Spanish views from a small town

From having little to talk about, it seems to have gone in the opposite direction. Yesterday morning, I returned to Monte Gaiás, this time with my daughter accompanying me. I joined the very fast-moving line inside, even though I was about a half hour earlier than the time they had told me to show up. (I think they just give the appointment hours to know how many people they can fit into a day.) The buildings are a veritable maze; without a map one would easily get lost in the empty lofty spaces. We were ushered into a hall with a smaller ceiling, where there were numbered cubicles set up in the sinuous space. There, a nurse was marshalling the arrivals, telling them to come forward and wait in front of certain spots to be called into the cubicle.  I was extremely quickly called into mine. I had been sneaking fast photos all the time, and took another one here of a table with a computer, the vaccines in their syringes, papers, a yellow disposal box for the needles, disinfectant, an...

I have been rather busy these days, nor can I really sit still for long. One of the reasons is the beautiful weather which pulls me outside. Today is the first day I have worn shorts this year, and my summer slip-ons. It is neither hot nor cool, just right. The other reason is that my husband got his first shot on Wednesday morning, and I get mine tomorrow morning. Finally, after two calls to the number of the SERGAS, the Galician health service, we got our appointments. My husband's vaccine was Pfizer, and I assume mine will be, too. That means we have to return around the middle of next month, but I don't care. We will be SAFE from this devil virus. Of course, safe doesn't mean we won't absolutely get Covid, but it diminshes our chances of suffering a severe bout and possibly dying from it, or getting complications. Unfortunately, to reach the level of immunity that means not avoiding large crowds, the majority of people should get the vaccine. We know of at least thr...

This morning I went to Santiago on a couple of errands. Since I had the entire morning free, I wandered around a bit through the old town. I haven't been along those streets in a very long time, since before the pandemic struck. Some things have changed, like one of my favorite bakeries that made heavenly sandwiches, which is closed. Whether or not they return, I don't know. The building is being reformed, and looking in through the door, I could see tiles lined up on the floor, where the counter and cases had been, though the shelves were still there. Many other stores were shuttered. But most of them had merchandise in the window fronts, making me wonder if they would open in the afternoon, or if they simply hated Mondays. Or, if they were waiting for the crowds to return. Because there were no crowds. There were some tourists, sticking out from the locals. Some tourist guides were leading their groups near the seminary, and in the Praza do Obradoiro in front of the main entr...

I suppose that now we can say that Europe is inching a little bit closer to pre-pandemic times. Apart from the binge-drinking parties, and the announcements of small concerts, and multitudinous celebrations of football victories, we had Eurovision, broadcast live from Rotterdam, yesterday. Eurovision is a song contest held since 1956 by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and associated countries. The original intent had been to unify the continent (or at least the non-Communist part) through song. Eventually, it grew, and now can include countries from all over the continent, and even from Asia, northern Africa, and Australia, which seems to have been invited into the fold. Since that first year, it has been shown continuously, except last year, when the pandemic came by to say hello. While in the beginning it may have had some serious music, it has evolved into a totally kitsch program. So many countries now present an offering, that finals have had to be introduced, to keep the nu...

The plumber finally came by about a week ago and dried up the Victoria Falls in the basement. Now, I await the bill, which will probably send me into fits of crying. Next, I suppose I should save up something toward fixing the car. Eventually, at some point in time, I should also buy a new computer. It still operates with Windows 7, 32 bits (whatever the bits are). I've already had to buy an external memory because 300 gigas are not much in today's computing world. Apart from that, the connection to internet is not the best, and probably won't be resolved any time soon. Still, at some point, I should splurge a little, to make sure the new computer lasts as long as this one (more than ten years). The last time I wrote a blog post, I hammered out most of my thoughts just before lunch, thinking they would be fine with the page opened until later.  They weren't, because it turned out that nothing had been saved, and I had to type everything out at around midnight. Even so, ...

Even though contagion is going up again in our township, the open-air market today was crowded today. That means that all the cafés and bars in town are also crowded. I think we might rise in status from medium-low to high this week. Hopefully, we won't be put in lockdown next week. There have been quite a few binge-drinking get-togethers all over the country, including in our small towns, here. And people have been travelling this weekend, especially since Monday was a regional holiday. It seems that with the state of alarm gone, everyone thinks that the pandemic is over.  Last year, everyone was mentioning how refreshing it was to be able to walk around their cities and countryside without hordes of people diminishing the beauty. We've already forgotten about that. Our regional president of Galicia is hoping that, with the general lower count of contagion, and more vaccinations, that tourists will come back, again. Yet, before this pandemic struck, we were complaining about e...

Yesterday was a damp, dull, grey day, with incessant rain from morning to night. Today has some clouds and showers hanging about, but the cloud canopy is higher, with smidgens of blue, and an occasional ray of sun. Tomorrow is a regional holiday, Día das Letras Galegas, Day of Galician Literature. So, between today and tomorrow, two Sundays. Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the 15-M movement. In Spain, we have the custom to label a day to remember in the contemporary history books, with the number and the first letter of the month. So, 9/11 in the US is 11-S here. And 15-M was the 15th of May of 2011, when grassroots movements converged on Madrid. There were protests and marches across all of Spain that day, against the austerity imposed in the wake of the crisis of 2008, and the surprise camp-outs imposed themselves on dozens of Spanish cities. But the two cities where it transcended beyond a mere protest were Barcelona and, memorably, Madrid.   The protests came about ...

I ran across a post on Facebook asking which television show one used to watch with their parents as a child. I didn't answer, but it did bring up some memories. All In the Family, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Good Times, Three's Company. They are the ones that come to mind, first. These are the ones that stick in my memory over others like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, or Kojak, or The Waltons, or even MASH, Taxi, or Laverne and Shirley. They all set something off within me that made me empathize more with the characters than other shows. Archie Bunker resembled my father in his habit of sitting on the same sofa, in the same spot, with his beer and cigarette, while my mother had her chair, like Edith Bunker. I would feel the embarrassment of the Jefferson's white neighbor. Fred Sanford and Lamont's attempts to try to get a break in life made me cheer for the underdog. Florida and James in Good Times struggle in the day to day, with James having more than one job, like...

Instead of writing every day, it seems I'm slowing down and writing every two days. It's just another measure of how inured we have become to the pandemic, I think. It's become just another part of life. The national state of alarm ended this past Sunday. No more curfews, and no regions closed off, to our disgrace. Why? Because in many cities and large towns, it was as if people equaled the end of the state of alarm with the end of the pandemic. Crowds, and crowds, and crowds of young people, in general, out on the streets, all jumbled together, singing, laughing, shouting, drinking, and dancing. Scenes from Madrid, Barcelona, and even Salamanca looked like it was the local saint's day and a festivity. Fifth wave, here we come. Ayuso, who spoke so much of liberty, and keeping Madrid open, has turned her back on all the doctors, nurses, and health care workers who worked to extenuation to save every Covid patient that came (and still come) before them. Liberty to die fro...

Yesterday, we were making firewood, again. We had rented a slightly larger wood chopper, and my husband and two brothers-in-law were at the woodpile. Our daughter helped out, a bit. The final woodpile has grown some more. Just as they were about to begin after lunch, our daughter received a photo from a friend of hers, saying that a local cannery, Jealsa, in the parish of Abanqueiro, was on fire. It's right on the coast of the township of Boiro, on the shore across from Rianxo, and visible from just about anywhere on our estuary, the Ría de Arousa. In the photo, dark smoke was billowing out of a corner of a large sprawl of buildings. She went to a nearby lookout, and then I followed, admiring the cumulus clouds building behind the hills we can see from the front of our house. Today, rain was forecast, and some high clouds were beginning to appear. When I reached the lookout, the sight was apocalyptical. Those weren't cumulus clouds; they were the billows of smoke growing and pu...

We have been with this pandemic for so long, that it's taking a back seat in our daily life. We just have to make sure we leave the house with the mask, and then not crowd into places, all while we await the call to get the vaccine. Normality? It's starting to feel like this is all it is, and the past was an illusion. Daily life also consists of major and minor headaches. The fine which I paid, which someone was still demanding I pay, with interest, seems to have been resolved. I called the Hacienda office in A Coruña back again, close to the deadline. Again, they told me it wasn't in their power to cancel the debt, that that was the town hall's job, and that nothing had been done on their end. Since, when I called, it was close to midday, I went into town with all the papers I had.  Now, one has to register at the desk in the entry hall before going anywhere, because of Covid. I explained what I wanted, and the clerk told me to go to the tax office, which had relocated...

Disheartening. That is my take on the regional elections in Madrid yesterday. At best, I hoped for a tie between right and left. At worst, a similar result to the last elections. But, it's much worse.  Ciudadanos, a right of center party that was a bit of a moderator against the more extreme Partido Popular (PP) and fascist (truly) Vox, has disappeared. PSOE, the Socialist party, lost almost half the seats it had held, holding on to twenty-four. Más Madrid, a leftist party that splintered from Podemos, gained seats, and now has as many as PSOE. Unidas Podemos gained three, arriving at ten. Vox gained one, with thirteen. But the PP wound up with a whopping sixty-five, just four shy of the majority in the regional legislature. The problem is that, to become regional president again, Isabel Díaz Ayuso has to pact with Vox, who will definitely get some seats in the regional government. The next problem is that Ayuso is more radically to the right than many other members of her party, w...

We are now into the month of May, one of the finest months on the calendar. The ninth of this month is also the day the national state of alarm comes to an end. It's a funny thing. Back in October or November, when it was declared, everyone was against it. Every region wanted to keep control of how they were combatting the second wave, even though it had become a confusing mess of restrictions. Now that it's nearing the end, everyone wants either to extend it, or have something of some sort take its place. Will someone please make up their minds? In Galicia, it's not that bad, at the moment. Vaccination is about to start with the 66-69 year olds. When the vaccines first appeared, we were told that by this time of the year, those my age were supposed to have begun being called up. Or, at least those with chronic illnesses, such as me. But, no, I still have to be careful when I go out and about, and I have no idea when I'll get a jab.  The scariest thing at the moment, is...

Today is International Workers' Day. Or, Labor Day. It is celebrated in most of the world, with some notable exceptions, such as Saudi Arabia. The United States and Canada celebrate it on the first Monday of September, which is odd, because the origins of May Day celebrations were in Chicago, during the Harmarket Affair. Workers were rallying on May 4th, 1886, in support of striking workers who were demanding an eight hour day, and the last speaker was beginning to end his speech on the podium. Until then, everything had been peaceful. But the police had other ideas. They began to call to the speaker to step down, and the crowd to disperse. Some bright soul decided to throw a bomb in the advancing police officers' path. Seven officers were killed that night, and four workers. The crowd, however, fled the scene. If any of the workers present fired on the police, they didn't stick around to make sure their targets were dead. In the end, the police were given the order to stop...