roam came the news that four turtles had been found on the beach near Corralejo and were helped back to the open sea by conservationists from the  south of the island!
Phase 0 has also included the limited opening of hairdressers and some other very small shops, and -to our great relief - takeaway food services. This latter has meant a let-up in home cooking, whereby Ruth has never been so active in the superbly designed kitchen, and has been self-actualising and Googling aplenty - resulting in a burgeoning freezer! But with so many good restaurants and tapas bars the attraction has been diminishing! A cooked chicken from Fuerte Pollo covering numerous meals for two, and a Chinese from Lemon Tree delivered to the Thursday Club have been very welcome!

Lest it seems that Greyrocks is celebrating the end of the strictest lockdown without regard to its health benefits we can also report that the infection data - which we peruse intently each morning -  show just how "safe" is the island! Today there is just one active case! The patient is in the UMI (ICU) of the hospital. Bizarrely at one stage this week it looked as if absence of sufficient UMI beds would prevent us moving to the next stage of deescalation, but an exception has been made and we are due to do so on Monday!

We await a Canarias version of the exercise timetable - due to be issued today! Watch this space for news of Phase 1, which 51 percent of Spanish residents can enjoy from Monday.