Spanish views from a small town

The year ends tonight. There is a palpable relief in the air, with the knowledge that the coming 2021 will be much better than the outgoing 2020, which, like a meme I recently used, seems written by Stephen King, and directed by Quentin Tarantino.  But will next year be so much better? It will definitely begin badly, at least in regards to the pandemic. In our little corner of the world, I have the feeling we will be isolated within our townships until well into the spring. It will be another lost spring. Already, Seville has cancelled its Feria de Abril, as well as its Holy Week processions. The concert we were going to go to last June was moved to this coming March. I have a sneaking suspicion that it will be pushed forward into the next winter, if not outright cancelled. This year was supposed to be a hallmark year. Twenty years already into the new century. Yes, there were the usual problems; the death knell of democracy in the U.S., the gradual dismemberment of the E.U. beginn...

Every January 1st, we watch the New Year's Day Concert from Vienna. It's become a tradition in our home to watch it as we get lunch underway. Every year, I revel in the shots from different areas in Vienna and the Austrian countryside, accompanied by beautiful music. Every year I envy those sitting in the Golden Hall. Every year, I entertain thoughts of someday visiting Vienna, and if I'm very lucky, sitting and listening to that concert. But sitting there is not that simple. First, you have to create an account with the Vienna Philharmonica, and sign up for tickets for one of three year-end concerts, between February 1st and the 28th. The three concerts are the Preview Concert, on December 30th, the New Year's Eve Concert, on the 31st, and the New Year's Day Concert. The prices are different, and are not that inaccessible. For the big concert on January 1st (the program is the same for all three), prices range from €35 to €1,200. I would imagine, however, that the ...

And now it seems just about all the western coast of Galicia is being shut down. All our peninsula of Barbanza now has to hunker down in their own township, except Noia and Lousame, that can share quarantine. Most likely, that is because, aside from having a similar rate of infection, there are extremely few services in Lousame. I don't even know if they have a largish supermarket. Today, the guidelines have been made public for New Year's Eve. They are the same as last week's for Christmas. Mobility will be allowed between townships to visit family, and curfew will be pushed back to 1:30 AM on the 31st. All this simply means that next week, for Epiphany, we'll be on even more red alert for contagion. Even with curfew, illegal parties have been busted in many places, where participants dance like it's 1999, enough to make Prince and the Revolution proud of them.  Those who set the guidelines seem to think most people are responsible, and will look out after their ow...

Right on time for the Spanish April Fool's day, Pfizer announced that they won't be able to move the next shipment of the vaccine to Spain today at the prescribed hour because of logistical problems; it'll arrive tomorrow. It sounds like a typical joke for today, but this is not the best time for an inocentada .  Today is the day of the Holy Innocents, the Santos Inocentes . It is Spain's, and Latin America's, April Fool's. No ones knows the exact reason for how a supposed massacre that is more of a legend than history, gave rise to a day of practical jokes. I have read that it is the last remnant of the Roman Saturnalia, which concerned changing around roles, and having the world topsy-turvy at the winter solstice. Also, in Spanish, the word "innocent" refers to someone who is simple-minded, and will believe any lie or story as solid truth.  So, today, the tradition is to cut out a little man out of paper, a monigote , or llufe , and stick it on some...

Today, we are beginning the vaccinations against Covid in Spain. Here, in Galicia, 500 are going to be carried out in a couple of elderly residences in Santiago. Both the residents and the personnel are first in line. The next batch to arrive will be on Tuesday, with 18,000 doses. It sounds fine, but it's much less than it should be, and vaccination will continue at a snail's pace. With a population of almost three million people here, in Galicia, those 65 and older comprise just over 24% of that number. Eighteen thousand and a half doses in the first week means that vaccination of the highest risk group, the elderly, will take a long time. Europe had the opportunity to buy more vaccines, but it didn't, so now it's a slow process that will most likely culminate at the end of summer.   At this rate, I suppose I, who am over 50, with hypertension and asthma putting me into a higher risk factor, will probably be called to receive the vaccine sometime in July, with my husba...

Christmas and its pantagruelian feasts have ended; now it's the New Year's turn next week. Having my cooking enthusiasm grow and wane at will, after organizing two special meals, my mind seems stuck and I still have little idea what to make for lunch today. Oh, well. Food we have, but I'll still go food shopping this afternoon, only I can't leave the township. Sigh. The good part is that it's sunny, even though it's cold. Tomorrow, however, a cold front will move through, and the storm, Bella, is supposed to leave us with lots of rain, high winds, and a red alert along the coast, with waves topping at ten meters. The weather for the next week is supposed to remain cold, with sun chased by cold rain showers, snow on the higher mountains, with the wind coming straight from the cold, damp Arctic. Typical winter weather. Yesterday was a peaceful, and tranquilly boring day. Yet, not boring in the sense of wishing the day to end, go to bed, and start anew the next mor...

Today is Christmas Eve. Tonight is the big dinner that should have congregated different households in one, with indigestion promised for tomorrow. The day is sunny and cold. This night will be starry and Christmas-cold. We aren't going to my in-laws. Technically, we could, because we would only be two households, and a maximum of six adults. But all the other considerations wouldn't come into play. There is no way we would eat in their dining room, spread out at the large table, with the windows open, and wearing masks except for eating. We'll eat in our own homes, in our cozy warm kitchens, and make video calls.  Our freezer and fridge are filled. The exercise in buying food was partly for the holidays, and partly to stock up on items I normally buy from supermarkets where I can't wander now. Also, as a bulwark against a possible quarantine. I would hate to importune anyone by asking them to go shopping for me. As it is, once you start stockpiling, "just in case...

As of twelve this morning, I am now on vacation. Not that it means much, except that I can spend my time as I see fit. This afternoon, I went into town to check the lottery tickets we had, and to get some special cuts of meat for the upcoming dinners and suppers. And stock up on cat food. There's no such thing as too much cat food in this house. I went first to the supermarket, which had more people than it usually has on a weekday afternoon. Still, it wasn't crowded and I had no problem finding what I was looking for, though perhaps less variety. Then, I went to the lottery, where I, and a few other people had to wait ten minutes until it opened. (Minimal luck on the tickets. At least I got some money back.) When I left, I passed by a couple of cafés that had had one or two people sitting on their terraces earlier. But, as I walked back to the car, five o'clock had passed by and they were either closed or closing.  Generally, I start to feel the excitement of Christmas aft...

Yesterday I wondered when they were going to close Rianxo. Well, last night, I got a ping on my phone. I checked the news item, and, effectively, as of midnight tonight, Rianxo is closed.  Today, I went out to Pobra do Caramiñal, to stock up on items I buy at a supermarket chain that we don't have in our township. Here, we only have an Eroski, which is smaller and has less content than the one I normally shop at in Boiro, and a Mercadona, which I decidedly dislike.  The worst aspect of being shut down isn't so much the lack of choice in shopping, but that we seem to be in a gilded cage. Yes, we can leave the house, which we couldn't in spring, but we can't leave the township. So, a drive down the coast on a Sunday is impossible. I had thought about driving somewhere into the interior during Christmas vacation, taking a lunch and staying away from people as much as possible. Not any more. We aren't shut up in the house, but we can't go anywhere. Those who like t...

The family news gets better, as my cousin is finally out of the ICU, though still in the hospital. The rest of the family is passing through Covid at home, and getting better, as well.  In the parish of Taragoña, its main square with the majority of businesses, is closed, as, at one café, a few have tested positive, and people drift from one establishment to the other. In Rianxo, in total, there have been 33 positives. The number is growing day after day. The total population of the township is just a tad over 11,000 souls. I'm wondering when they will close the township. Some European countries have cut off flights to and from the United Kingdom because of the new variant of Covid found in the area of London, which is supposedly up to 70 times more transmissable. But not Spain. Spain will rely on each passenger handing in the negative results of a PCR test. Which would be fine, except that sometimes the test is negative when the infection is recent. (And now, I see that as of tomo...

Spain has finally passed a law governing euthanasia. It has passed the lower chambers, and now moves on to the Senate, which will, most likely ratify it. Sometime in the first quarter of the next year, it should come into effect. The new law states that a person who desires it must be an adult, and conscious of his actions. If he is unconscious, or otherwise impeded, he must have left some kind of legal testament with his desires known. Being conscious, he must submit in writing his desire. Upon accepting it, the doctor must discuss the matter fully with the patient, disclosing all possible information on palliative care and diagnosis. If the patient continues with his desire, the doctor meets with the patient again, and brings in another doctor. Then, it goes to a committee, which will give the final assessment. After that, it goes back to the doctor, who meets with the patient, who will make his final decision, whether to go ahead, or not. Finally, euthanasia is applied.  Most of...

Today is a grey and misty day, as we wait for a cold front to come barreling in this afternoon and evening, leaving much water and high winds. It's a normal December day for Galicia. This weather is forecast to continue well into next week, so I doubt we will be able to see the "Christmas star" on Monday, when Jupiter and Saturn align for the first time in the night sky in 800 years. Well, at least I got to see the comet this summer.  All in all, this has been one of the warmest years, again. While we didn't have many days with extremely high temperatures, at least not here, on the coast, the colder months weren't as cold as they should have been. This fall has been quite warm, except for a couple of days at the beginning of December. How warm? Well, one of my oldest apple trees has its buds beginning to swell. That's after it already gave us blossoms in September. With every passing year, the change in climate becomes more noticeable. My husband says that dur...

Thankfully, my cousin is now conscious. Hopefully, the worst is past. But there are many out there who have been infected, and the numbers are growing. Santiago de Compostela has been shut down, again. So has the nearby small city of Ribeira, one of the places I've been doing the weekly shopping since Boiro shut down. At the rate we're going, it won't matter if our town shuts down or not; if the towns surrounding us are closed, we don't have many places we can go. Christmas is looking complicated. We had already decided to eat alone weeks ago, instead of going to my in-laws'. According to the rules, we could still go because we would be two households with a maximum of six adults. But the recommendations are to have a large table to be able to sit at least a meter and a half apart, wear masks except for when we are eating, and either eat outside or have all the windows open. Heck, no. We'll do a video call, just like we tend to do with a brother-in-law who's...

Yesterday afternoon I received a text from my cousin's daughter. He's doing a bit better, but is still in critical condition. Let's hope he can pull through. Contagion was going down throughout Spain these past couple of weeks (except in our locality), but now the numbers are starting to go skyward. Some are looking toward Germany, where schools and non-priority businesses are set to close as of tomorrow. Just in case Santiago closes again, I went to do some Christmas shopping yesterday morning and today. I had completely forgotten about it. And I have no idea what to buy the two people I love most in my life. What they need that is affordable, they already have. (What they need that has to wait for the lottery talk would be a couple of new cars, and stuff like that. And the lottery is just that: talk.) I did find a couple of things, though. If I had remembered last month, perhaps something would have been bought online. But this year, I try to buy more locally. I bought so...

Melancholy.  That is what I am feeling today. Listening to songs from the seventies on an "oldies but goodies" television program, and riffling through photos from my childhood vacations here in Spain, has put me in a teary mood. Last night I had a long phone conversation with someone in which I learned awful news. The damned devil virus has struck close. My father's only nephew, my only first cousin on his side, has contracted it, as have some of his family members. But he has been in delicate health for over a year, and this devil, this Satan demon, has put him in the ICU, intubated.  He is old enough to be my father, because his mother was thirteen years my father's senior. Yet, I never treated him as an elder, but as an equal, possibly because the word "cousin" to me meant to my childhood mind someone on my level within the family, never an elder like my parents or my aunt and uncle. His daughter is just four years younger than me. We haven't spoken ...

First of all, a correction. I said yesterday that it was St. Lucia's Day, but it wasn't. It was St. Eulalie's, and the noise bombs came from the neighboring parish, where she is the patron saint. St. Lucia is on the thirteenth, next Sunday. The saga of ex-King Juan Carlos has become a comedy that makes Spain look more and more like a banana monarchy. He has paid what he owed on the opaque credit card, almost €700,000, before the tax office even sent him a notice that he was being investigated, or so we think. It seems there might have been a notice sent, or at least an investigation begun, last month. Which would mean that payment should not end the investigation until a judge decides it. There is also a whole lot of indignation. When a regular citizen has a problem with Hacienda , he normally is tracked down, and hounded, until he pays up every last cent. The ex-King has gotten away with financial murder.   In chambers of the regional government of Madrid yesterday, to whi...

The world keeps pushing merrily along in its wild disorder, sometimes more chaotic, sometimes more harmonious. Everything changes, yet everything seems the same. There are days we seem to be standing on one leg without being able to rest. Vaccination has begun in the United Kingdom. Already, the first problems with the Pfizer vaccine have appeared. Two health care workers reacted with anaphylactic shock. They were quickly treated, and nothing happened. It turned out they both had serious allergies for which they carried Epi pens. As a consequence, those with serious allergies have been alerted not to get the Pfizer vaccine. With so many people in the world suffering from serious allergies, that is a concern. I, myself, am allergic to a number of different things, from some fruits to pollens, yet nothing serious enough to run the risk of shock. I do want to get vaccinated, so I hope no more problems arise. Hungary, instead of waiting for the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines to get the green l...

The battle over the Pazo de Meirás, in Sada, A Coruña, continues. This manor house was built by the writer Emilia Pardo Bazán. After her death, her family was tricked into selling it to a religious order, that turned around and "gave" it to General Franco, as a "present" from the local people. To fix it up, a mandatory subscription was set up, to which  everyone in the province of A Coruña had to forcibly contribute. Now, seventy years later, a judge has mandated that it was illegally given to Franco, and that it now belongs to the State as a historical site. The Francos were ordered to hand over the keys by either last week, or this week. Since they tried to fill trucks with the contents, the judge ordered them to return anything they had taken out of the manor house, because the sentence referred not only to the real estate, but also to the contents. Looking over things, it was discovered that Franco had pilfered important items from other palaces, and even the Ro...

So, this midday, after leaving lunch made, my daughter and I drove off to the local hospital for her to go to her appointment for her PCR test. At least this morning was a mostly sunny day, with an occasional cold rain shower. The problem was when the sun came out and drove the dazzling light of the wet road into my eyes. I wear prescription glasses, and my corrected sunglasses don't coincide with my vision anymore, so I go blind in the winter sun. When we arrived, there were plenty of people there, already. There weren't as many as on a normal work day (it's a holiday today), but there were plenty. It seems that over the length of the day, all the workers of the cannery have been called to get a PCR. My daughter only saw one person from the cannery that she knew, but she did see an old high school classmate. It was the nurse who swabbed her nose. I waited in the car, since there was no reason to expose myself to all those strangers. She was really in and out in less than t...

This year, I think I'm actually looking forward to Christmas. Mostly because we'll be eating at home, just the three of us, and because we aren't being bombarded by "you MUST shop!!!" since November. Aside from the Christmas goodies of turrón , marzipan, polvorones , and the like being available to chew on since the end of October, it hasn't been an overly commercial year. Even the television commercials tend to insist on messages more akin to the Christmas spirit, and some remind us that life is to be lived, even if it means partaking of the company's cold cuts, like  Campofrío's. Of course, that doesn't mean that people won't forget about the reason we're told to stay home, just to go see the pretty lights, and pop into the shops, and get together with friends, because, "I've known this person all my life, and they are not infected." Sadly, the last is not always the case. I read about a couple who would always get together ...