Thanks for the post , Spain, especially Madrid, is a huge mess, almost every day new regulations, power struggle between Madrid and Central government who probably care more abt the show of power than public health. Very stressful, before yesterday we couldn t go out from our district ( very recent rule imposed by the Central gov to replace Madrid imposed restrictions), yesterday we could again after a tribunal cancelled those rules, than today we cannot again because of teh state of emergency , which will need to go through a thorny parliament approval but only for renewal, after 2 weeks afaik. At one of the gyms I go, within 500m, or at a simple inner city crossroad down the street, there are 3 different zones with different restrictions. So far very little enforcement but the Central gov has planned to put 7000extra police on Madrid today to enforce especially that s the beginning of a long week end. Let s see how it goes. Of course this kind of very instable and fundamental freedom grabbing situation takes a toll on people mental health, so much energy wasted on trying to keep up with the rules here ( and find options to break them more or less legally) while trying to keep up with basic needs ( for us kids education, some social life especially for the kids, and sports, but for many the financial issues are very serious) Crazy how things change fast, from my post last night, the maid I had back then is out if the house( i got stressed and it got difficult for her, she s quite possibly in a dire situation right now as she came back to Madrid for that job, the city is confined and she has neither an adress here nor residence permit, lota of illegals in the city though. I prefer live out maids but restrictions make going around more complicated for them), our neighbours at last tested negative and the kids managed after their 3 weeks confinement to play together after school ( those kids were obviously very excited) than we had to break new rules to leave our district)m to the gym, besides we had a fairly heavy sparring session and walking might be tough tomorrow, but that was the best time of the day. Waiting to see suicide rates, have seen first hand a lady climbing on top of a 4th storey ledge during quarantine and that same neighbour s wife, who had a hard time during lockdown and left her family for a while ( so did my wife) seems to have had at least 3 girlfriends slit their wrists. No death though from what I understood. Heard abt a couple of lockdown suicides which worked though. Have more friends who went through a separation yet the divorces after quarantine dropped very substancially in Spain, so not exactly clear what s going on, around me there are several separations but no divorce either. According to spanish psychiatrists youth and women were the hardest hit psychologically. Ugly period for sure, but what I haven t heard of is relatively healthy people dying from covid.
About city folks complaining most it makes sense. We spent the strick lockdown in a nice apartment( penthouse) in a suburban residence where the large gardens had been kept open, most residences had closed the common areas, we managed as well to get a private coach to come 5 to 6 times a week during most of the quaratine ( not allowed but I could have justified the visit for other reasons ) , most people especially those living downtown , usually in typically cramped and noisy spanish apartments seem to have had a significantly tougher time - i found it atrocious and unfounded anyway. People were so scared at that time that most seemed to support the stay at home order, but a recent survey showed 70% of spaniards not wanting this anymore, probably more than that in Madrid. Problem is it s quite possible a majority of non Madrid resident spaniards are fine with a new stay at home order in Madrid...
Yup sure. Thanks for the .. ignorance. No shortage of that these days. I'd say it was fun chatting but, then I would be doing what our President does every time his lips are moving, lying. This topic is too important for me to continue with this pointless conversation. Have fun talking to others about it because I am done with you.
Yes, that"s so disapointing, I m gonna miss ur intelligent input, never mind it was mostly regurgiting front page attention grabbing and panic inducing news.
Another tragic covid casualty in the news, a 103 y o lady with previous illnesses. A bright future destroyed by this nasty dis3ase. Hopefully we can lockdown the world until this existential threat to humanity is eradicated. Interesting though how medias do focus on some very old victims here, the message is changing slowly. They did mention the first kid to die with covid recently in some Spanish province, felt obliged to mention he was suffering serious health issues before catching covid and might not have died of covid directly. It came out he didn t even covid when he died... Kids should worry less of covid than flu.
We humans just can't seem to get our shit together. Government decision makers are worse. I have no problem with Federal, State, Municipal or Business mandates for masks and distancing but preventing people from going outside is draconian. Nobody has common sense anymore. I live on the beach and the first thing I noticed when the lockdown started was how many more people were coming to the beach. I assumed it was their way of keeping cabin fever at bay. Good for them I thought, nobody is going to catch Covid sitting on the beach or walking their dog. Being outside in nature may not compensate for lost wages but it certainly will keep morale up if financial stress or kids at home are an issue. On a somewhat related note, I have started to look for deals on small boutique hotels with some land in France that I could convert to apartments and share with friends. Covid19 has killed quite a few. I'd do it in Andorra but I'm not as wealthy as you or Sig.