Costa Women Blogs

#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.

This is an invitation for open hearts who are ready to experience Embodied Realisation to join our next MasterCreatorClass, live online May 18 – 22   There comes a time when we all have to make a choice and follow our own inner voice. To step away from the drama out there and the energetic stealing of power that make us all feel valuable and important! To release the roles of aggressor and victim that give us the experience of success and failure in a world of limitation and control. AND finally surrender to the part of us that waits to take us on a most magical adventure beyond everything known.   Are YOU ready to lay down your sword and surrender your Human identity to your Divine and loving self within? Are YOU ready to move beyond your Human knowing and embody the truth of who YOU truly are, and what life is all about? AND live a life of celebration as Your Magnificent Self, right here on the Earth plane?   Then please accept this invitation, to join fellow Masters and Creators commit to, celebrate and embody your own Mastery, Realisation and Freedom! Our next MasterCreator Class is a 3 day online event via skype on Mon 18th, Wed 20th and Fri 22nd May from 2pm – 6pm. This journey, dedicated to you begins by receiving preparation homework on May 11th.   May 11 – Receive Preparation HomeWork for ClassMay 18 – Loving & Trusting YOURSELFMay 20 – Acceptance & Understanding All of Life & The Voice of All KnowingMay 22 – Discovering the Unknown & Celebrating YOU   Please note: This class doesn’t heal, teach or share any methods… it quite simply offers a safe and sacred space for YOU to dive deep within your core, balance Body, Mind & Spirit and allow the Master and Creator you truly are, to fully emerge and bring you into a new delightful adventure, creating your grandest dream!   You can enjoy creative acts: dancing, singing, acting, writing, painting & inner journeys during this class to inspire you to remember, imagine, play and create yourself and your life aNEW as a New Energy Pioneer. A Sovereign Master & Creator who embraces, integrates and embodies your multi-dimensional self, allowing YOU to live in all ease and grace, a life of celebration beyond anything known.   This MasterCreator Class Allows YOU to… To consciously choose to expand out of your Human Identity and into All That You Truly Are. To release all fears, past wounds and hurts, all ancestral & angelic lineage and move into your expanded identity of IAM… All That Is To commit to… Loving and trusting all of yourself, Acceptance and Understanding all of life, The Voice of All Knowing, Discovering the Unknown, Celebrating YOU To be aware and experience the integration of your Divine and Human selves… To choose to live joyfully and experience your own Mastery and Embodied Enlightenment. To create a journal and Master Creator testimony as an expression of your freedom and commitment to be your Master Creator self and live a life of celebration.   Cost…As a non-profit charity ‘Asociacion Conciencia Magnifica’ I ask for a donation of 65 euros for this 3 day event. All donations go to fund our Free Creative Art Projects for local children in Benalmadena and surrounding towns.   How to Register…Please either go to register and pay via my website store http://memymagnificentself.com/courses/mastercreator-local-class/ or contact me by Email to arrange to pay via PayPal or bank transfer the whole amount before May 11th. Email: barbara@memymagnificentself(dot)com   It’s All About YOU…It doesn’t matter whether YOU are a novice or an experience teacher in the world of spirit to particpate in this must-dimensional class because everything has changed! Old dualistic ways of working with spirit or consciousness has a new ingredient and has changed the whole game of energy dynamics and how life unfolds.   YOU You are the new ingredient, who, by your own Human experience have stood up most passionately and said no more fear, pain and suffering! AND having expanded your consciousness in such a way, you have brought in NEW energy to serve yourself and all Humankind. From life being about them/others and going out there to exchange energies… Life has become about YOU, going within and receiving from the powerful oneness YOU are. Many of us are experiencing how the old ways of dealing with fear, pain and suffering no longer work and are sensing how a new game is in play! No longer are we dealing with a vibrational and predictable energy in a linear time/space environment and experience duality, separation and fear, we are dealing with an expansional, unpredictable and multi-dimensional energy and experience unity, wholeness and compassion. It is no longer about fixing, making whole and healing, past, present and future it is about allowing ourself to embrace and embody in each now moment, the wholeness and oneness we have always been.   It’s a most natural Shift of Consciousness…As Consciousness expands, floods of light flow into our Earth plane, naturally awakening hearts from a deep hypnotic sleep… encouraging all to open and receive the truth and realisation of how each person is sovereign, powerful and magnificent. One heart at a time we are realising how each person is the oneness, the Divine Master, Creator AND Human, who can now choose to embody this truth and live a life of celebration as their Magnificent Self. In order to help Humanity take on this new role as Master and Creator, our Angelic and Galactic friends have stepped back, leaving the field free for us to experience our own voice, potential and magnificence. AND to ensure we embody this realisation it is necessary to say goodbye to all our yesterdays, blood ties of ancestors and biology and allow our own knowingness and magic to enter this new game. It is with honour and joy I share with YOU my own experience Awakening, Integrating and Embodying the new DivineHuman, to inspire and support you on your natural journey of Ascension in all ease and grace. Barbara Franken… Creative Visionary & MasterCreatorInspiring New Energy Consciousness Magnificent Guest Blogger Feature 2020I do hope you join me and several of my Divine brothers and sister in this next writing challenge April/May 2020 and write about your grand dream… so that we can co-create together another free e-book to inspire others to discover the truth within. Please check out this blog post. I’m waiting to hear from you. Thankyou Join me for ½ hour QuietMeTime with The Conscious BreathYou can subscribe to my YouTube Channel and join me each week for some Quiet Me Time as we consciously breathe, relax and dive deep within, embracing All of Self and releasing everything that no longer serves.  A paperback and Digital Book is available from all Major online stores… Amazon and Apple I share my own magical journey, exploring Who I AM with the help of nine Elemental Beings and expand from a world of fear, struggle and limitation into a New Energy Consciousness of love, grace and freedom. It is in this loving space that I discover my Divine and ALL LOVING self and allow myself to integrate together as one Body Consciousness… a DivineHumanBeing… and Magnificent Master Creator who expresses and creates heart and soul passion on the physical plane and beyond. Join my MasterCreator Class and emerge yourself in the celebration of life through dance, song, art, relaxed inner journeys and beyond everything known… preparing yourself for your NEW role on New Earth. There is no time like the present moment to Sign Up and give YOURSELF this magnificent gift… More Info: MasterCreator Class Our next class in May 18, 20 & 22 is going to be online via webinar, so my friends from around the world can join! All the money raised from my books and classes go to my non-profit association The Magnificent Consciousness that holds free local projects in Benalmadena, Spain.    

#LivingInLockdown Day 46 – Thursday 30th April   I had a bit of a fright today. Whilst waiting for the Health Minister to make his announcement regards the rules around allowing us out to exercise from Saturday I thought I’d have a quick look at the daily stats for Covid-19 cases and check the number of new cases was continuing to decline. Imagine my horror when at first glance it seems they’ve gone up in Madrid. OMG! If this continues they will have no choice but to stop deescalation plans in Madrid. Noooo!   I did wonder if this increase had anything to do with them allowing certain industries, like the construction sector, to return to work a few weeks ago. After all the new cases are basically only people who end up in hospital, because otherwise you’re unlikely to get tested in Spain, and there is usually a lag of 2-3 weeks between contracting Covid-19 and needing hospital treatment.   Before I started berating these workers I thought I’d better check my figures. I recall I was quite surprised at the decrease in new cases when I totted up the totals for the week on Monday. Weekly new cases had decreased from 9817 the previous week to 2458. That is a significant drop. On closer inspection it turns out the government had changed the way they publish new cases half way through last week. They previously reported all cases where a person had either received the PCR test or an antibody test. On Friday they stopped reporting people who had received the antibody test and 3393 cases disappeared from the Madrid total overnight. So last weeks total of new cases was in fact 5851.   Mind you it wasn’t all the fault of the change in reporting. Each day they publish two spreadsheets: one detailing new cases and the second detailing hospitalisations, deaths and the cured. For one of the days I’d read the wrong chart and was looking at the total number of people still in hospital in Madrid. You can see why I normally only look at this stuff once a week. Talk about stress, I could see my opportunity for daily exercise going up in smoke. Fortunately this is not the case and new cases in Madrid continue to go down steadily week on week.    At 6pm the Minister of Health finally gave the rules around daily exercise outside live on television. He speaks Spanish very clearly so I was able to understand him well. I’m quite chuffed with that. I will still await the N332 translation of what her said, just to be sure, but here is what I think the rules are.   From Saturday individuals 14 years of age and over are allowed out for one hour of exercise within their own municipality. I didn’t catch whether there was a limit on distance like the 1km from your house for children. One of the journalists did ask this question but I had mentally switched off by then. We can do any exercise as long as it is individual. You may not exercise with others, though I’m not sure if this includes members of the same household. We are limited to the hours of 6am to 10am and 8pm to 11pm. Families with children are now limited to the hours of 12pm to 7pm. The elderly and those considered vulnerable to this disease can also go out for one hour between the hours of 10am to 12pm. This way we are not all on the street at once.   I can work with that. Happy now 🙂

We continue with our series #LivingInLockdown Your Stories, where our members get to share their experiences of this strange journey we’re all going through. This week we hear from Alison Wade in Madrid who has spent lockdown coming to terms with the death of her Mother whilst battling possible CoronaVirus. Alison is from Warwickshire in England. She moved to Buenos Aires in 2012 and used the freedom of being a digital nomad to split her time between Buenos Aires, Madrid and Warwickshire. After Brexit, she moved to Madrid and applied for residency. She lives in the centre of Madrid where she is experiencing lockdown alone in her internal, one-bedroom apartment. ALISON’S STORY Saturday 14th March. The day that Madrid locked down due to the coronavirus. And the day that my mum died. After talking to my dad, I decided not to get a flight back to the UK. At that point, the UK wasn’t as badly affected as Spain, certainly not as affected as Madrid, and I didn’t want to potentially expose my almost 82-year-old dad to the virus. This has turned out to be one of the best decisions I have made in my life. The next few days passed by in a blur, taken up by near constant messages and calls. After spending so many hours on the phone and shedding many tears, I was feeling mentally exhausted. I wasn’t surprised when I developed a sore throat and slight cough and didn’t think much of it. When the waves of nausea and upset stomach started, I put it down to stress or my lack of culinary skills. Losing your mum during lockdown is obviously extremely stressful and I’ve never been interested in cooking, am not the best cook, and normally eat out a lot. I decided that confinement in my sunless, little apartment was not helping and that a little exercise was needed after so much sitting around using my phone and laptop. I am usually quite active. If time allows, I prefer to walk around Madrid instead of taking public transport and every weekend I go hiking at least once, often on both days. I found a fun-looking aerobics video on YouTube and started off. It wasn’t that strenuous, yet after just 20 minutes I was feeling really out of breath. That weekend, the breathlessness continued, even when I was sitting down. I used to suffer from bad hay fever when I was in my late teens, and the laboured breathing and pressure on my chest reminded me of this misery. I started to suspect there was something wrong with me, and that maybe I’d caught the dreaded coronavirus. However, compared to the accounts I’d read, my symptoms were mild. Monday morning rolled around. It was time for work. I have worked from home for many years and was busy, so it was quite nice to slip back into a normal routine. The only normal in my life at that moment. I sat, reading and typing away on my laptop. Hardly strenuous but by mid-afternoon the breathlessness was back with a vengeance and I was starting to feel a bit anxious, which didn’t help my breathing. I was also tired, so I decided to do the Spanish thing and take a little siesta, knowing that sleeping would calm me down. It worked. I woke up feeling much better and finished my work. Unfortunately, by bedtime, the breathlessness was back. It wasn’t a great night’s sleep and it was uncomfortable to lie on my left side. It was hurting and I could feel a weird, almost bubbling sensation. Coupled with my dry cough, which got worse with the breathlessness, it reminded me of when I suffered from altitude sickness in Bolivia – although thankfully without the scary hallucinations! Then the final symptom, the fever, started. Groaning, I got up, took some paracetamol, glugged down a glass of water, and got back into bed. At some point, I dropped off to sleep and woke up the next morning feeling hot in my sweat-soaked vest top. I took another paracetamol and decided that my breathing had improved quite a lot. I again sat down to work but by mid-morning the breathlessness had made an unwelcome return. After the fever, I was now pretty sure I’d caught coronavirus, so I searched the Internet for the Covid-19 information line, which we’d been told to call to report possible cases of the virus. A lovely lady listened sympathetically to my explanation of my symptoms, told me to call my doctor at my local medical centre and added ‘God bless’ to the end, like I was about to keel over and die. For the first time, I started to feel scared. It took several attempts to get through to my medical centre as at that point they were receiving calls from about 600 patients a day with coronavirus symptoms. I explained my symptoms to the receptionist who told me they were inundated with calls at the moment, but that a doctor would get back to me as soon as possible. About an hour later, I got a call. I explained my symptoms and answered the doctor’s questions. Over the phone, she then listened to me cough and breathe, then she diagnosed me with suspected, mild coronavirus. She advised me to rest, take paracetamol for the fever, drink lots of liquids and call back if it got worse. About an hour later, thanks to the evident chaos at the health centre, I got a call from a different doctor. I again explained my symptoms, answered his questions and coughed and breathed down the phone. He too suspected coronavirus but was unsure as my breathing seemed worse than the other symptoms and he said it could be another respiratory issue. He gave me the same advice as the first doctor and added that if my breathing got a lot worse during the night, when the health centre wasn’t open, to take a taxi to the nearest hospital. He added that my breathing needed to be really bad, so bad that it was hard to speak, to be admitted to hospital, and that anything less would probably be a wasted trip. That night, as I lay in bed feeling sorry for myself, was definitely the lowest moment. The fever returned but was sent on its way with paracetamol. The breathing laboured on. At one point, I wondered whether I might die in my bed and, as I live alone, how long it would take for my body to be discovered. Thankfully, I felt quite a lot better the next morning and my morbid thoughts from the night before vanished. The breathing issues continued but eased as the days went by; I was only coughing occasionally and the fever had completely disappeared. By the weekend, my breathing still wasn’t normal but it was improving; although doing basic household chores like stripping the bed clothes and sweeping the floor meant I needed to sit down and rest. However, I felt I was on the mend and feeling much brighter, so much brighter that I treated myself to a gin and tonic during a Zoom chat with friends. It was now Monday 6th April. Another Monday morning of work to aid the feeling of normality. Only this Monday morning was to be far from normal for me. Funerals in the UK were now private affairs, with a maximum of ten close family members allowed to attend, all having to maintain an appropriate social distance. Today was my mum’s funeral. Obviously, me going to the UK to attend was just not an option. I’d discussed the arrangements with my dad and sister and helped to choose a coffin and wreath, but it was so far away and I was so far removed from it that it just didn’t seem real. At noon, my brother-in-law called me on WhatsApp video so I could view the service. In director mode, he scanned the room to set the scene. The first person he panned onto was my dad, stood all alone in his suit, with no one able to comfort him. It just about broke my heart and my tears flowed throughout the service. Although my health felt much better, I felt pretty miserable for the rest of the day. I decided to get into bed with some hot milk, chocolate and a book. Out of nowhere, I felt my chest tighten and the heavy pressure and breathlessness returned. Followed by the fever. I’d been reading about the coronavirus and had learnt that the symptoms often return after about a week. This is the point when it can really take hold and become serious. Needless to say, it was another sleepless night. By morning, however, the fever had gone and my breathing was a lot easier. The breathlessness came and went for about a week. Little by little it improved and I was able to do chores without having to sit down. Another week went by and other than a little tightness in my chest and occasional bouts of breathlessness, I felt so much better and so much happier. Friends I’d been videoconferencing with told me I was looking much better; I’d been told at one point that I looked like shit! I was on the mend and I was smugly hoping it had been the dreaded coronavirus as it might mean I have the precious antibodies and immunity. Four weeks had now passed since I’d had my very first issue with my breathing. Although I still wasn’t 100% and still not exercising, I felt well. Then boom. One evening, out of nowhere, the breathlessness returned. This time it was accompanied by a more severe pain on my left side and an urge to cough. I couldn’t lie on my left side as it was too uncomfortable and I had another restless night. In the morning, it was still painful and my breathing was still problematic. I again called the doctor at my health centre. It took several attempts to get through as they were still receiving a lot of calls. I gave my symptoms to the receptionist and about an hour later a doctor called me back. I gave my symptoms, answered her questions and breathed down the phone. Something was definitely not right, perhaps pneumonia, so I got sent for a chest X-ray. I took a taxi to the hospital. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon yet the streets were deserted of both traffic and pedestrians. Almost everything was shuttered and closed. Gran Via was particularly eerie. When I arrived, an ambulance was at the hospital entrance, with two paramedics dressed in protective white suits. I hesitated. Did I really want to go in there? I’d not been tested for coronavirus as I’d not been ill enough. I was only suspected of having it. Maybe I had something else and would catch it whilst inside. I checked my mask was in position and walked in the main entrance. Apart from a lone receptionist it was deserted. The cafe and main waiting area, which I’m sure are usually bustling, were deserted. The receptionist pointed me in the direction of radiology and I followed the hospital’s warrenlike maze of corridors. They too were deserted. Another lone receptionist greeted me and sent me through for my X-ray. When I returned to the reception, another two patients had appeared. I walked back outside, into the glorious sunshine, glad to get out of there. The doctor phoned that evening with my X-ray results. Good news. My lungs were clear and looked good. No pneumonia. So what was wrong with me? We again went through my symptoms. This doctor too latched onto the fact that I was only suffering with breathing issues. I’d had the other coronavirus symptoms, but they were gone and really mild in comparison. The doctor wondered whether I could have asthma. She listened to my heavy breathing down the phone again and sent me an electronic prescription for an inhaler. Saturday was another difficult day with frequent bouts of breathlessness and the pain in my side. By Sunday, when I was due to collect my inhaler, I was feeling much better again. So far, I’ve not felt the need to use it, but the instructions have been read and it’s primed and ready for action! The doctor phoned me back on Monday morning to see how I was feeling. Interestingly, the four symptoms she asked about were breathlessness, fever, cough and an upset stomach. When I first called the medical centre, a different doctor had told me that my upset stomach wasn’t a symptom of coronavirus. Perhaps my upset stomach wasn’t caused by my terrible cooking after all! It’s now been about six weeks since I started feeling ill and it lingers on, albeit very mildly. I’ve felt worse with a heavy cold, but the symptoms I’ve experienced have been very different to a cold and at times scary. It’s scary not being able to breathe properly, especially knowing that this respiratory virus can be so lethal. I’d love to know what is actually wrong with me. Is it coronavirus? Is it asthma? Or is it something else? Obviously, you can’t be properly diagnosed with any illness over the phone and as medical centres are not seeing patients with respiratory issues, I suspect it will be some time before I find out. Everyone has found the almost seven weeks of isolation with this lockdown difficult and the death of my mum and the uncertainty of my illness have definitely added to the stress. However, there have also been some positives. I’ve really enjoyed having time to myself and having the time to actually think. I like my own company. I’ve found myself pretty busy most of the time and it’s been great chatting to people who are not in Madrid that I wouldn’t usually have time to speak to. I’ve significantly cut my alcohol consumption – the last thing you want is alcohol when you can’t breathe properly – which must be good for my health. I’ve also been eating more healthily; apart from the chocolate that I bought to cheer me up! Finally, not being allowed out has saved me an absolute fortune; there’s a limit to how much you can spend in your local supermarket for one person. I’m now looking forward to being able to go out for a walk and get a bit of exercise. As I live in a shady, internal apartment, I’m also looking forward to finally seeing and feeling the sun. I’m sure these things will help me feel so much better and aid my recovery. In a few weeks, I’m looking forward to going to my local terraza and having a drink in the sunshine whilst watching my Madrid world start to get back to normal. I’m also looking forward to seeing friends and having something more exciting to talk about than the coronavirus. But most of all, I’m looking forward to seeing my dad and giving him a very overdue and much needed hug.

#LivingInLockdown Day 45 – Wednesday 29th April   Today has dragged by. I was on the phone with friends and family for most of the morning, which was lovely, but I’m conscious of the fact that I am counting down the hours until I’m allowed out for a walk. Tomorrow should be better as I have to do my usual Friday supermarket trip on Thursday as Friday is a bank holiday here.   This week I have increased my stair climbing. I’m now doing 1000ft a day and it feels great. I’ve never paid much attention to how much incline I do on my hikes. I trudge up the mountains for fun. It makes me feel good and the views tend to distract you from the fact that you’re doing exercise. Walking up the same stairs everyday is not as distracting and you end up counting the stairs, which is super boring. Instead I decided to just continue going up and down until I hit a certain number of feet in altitude. I started with 400ft then gradually increased it. The gradual increase had nothing to do with capability, rather finding a time of day when I would not be disturbing others. This way I can switch off, like I do when I’m walking.   This week I’ve also managed to finish ironing all my summer clothes. You know it’s bad if I’ve resorted to ironing. I did wonder when I started this task last week, whether I’d have the opportunity to wear my summer clothes this year or if I was doomed to a summer in pyjama shorts. Then the government announced the deescalation phases and that gave me the impetus to finish the job. All I have to worry about now is whether any of the clothes will still fit me, but there’s a fair few with elasticated waists so I should be alright.   Years ago I lived in Singapore and I had a lovely Filipino maid, Cristie, who would wash and iron everything and I mean everything. My underwear drawer was a thing of beauty. When my family visited they would pack half their clothes unwashed and throw them into the magic wash basket on arrival. Couple of days later it would all be cleaned, ironed and neatly folded away in their bedroom. I miss Cristie. I found myself thinking of her as I did the ironing, but decided that the day I start ironing my knickers is a day too far.   The reality is when you have too many hours in the day you sometimes find yourself filling them up with inane activities, like the little obsession I indulged in at the start of this lockdown: taking my temperature. This was so I knew what my usual body temperature is and could tell if it started to go up (fever being one of the Covid-19 symptoms). I mentioned previously the last time I had a raised temperature when in hospital for a day op, I was totally unaware of the fact. So I dug out the digital thermometer I bought last year (It was on sale at my local supermarket for 5€ right next to the deodorant I was buying at the time and I thought what the heck, it’s been sat in the medicine drawer ever since in its original box) and started to take my temperature at different times to see what my ‘normal temperature’ is. I’m usually between 36.5c and 37c. One time it got cold real quick when it went dark and I was busy writing so didn’t notice until I started shivering. I took my temperature whilst huddled under the duvet trying to get warm: it was 36c. I also took my temperature after sweaty exercise and when I got out of a scalding hot bath. It seems 37.5c is my maximum.   Then there was the week a friend of mine had us all measuring the length of our leg hair, as obviously we’d given up shaving for a while. Between this and the endless FaceBook and YouTube rabbit holes I’ve been down, you can see how much I need to get out.

#LivingInLockdown Day 44 – Tuesday 28th April   Today the government announced their plans for a deescalation of the lockdown in Spain. There are five phases which I’ve detailed at the end of this blog. The hope is that all phases will be completed by the end of June. However this is dependant on case numbers continuing to decline. Each phase will last at least 14 days, as that’s how long it takes to see any potential increase in infections.    The deescalation will not be uniform across Spain. Those regions with fewer cases will be able to deescalate more rapidly than those with higher case numbers, which basically means Madrid and Barcelona will be the last to reach phase 4. This is fine by me. As of Saturday, when phase 0 starts, I can go for a walk and hopefully 2-3 weeks later I’ll be able to sit on a terrace and have a coffee. For some reason this is what I have missed the most and I’m not an avid coffee drinker, I just like to watch the world go by.   There is no mention here of resuming international flights, so I guess a trip to the UK is still some ways off. However by phase 5 I can travel in Spain and go enjoy our apartment in the South. As holiday goers from other countries wont be able to fly here until later this means I might actually be able to try some of the restaurants that are usually fully booked in the summer season. I’m well happy with that.   It seems the weather remains in tune with happenings in Spain. Since the start of this lockdown it has been wet and miserable. When the government announced children were allowed out the sun started to make more of an appearance with scattered clouds. They said adults would be allowed out from Saturday and the forecast for the weekend is sunny and hot. Then today they announced the deescalation plan and a beautiful rainbow appeared over our urbanisation.   THE DEESCALATION PHASES (from N332)   Phase 0: Preparation and planning. Certain businesses will re-open with an appointment system. Restaurants will be able to prepare ‘takeaways’, in which customers can collect their order. Exercise and walks, with those who you live with, allowed 2nd May, maybe with staged time slots, etc. More details to come.   Phase 1: Open small businesses. There will be schedules/time slots for elderly. Terraces of bars/restaurants 30% capacity, always with sufficient social distances (at least 2 metres). Hotels and tourist accommodation can open (under certain measures, e.g. no common areas allowed open), also 30%. Religious sites can open, 30% capacity, always with sufficient social distances. Funerals permitted (under certain measures). The use of masks in public transport will be highly recommended.   Phase 2: Inside of restaurants/bars can open, 30% capacity, social distancing, only table service. Schools will re-open in September for most students, but different measures will be taken for those with children under 6 years old, in which both parents work, also there may also be measures for re-enforcement classes for those most vulnerable students, also for EBAU students, bachillerato, etc. Cinemas, theatres etc may open, 30% capacity, social distancing. Also expositions and meeting rooms. Religious sites 50% capacity.   Phase 3: Easing of movement between different territories. Restaurants/bars 50% capacity, social distancing.