RULES, RULES AND MORE RULES – A REFLECTION OF LIFE IN SPANISH LOCKDOWN

Updated: Apr 2, 2021

Rules, rules and more rules.

During the Covid-19, life in Spain is comprised of rules, regulations and procedures. These exceptional circumstances when the mere thought of catching the coronavirus either gives you the willies or frightens the life out of you depending on the news and the emotional state one finds oneself in at the time.

Lockdown in Spain began with mandatory mask-wearing, rubber gloves and a draconian police force handing out fines like a parent offering jelly babies to children at a birthday party. Self-isolation except to buy those precious loo rolls at the supermarket enforced the Spanish to hide themselves away and take up those long-cherished hobbies, work from home or make up ridiculous pastimes (the videos of which have been sent to well-known TV programmes like the Spanish equivalent of "You've been Framed"). The Covid-19 has brought a shock to the Spanish who are known to be very tactile and family-orientated. No mandatory two-kiss greetings, no weekly family lunch affairs, no regular visits to the hairdresser, no get-togethers in bars or restaurants (known to be embedded in their DNA according to one Spanish journalist!). With their personal space being half the size of other northern Europeans (Spaniards generally keep about half a metre of personal space from one another), the two-metre rule has been hard to adjust to.

Stage one entailed more regulations enforced on the population. Police patrolled the roads, stopping cars from leaving small towns unless these people travel with authorisation. Specific times of the day to leave the home were allocated to dog walkers, children allowed out with only one parent, those between 15 and 65, and OAPs (Old Age Pensioners). Mums and dads fighting to take out their only child, dog walkers taking their ‘cherished’ pet out umpteen times a day so that each family member can leave the house and teenagers missing their slot of between 6 am-10 am (normally due to late lie-ins) then surprising mums by offering to do some food shopping in order to meet their friends in the supermarkets!

Many children (and I suspect many a parent too) have missed attending school: the social side of getting together with friends, the teachers’ (highly verbal) motivation for them to get on with school work, school lunches, especially for those who have been forced into poverty where government money has been slow to arrive or being laid off has been the consequence of this formidable bug that has brought the world to a halt!

Different parts of the country have entered into Stage Two. But not everywhere! What does this mean? Life is a bit freer insofar as nearly everyone can go back to work (if one of the lucky ones) but to travel into different regions for social occasions is not allowed. Those who live inland, but not far from the coast or mountains, cannot cross health care regions, to venture off to the mountains for a long-awaited trek or soak up the sunshine on the allotted sections of beach. Visiting shopping centres in other regions that are in Stage One has been vetoed and visiting remote family members is out of the question.

Life has been physically and mentally difficult during these last three months. For many, it has been emotionally, physically and psychically demanding but for others it has been a therapeutic time of review. A mentally and/or physical clearing out of the unwanted. A period of rethink, downsize, and appreciation of people, moments and momentos that have been important in our lives.

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