#LivingInLockdown
Day 6 – Saturday March 21st
Today did not start well. I woke up worrying about my family and how devastated I’d be if one of them died of this virus. I suppose it’s inevitable for these thoughts to come at some point, though I’ve no idea why this morning. This spiralled into worrying about the effects this virus is having on the world and how life as we know it will be different not just during this quarantine but after. Being cooped up with too much time to think tends to lend itself to negative thoughts.
I’ve lived long enough and experienced sufficient tragedy in my life to know that incessantly worrying over things you cannot change is a pointless and unnecessarily stressful activity. Time to break the cycle by getting up and doing something. Pretty much anything will do. Normally in this situation I would go for a long walk and basically out walk the thoughts. Obviously that is not an option right now.
Instead I call the founder of Costa Women to discuss some questions I have about the website that had come up the night before when I was trying to create repeat events for the online socials I’m running. We chatted for over half an hour and I felt much better afterwards. Not that we’ve solved any of world’s ills, but connecting to someone else is enough to restore my balance.
Then I do my exercise routine. Maybe I am down because I didn’t do it yesterday. Moving definitely makes you feel better. So it’s up and down the stairs, and the usual round of jump squats, lunges, burpees and planks. My plan at the start of the week was to do five sets of these a day. I’m actually managing 4 sets 5 days a week. But as I’m feeling it in my slightly stiff muscles I feel this is enough. As I skipped breakfast I have an early lunch then sit down to update my accounts.
I like spreadsheets. They soothe me. Everything neatly in its place and organised. I know many people who really struggle with spreadsheets but for me they are easy. Just enough to engage my brain without overly taxing it. I’m one of those annoying people who has a budget and sticks to it (yes we do exist!). It will be interesting to see how much this budget is effected by the quarantine. At the moment it is too soon to tell but my healthy travel and holiday budget is unlikely to get used. I imagine my utility bills will go up due to all the time indoors, but my food expenditure will go down as I usually eat out a lot and cooking at home should cost less. Then there is no going out so those costs will go down and no petrol or public transport expenditure either.
I’m expecting my expenditure to decrease significantly, however there is also a risk of my income going down as well. My income is from property rentals and will depend entirely on how well my tenants fair during this crisis. Again it is too soon to tell.
It’s kind of nice to see all the restaurant and bar entries on my bank statement pre this week, to be replaced by regular trips to mercadona. Hopefully that life will return eventually and my favourite places will weather this storm and not go bankrupt from having to close their businesses. It’s a financially difficult time for many and I’m thankful I’ve got sufficient savings to ride this wave. One thing I do notice from the bank statement is that the taxi driver who brought me home from the airport is registered in Torrejon de Ardoz. This is where the first outbreak of Corona Virus occurred in Madrid. A bit worrying!
Then I have a long conversation with my sister which cheers me up immensely. Everyone is safe and sound at the moment. I finish off the blog from the day before and wonder whether I should do something for my other blog TheHonestWineDrinker.com. I haven’t posted on there for some time now, but it seems a little frivolous under the current circumstances. I have about 13 wine tastings that are waiting to be written up and this would be the ideal time to get up to date. Oh well, I’ll get round to it eventually, but not today. I watch some TV and do some more exercises.
A quick dinner and it is time to ready for tonight’s Costa Women Madrid Online Social. Again I dress and do my make up as if I am going out. I open some wine and put a bowl of mixed nuts together. Then check into the nightly cheering session at the window before opening the video conference. There were five of us tonight and it was a really good conversation full of positives. Two of us stayed on drinking and chatting until quite late and I went to bed happy. Thank you ladies.