Costa Women Blogs

#LivingInLockdown Day 50 – Monday May 4th   Today was the day certain businesses could reopen only for pre booked appointments. This includes cafes and restaurants serving take away food and hairdressers. Possibly other businesses but I wasn’t paying attention as they didn’t interest me. I went out twice today: once on my early morning hour of exercise and then again about 3pm to do my supermarket shop. Here are my observations of this part of phase zero.   There were a lot less people exercising this morning. I expected that as most will be back at work, all be it at home, and their kids home schooling. This gives then less time to be out and about, which is fine by me. I’m not a morning person but I have to thank the government for forcing me out of bed at the crack of dawn with their time slots. It’s much better to exercise in the morning when it’s nice and cool. This afternoon was seriously hot and muggy. It wouldn’t have stopped me walking but with nowhere near the pleasure.   You’ve all already seen my joy at being able to get a cafe con leche to go. There were in fact two places offering this service on today’s route. This afternoon I also noticed my nearest asian restaurant has now set up a table outside the front door to do take away food. Tomorrow I’ll walk down Carretera de Canillas, another high street near me, and see who is open there. Then on my way back from the supermarket I saw a number of businesses, who aren’t yet able to open, were busy cleaning the premises in preparation for opening hopefully next week when phase one may come into effect. This included my local pub, the Calway Station, so with any luck their terrace will be available.   The local supermarket, Coviran, who I tried to support earlier during this quarantine has now reopened, as has the Chinese corner store opposite the metro station. To be honest Coviran is little more than a corner shop itself, but it is super close which gives me the option of grabbing the odd thing I may have forgotten on my weekly shop, when I pass it during my exercise.   Finally I passed two hairdressers on today’s route: one for men and one for women. There was a queue at the barbers of men just trying to get an appointment slot. Who knew men were that fussed about their hair. The ladies’ hairdresser was relatively empty. Mind you the barbers had the tiniest premises, whilst the hairdresser was much roomier and probably way more expensive.   My final observation is that those bloody masks and gloves we’re supposed to wear are damned uncomfortable in this heat. They’re going to be impossible once the full summer heat hits us. Also I now know why I usually buy food on a daily rather than weekly basis. It’s not just that I don’t like planning weekly meals (which I hate), it’s because lugging a week’s worth of shopping home in your backpack is damned heavy. I think I sweated the skin off my back this afternoon. It’s a good thing we had all that rain in April because I foresee an awful lot of showers in my future.   I leave you with this week’s statistics. I cannot vouch for their accuracy as they keep changing the format. I usually deduct last week’s total of cases and deaths from this weeks to get the weekly number of new cases and deaths. The charts provided by the authorities include a daily figure for new cases. When you add this up over the seven days it doesn’t agree with totals. Using their figures for new cases the weekly total should be 8211 for Spain and 1847 for Madrid, which are lower than mine.    Either way the case and death numbers are definitely going down. This is the important point. It will be interesting to see if we get an increase in 2 to 3 weeks time due to the deescalation. Let’s hope not.

#LivingInLockdown Day 49 – Sunday May 3rd   “How was your walk today?” Was the question I heard time and again from countless friends and family yesterday. Hardly surprising given the amount of time I dedicated to the topic last week. My answer was the same to all: ‘it was great, but I want more’. I came back from my first walk feeling slightly dissatisfied as if an itch had not been scratched, but only made more noticeable.   I am not the only one. All my numerous phone conversations and Zoom conferences this weekend, whether in Spain or the UK, have been dominated by the same theme: ‘we’re fed up!’ Everyone has had enough of lockdown and are hankering for their old lives and previous freedoms.   As if reading my thoughts the attached article from psychologist.com appeared on my news feed and it totally resonated with me. Yes, I miss my life! Unfortunately instead of making me feel better (that it was OK to feel this way – the message of the article), it just made me feel more resentful (not its aim, I’m sure). I started to think of all the activities I would have done over the last seven weeks had I not been in quarantine.   I would have been on three holidays: one to Rome, one to Mijas Costa and one with my Dad to Studley Castle in the UK. I would have visited numerous new sites; enjoyed different activities and entertainment; walked miles round novel cities, towns and villages; continued my hikes along the Malaga coastline; spent quality time with my family; tasted new foods; drank far too much wine; and soaked up the culture, history and ambience of each place.    Back in Madrid I would have hiked up several mountains or round its many reservoirs; been on 4-5 wine tastings at as many different bars/shops; been to the theatre for a musical, play or comedy at least once or twice and a mix of both professional and amateur; met with friends for activities or drinks each week; enjoyed leisurely lunches of a menu del dia or lingered over coffee and breakfast at Madrid’s many cafes; tried out at least one new eatery with my friends; perhaps hopped in the car to visit a new pueblo or parque somewhere in this region; swam in my urbanisation’s pool three times a week and used its gymn once or twice a week; then walked miles around Madrid’s wonderful streets and plazas, again just soaking up the atmosphere.    I appreciate that this is a hedonistic, pleasurable lifestyle and I should count myself lucky to have it, which I do. I am also aware that my experience of lockdown is nowhere near as bad as some people. I’m not stuck in a small flat with no light; I’m not trying to balance work with educating and entertaining my children; I haven’t lost my source of income; I don’t have to expose myself to this virus by working on the frontline; and both my health and that of my family is fine. I know all of this, but I still miss my life and I want it back!   Don’t get me wrong. I have no intention of doing anything silly. I agree with the need to phase the country out of lockdown gradually. I appreciate the difficulties faced by the authorities to manage this situation. I doubt any political party would have done a perfect job as it doesn’t exist. All countries are struggling with this as there are no ideal solutions. It is natural in difficult times to look for a scapegoat, someone to blame. However I doubt if any of us looked closely at our own actions during this year we would come out squeaky clean. None of us are in a position to judge. Right now all we can do is our best to stick to social distancing to minimise the risk to ourselves and everyone else, and make life easier on the health authorities. Now is the time to work together not resort to petty bickering and muck shovelling.   But I still miss my old life.   Then this morning I woke up and all the resentment had dissipated overnight. Sometimes it’s enough just to accept that it’s there then you can move on. I can’t keep this sort of negative emotion going for long. It’s too self destructive. It helps no one and just leaves you feeling drained. So I slept it off.   It helped that when I got out of bed my legs let me know that speed walking after seven weeks of inactivity was not a good idea. They were super stiff. I did the same walk this morning as yesterday but it took me twenty minutes longer. Perhaps one hour of exercise is enough for now, at least until my legs have adjusted.   https://www.psychologytoday.com/es/blog/pulling-through/202004/missing-life-covid-19-youre-not-alone

Hello and welcome – this issue I am talking about hair, are you taking care of your hair?   Women often find they have very greasy or sometimes extremely dry hair at this time of life. So using a good shampoo, conditioner and maybe a conditioning mask every now and then could help to keep your hair in tip-top condition. So how can we take care of our hair during menopause? Is it necessary? Let´s look at a few ideas. Here are a few tips and guidelines   It’s all about hormone balance Natural Progesterone Therapy – Bio-identical – Chemical Free www.mividanatura.com     Progesterone – Estrogen – Let´s get them balanced As women we are blessed with two female sex hormones: Progesterone and Estrogen, these hormones need to be balanced to be able to efficiently serve our body. As we age the level of Estrogen drops, followed by the Progesterone, but unfortunately the Progesterone level drops lower every time, so eventually the Estrogen is the stronger hormone, and this is what we call “Estrogen Dominance” Estrogen Dominance occurs when a great number of imbalance symptoms and issues begin. This is where ProgesterAll comes in, you can now balance your hormones with natural therapy, and not worry about harmful chemicals.  Find out more about this remarkable therapy for hormone balance Who is Dr. John Lee? read more about this remarkable man Have you considered trying CBD oil to compliment Natural Progesterone Cream? What symptoms do you have?  View our products, easy online ordering from our shop Please feel free to contact me for further details of my services and products Until next time All the best for now Alison www.mividanatura.com Email: ali@mividanatura.com Facebook: Wellness with Alison LinkedIn: Connect and Discuss          

We are excited to bring our next episode of Costa Women TV – a platform where women who make it happen come together. Filmed before the lockdown, your hosts are Ali Meehan (Founder of Costa Women) and Angèle Cristina (Founder of Wondrous Online Women https://www.wondrousonlinewomen.com ) This episode is all about beauty – inside and out and the importance of self care. Angèle meets Mapuchi Moda Creative Director and Buyer, Sara Haley and talks about finding your fashion personality. Our competition winner, Louise Brace, has a make over at the hands at Sara and Anna Scott, The Makeup Room. And Ali get make up tips from Anna.     Do You want to be featured next month? For our May episode of Costa Women TV we have two competitions – one for you and one for your children!   Firstly, we want to hear from YOU! as to what you want to do after the lockdown has ended.  Please record your video and email it to us (address in image) and tell us ‘After the Lockdown I look forward to…‘   AND you can get your children involved too! We are running a competition for children for our Costa Women TV May programme! Send us photos of any crafting your children have been done during the lockdown. The most voted for will win a prize. Instructions and how to submit the artwork appear in the image! Thank you for all your comments and feedback on Costa Women TV. We are so pleased you are enjoying the programme! This episode would not have been possible without:- Sponsor for this episode, Lobster – http://www.lobster.es Make-Up Artist – The Make Up Room by Anna Scott http://www.facebook.com/annascottmua/ Official Stylist – Mapuchi Moda from Sarah Haley http://www.facebook.com/mapuchimoda/ Angèle’s hair – Peluqueria Vintage Malaga https://www.facebook.com/PeluqueriaVi… And our awesome Videographer, Editor and Composer Benjamin Cristina https://www.benjamincristina.com

#LivingInLockdown Day 48 – Saturday May 2nd   Finally the day we can go out and exercise has arrived. By mid morning my FaceBook news feed was flooded with photographs from friends of where they’d been. As many of them live in central Madrid there was a definite Plaza theme to this morning’s photos. I’ve missed Madrid’s plazas, there are none where I live in the suburbs. So I have a challenge for you all. Maybe over the next couple of weeks you can take in as many plazas as possible and post the photos. After all there must be hundreds of them. So far I’ve seen Sol, Mayor, Oriente, Opera, Dos de Mayo and Olvide.   One thing that struck me about these photos was the lack of people. I went out at 7.45am this morning and there were already a lot of people about in my neighbourhood. Mainly runners, joggers and an incredible number of cyclists. I did a 7 km circular route taking in part of the anillo verde (green ring) a long pedestrian and cycling route that circles outer Madrid closely following the M40. This took me to a distance of 2km to 2.5km from my house at the furthest point.   Strictly speaking as a walker I’m supposed to keep to within 1km of my house, whereas joggers and runners have no limits except to stay within their municipality. I am a speed walker, an average of 7kmh/4mph as today’s walk confirmed. At times I am going faster than this and others I slow down. I did debate whether I should stick to the 1km rule, but decided this was pointless as I sped walked past two separate, rather embarrassed looking, joggers. I know full well how far I can go and still be home within an hour. I left my urbanisation at 7.45am and walked back through the gates at 8.45am. Pretty damn precise if I do say so myself.   I took no photos as a tarmac pathway full of runners and cyclists is not a particularly picturesque sight. Besides I didn’t have time if I was to get the maximum distance in. I had a serious itch to scratch. It’s been seven weeks after all and the legs were primed for activity.    Despite the number of people the majority of the walk went well. These are sports people and they know the etiquette of these routes, where the separate paths for those on wheels and those on foot are clearly marked, and there is plenty of room if everyone behaves. The cyclists kept to their side and those of us on foot to our side. We all kept as far to the right as possible to allow others to pass whilst maintaining social distancing. This is how it should work.   Towards the end of my walk more couples started to make an appearance out for their daily stroll. This is obviously a slower affair than the sporty people, as the couples meander and chat their way down the street. I think of them as the plodders and usually love to see the human contact. However some of them do not appear to be aware of the pathway etiquette and instead of keeping to the right they wander down the middle of the pavement with about metre between them, effectively hogging the whole path. I had to resort to coughing a few times (from a distance obviously). It’s surprising how quick the plodders can move when someone coughs near them.   Tomorrow I’m going to try and go out earlier at 7.15am and then during the weeks when everyone is back at work I’ll experiment with different times to see what works best.

#LivingInLockdown Day 47 – Friday May 1st   Looking back there has been a bit of a theme to this week’s posts: the fact we’re finally being allowed out to exercise. I’m sorry if it’s getting repetitive but I seem unable to think of anything else except going for a walk. It’s not that I’m desperate…. hell who am I kidding, yes I’m desperate to get out. Only one more night to to go.   This morning I even woke up at 6am, which is unheard of. I think my body is gearing itself up for the new hours. Mind you that is unlikely to happen tomorrow as tonight is my Zoom social with the pub goers and I will be having a wee wine or two. Not a problem because by mutual agreement my Saturday night Zoom social has been pushed out from 8.30pm to 9.30pm so we can all get a walk in beforehand.   Not everyone is happy with the exercise allowance, particularly the time slots allocated by the Spanish authorities. Most people understand the need for time slots to prevent overcrowding and protect the most vulnerable. However our times from 6am to 10am and 8pm to 11pm include about 3 hours of darkness. This doesn’t bother me as I live in a good neighbourhood and often walk in the dark. I thought nothing of strolling through my Barrio to get to various bars before this lockdown, so I’m sure it won’t be a problem now. However I agree that walking in the sunshine is better.   I suspect that this weekend will be a little chaotic but I live in a middle class neighbourhood with many families. When everyone is back at work next week and their children homeschooling I am unlikely to see anyone after 8.30am and will be able to take my exercise in peace. There have been some calls to give adults the lunch time slot of 2pm to 4pm as most families here hold their lunch hour as sacrosanct. It is true that very few families are going out during this time where I am, but the rules are for all Spain and maybe in other areas this is not the case.   One friend, prior to the time slots being announced, wondered whether it would be possible to go out twice a day. Would anyone notice? At the time I thought ‘please don’t put that thought in my head’ and now I’ve seen the split time slots it does somewhat encourage people to cheat and go out twice. Even the government has admitted that this phase will be very hard to police and they are relying on us to be sensible.   I will live with what we have for now and try to be a good girl. I do not want a resurgence of Corona Virus cases. Adding an hour of outside activity to my current stair climbing and resistance training indoors will be enough. Then there’s the fact that I can still go to the supermarket at other times, the rules on this have not changed on that activity. On the whole things are a lot better than they were before and if we’re sensible phase 1 will be with before we know it and coffee on a terrace will be available. I’m already planning the best places to go assuming they all reopen.