#LifeInLockDown
Day 2 (part 2) – Tuesday March 17th
Despite the cramps I’m up again at 8pm as this is the time all Madrid (possibly all Spain) goes to their windows to cheer. Everyone claps, blows horns, waves lights in the air for about five minutes. It’s very up-lifting. Pretty much every apartment in my urbanisation has someone in it and they’re all at their window. This show of solidarity is ostensibly for the health workers on the frontline, who totally deserve it, but I like to think it is for all people having to work at this time. The supermarket and pharmacy staff, the food supply chain from farmers to food processors and truck drivers, care staff (vulnerable people don’t stop needing care), utility firm staff (being without heating, light or water right now would be a bitch), police and security staff, and the wonderful people keeping my phone and internet connections alive.
There’s a lot of people out there on the frontline. Whilst standing at the window in my scraggy pyjamas nursing a hot water bottle (I probably look pregnant to the neighbours) I ponder which is worse: working with a high risk of catching this disease, not working and worrying whether you’ll survive financially, suffering isolation alone or struggling to manage with too many people in the house at once. I have a friend who is going through a marriage break up at the moment. I can only imagine what the atmosphere in her house is like. Another friend who has never been into ICT has no computer, tablet or smartphone and is reliant on calls from friends. Another friend has already been exposed to the virus and is in total isolation, she’s not allowed to leave the house at all for 14 days and relies on family to leave food and medicine outside her door. Fortunately she is showing no symptoms as yet. Others have loved ones elsewhere who are ill or dying and they are unable to see them. Already there are posts on Facebook from people who are struggling on their own, especially some who have only recently moved here and not yet built up a friend base. There are also people trapped on holiday and unable to get back, not just here in Spain but in other far flung places. With hotels closing where do they go?
On the whole my situation is not that bad.
I transfer to my sofa to take two more calls from friends. I’m on the phone that evening for about two hours. I may be isolated but I’m not alone. I’ve probably spoken more to my friends over the last two days than I normally would in month. These calls are 1-1 and in depth. Usually we meet together and the conversation is light. You don’t have the time or opportunity for anything more personal. Not so now, we have time. There are some definite plus sides to this quarantine.
During this time I get hungry. I haven’t eaten since that morning, but I’m doing so little I don’t need to eat much. I’m down to two meals a day. Opening the fridge I see all the fresh produce I bought the day before and the stock put there by my friend. I suffer a moment of confusion. I’m not used to having a full fridge as I usually buy as I go and I eat out a lot. The overwhelming choice is too much in my current pain induced haze and I don’t have the energy to prepare anything, so I finish off the hummus and crackers. Wouldn’t it be awful is some of the food went off during these times of stockpiling. I daren’t look at the use by dates and close the fridge door.
The cramps finish about 10pm and I do 30 more baby burpees in 3 sets of 10. Enough for the day I feel. Time to go to bed for some light reading and more sleep.