A Day in a Life of Lock-Down

We are now well into our second week of the lock down here in Spain, and we have suddenly found ourselves as busy as we have ever been.

Last week, to avoid descending into a pit of despair at the loss of any revenue from our tourism businesses, we thought that we had to do something to give us some hope and look to the future once Coronavirus eventually subsides.

We were given some inspiration by the actress, Frances Barber, on Twitter. She very kindly read one of our blog posts and sent the following message:

“Oh Ian. You sound absolutely gorgeous & wonderful & delightful. When this is over I’m coming to visit. Please keep sending diaries & please keep well xxx”

Those words gave Andrew and I such a boost, and it proved that kind words can make such a huge difference. So, we began to think about what we could do to make a difference. It was from this that we launched the campaign #MyTravelPledge. We decided to offer some free short-breaks to NHS hospital staff at Casa Higueras. We have empty beds, and will continue to have empty beds until travel restrictions are eased. Why not offer these empty beds to those people who are, quite literally in some cases, working themselves to death. It is the least we can do. By providing frontline healthcare workers with the chance of some rest and relaxation in the sun in the future, we are able to give something back whilst at the same giving our own business some hope for the future. Our third consideration was that Spain, and Italy and most likely the UK, will desperately need to reignite their tourism and travel sectors once this crisis abates, and we need to make sure that we invite visitors back as soon as we safely can.

If you have no idea what this campaign is, or what I am twittering on about, then have a look at our #MyTravelPledge webpage, and on that page you will also see a video in which I try to explain what we are doing and why.

We have already had a tremendous amount of support, and we are bolstered up by our friends Nick and Richard who have made their own pledge for their property Casa Rosario, and they were swiftly followed by another host, Tim Murray-Walker, owner of Casa Olea in Córdoba Province and more friends of ours, Matthew and Tomas with their lovely house, Cortijo Alba Rosa. The list of providers is now growing and the more accommodation that we can possibly provide, then the more we can give healthcare workers something positive to look forward to.

We have received a number of messages from NHS staff, but the following shows that it only takes a little gesture to give a boost:

"This is so amazing, feeling very grateful for all the support the public is showing NHS workers, it means so much to us knowing everyone is behind us and doing their bit.
THANK YOU!"

Press interest surrounding the campaign has, so far, been encouraging. We were featured in a piece written by Sophie Lam in iNews on 24th March: Read it HERE and it has been suggested that we will be featured in The Times on Saturday 28th March.

The launch of this campaign coincided with the stark realisation that the publishing world is going the way of so many industry sectors, and is slowly being compressed. Opportunities for freelancers like Andrew are now not available; many employees in the sector are being placed on a four-day week, and costs are being slashed to try to protect jobs.

So, despite having absolutely no income apart from a trickle from existing work, we have found ourselves very occupied and that is exactly what we need right now.

As the UK enters its first week of some form of lock-down, it might be useful to chart a typical day, now that we are getting into a groove.

08:00

I have been waking up at around 06:00 almost every day recently. Primarily, this is because I have constant toothache, and the pain often catches me first thing. Just before the lock down, I had the first part of root canal treatment. The second appointment should have been on 26th March but this has been postponed, probably until mid-April. I have been taking so much paracetamol that Coronavirus wouldn’t dare venture anywhere near me. Fortunately, the ache has eased, but it is always there. Andrew is first to get up, more often than not, and he does the first Alfie walk. We are not permitted to walk Alfie together, so we do shifts!

08:30

Breakfast, during which we try to catch up and decide what priorities we have for the day. This week there has been a lot to do - adding information to the website, dealing with emails, sending out press releases. Andrew has been fitting this around afternoon conference calls to the US with the TA-DA! team, a really exciting start-up publishing project that is on the cusp of a significant break-through. I have been fitting in radio recordings and some on-line teaching, so even though we are both stuck at home, there are long periods of time where we don’t see each other during the day.

13:30

Alfie’s lunchtime. We have coffee breaks too, with cake, or biscuits or anything else that we have conjured up in the kitchen. Cooking has been an absolute life-saver, particularly in the first week of lock down, before we had found a routine. To prevent myself from crumbling into a heap of tears, I just baked, and cooked, and preserved and then we ate. Shortly after Alfie has been fed, we resort to a glass of very chilled Manzanilla. Strangely, I went shopping to our nearest large supermarket, Mercadona, yesterday (more of that later) and there had clearly been a run on sherry as there was not a bottle of Manzanilla in sight! In fact, the sherry shelves were amongst the barest in the store. Snacks are essential at this time of the day, swiftly followed by lunch.

You can see all our recipes by using the ‘search’ bar on our home page or… click HERE

We have always been fairly resourceful around lunch, and we make a lot of soups, quiches, homemade pizzas, and last week we both made a LOT of bread. How we are not yet the size of houses is anyone’s guess. Give it time…

Until this week, we managed to snatch a quick siesta after lunch, but over the past couple of days we just haven’t had the time.

As an escape from the studio, Andrew has been creating the garden and it is beginning to look like a planned space. He looked slightly (actually, greatly) crestfallen this afternoon when he tried to explain his plans for a path and I had to impress on him the importance of the construction. I am such a killjoy.

16:00

I take Alfie for his afternoon walk. We are both beyond glad that we have our little chap, as we are legally allowed to take him out for exercise, and this has become one of the most valuable and precious parts of the day. I am convinced that Alfie has matured considerably since we have been locked down. His life has become more settled; since he found us, his life has been filled with lots of visitors and lots of excitement. Now, it is just him and Andrew and I, and I think he finds it all rather more calm. He is being a joy to take for a walk, and this afternoon the sun finally broke through after some fairly horrid weather, and it was just the two of us in total silence. You can almost feel nature stretching and breathing in the clear air around us; the trees beginning to sport their fresh Spring finery.

18:00

We have plenty of food. Yesterday morning, I ventured out to Mercadona, as I mentioned above, and I can’t say I enjoyed the experience. Since the lock down began, we have only needed to pop to the local supermarket for essentials, and they have had everything we have needed. Yesterday, I wanted to stock up on meat for the freezer, and various other items to see us through this week. The shop was not empty, and the majority of customers wore face masks. When I exited the lift on arrival, I was ushered to a corner where a security guard was asking all customers to sanitise their hands and wipe down the handle of the trolley. We then had to put on gloves and were reminded, everywhere, to stay at least 2 metres apart from one another. The shopping experience was surreal and a very stark reminder that we are in the middle of something extremely serious, where the lives of other people depend upon every one of us. I had that difficult-to-suppress urge to cough, but the thought of the reaction to an involuntary splutter was too much to contemplate. I ticked off the items on my list (almost everything was available) and went to the till. It was then that I felt immeasurably concerned for the staff, doing their shifts, with a steady stream of customers, any one of whom could well have an infection. There is only a limited amount of protection offered by a face mask, gloves and a squirt of sanitiser. I couldn’t wait to get home, but I made a point of thanking the assistant behind the till.

In our beautiful home, it is easy to forget how grim real life is outside our walls. We can relax in our cosy little enclave, still able to exchange pleasantries with Mari-Petra over the garden wall. We don’t want to go out into the world when we are faced with dystopian reminders that we live in a very strange time.

19:00

🍸 Gin Time! 🍸 Although, this may be advanced slightly depending on the type of day we have had. Snacks even more essential, and we use this time to schedule a video call with our nearest and dearest. We have found that it is imperative to keep in touch with people, ideally with a video link, when we are all suffering from a restriction of liberty. When you can’t meet up in a bar, bring the bar into your home and just find anything that will make you laugh. It is useful to share experiences of how ghastly it is to be locked down, but what fun you can have too. It is at times like this you realise how much you love your family and close friends, because they are instrumental in keeping your spirits high.

19:05

🍷Wine!🍷No, jesting. Wine comes with dinner. I made the gravest of mistakes yesterday and forgot to buy chocolate, which is devastating, so wine probably needs to be consumed just after dinner, too, by way of compensation. I also made flapjacks this afternoon, but sadly they are not really a substitute for chocolate.

21:00

A bit of something on Netflix, and the trigger for me to fall almost instantly asleep on Andrew’s shoulder.

23:00

Bed! Paracetamol for the aching tooth and then sleep.

In the lock down, our advice is to find a project. Something that you have put off, or any idea that suddenly springs to mind. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t result in anything, but it provides focus. Cook, don’t watch the news all day, listen to uplifting music, eat everything that you love to eat. Video chat with all your friends and family, especially when you have a gin in your hand and you share stories of lock-down lunacy.

Above all, for the sake of sanity in the middle of a health crisis, probably best not to advise anyone on the best ways to build a garden path.

Read our earlier ‘Life in the Time of Corona’ posts:

Please feel free to leave a comment below, or share this with anyone you think may be interested in our account of living in Spain’s lock down.