Falling Back 37 & 38. From Curfew to Electronic Everything.

Last night I was absolutely knackered, and had no will to write or think. This morning my thought process seemed to have recovered. Enough, at least, to realize I am using a hybrid of American and British English; that to say "very tired," I resort to the British word "knackered," and don't even remember what I would have said back in Boston. I suppose it's a result of teaching British English.

Things are getting darker as we head into the shadows of fall and winter. The minister of health won't rule out a curfew, such as France, Belgium, and Italy are implementing. Our region of Galicia, with less contagion than others, has been declared in Phase Two, which means limiting gatherings to five people, less capacity in public places, such as stores, restaurants, and cafés, and a maximum of ten mourners inside a funeral home or church, with a maximum of fifteen others waiting outside. Weddings are also cut to the bone, though I assume most of them have been postponed for this year.

In some areas, such as Santiago, the measures are tougher. No one is allowed to meet with anyone they are not living with, except in schools and workplaces. My daughter went yesterday, and had lunch with some friends at their apartment. I think they were four, in total. If she had gone tomorrow, which is when these measures take effect, she wouldn't have been able to do so. 

This second wave is growing, though in our township it seems to have gone down at the moment. From a total of 27 or 33 (I forget which), it's gone down to one, who is about to join the number of cured during the week. In today's mobile society, though, it doesn't matter much. Someone living here, but working in Ribeira or Santiago can easily pick up the devil virus during their workday and bring it home. Another lockdown might do the trick, but I doubt we'll return to one. It causes too much economic damage. As if the legion of infected and sick don't do that, too.

Speaking of economics, this month I've been trying to add our daughter to at least one of the car insurances we have. Since she's a new driver, it's highway robbery everywhere you look. It's also obligatory. My insurance agent has sent me by email a questionnaire I have to fill out on her, and sign with an electronic signature of a number sent to my phone. Last night, I tried to fill it out, and kept getting an error message. Fine. I left it for this morning. After breakfast, I filled it out, and finally got it approved. The number was sent to my phone, I filled it in, and the computer program declared success. An hour later, my agent called to say I hadn't put in the special number. I explained that I had, and he checked and said he would get the program to send me another one, and that I just had to send it to him by message. A little later, he said he kept getting an error message, and that he would let me know as soon as it was fixed.

And that just goes to cement my belief in the power of paper and pen. Everything is being shifted online, and that shift is progressing even faster thanks to the pandemic, and attempts to limit physical contact. When it works as it's supposed to do, it's fine. But when there's a glitch of any kind, it's not a question of typing up another copy, or making a photocopy. It's a question of being a computer programmer. I am not a computer programmer, and neither are most people I know, including my insurance agent. The next time I'll simply ask if I can't just drive in and sign a paper with a pen. It'll probably be faster and easier.

Life continues.