Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
- Christopher Howse: 'A Pilgrim in Spain'*
The Bloody Virus
- A magic bullet, at least as regards symptoms?
- If there was one word which could be used to convey the current situation, it's "uncertainty". It more or less defines where we are because just about everyone wants a way out of the lockdown, but no-one knows precisely how to achieve is without exposing the population to more infection. Except President Fart, of course.
- In order to prevent a 2nd wave next winter: Those countries with declining incidence should start now to strengthen public health systems, as well as building capacity in hospitals, primary care and intensive care units. But to do so, of course, would be to admit that previous/existing facilities were inadequate.
- If you go for a bike ride or a jog, you can do so until the edge of your municipality - in my case a max of c. 16km - but, if you'r only going for a stroll, you're limited to 1km from your home. Which is a severe constraint in small places, such as this one. Where a special licence is required. How not to keep things simple.
- Another day, a different stat. Not 91% of folk without a mask on O Burgo bridge but 80'% wearing one. But still many people not sporting one in the city at midday. Will the government make it compulsory?
- Is there a new wealth tax in the offing, to hit both residents and foreigners with property here?
- At the other end of the scale, the virus has revealed the poor state of many apartments for less-than-rich folk in Spain.
- Walking across O Burgo bridge yesterday, I realised that there wasn't only a 2m metal fence down the middle of it but also an identical fence next to the new railings down the side we're allowed to use. Then I recalled that, the day before, I'd seen a helicopter hovering above the city. This usually means someone has jumped into the river in a suicide attempt. So, the question was posed: Are the new railings not only ugly but also dangerously low? Of course, I can't now recall if the old ones were much higher.
- Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas advises of a web page which stresses that: The history of the Spanish peninsula has been pivotal to the history of the modern world. Spain has been invaded, conquered and re-conquered more than any other country in Europe and her soil is steeped in the blood of all the western civilisations that have risen and fallen over the last ten thousand years. Here's the writer's regular blog under the same rubric.
Portugal
- Portugal and Spain: same peninsula, very different coronavirus impact. What is Portugal’s secret? Experts from both sides of the border point to several factors, including less travel between Italy and Portugal than between Italy and Spain. But above all, Portugal acted faster. More here.
The UK
The Way of the world
The USA
- Obamagate. If anyone knows what this is, could they please tell the rest of us via a comment to this blog.
Finally . . .
- I did, in fact, get a prompt reply re a new mica plate from the company down in Murcia - €4 for the product and €9 to mail it to me. But they did kindly tell me I could save the latter by going to my nearest supplier, happily in Pontevedra city. And almost on my usual walk from my car parked in Lérez.
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