Spanish views from a small town

Niñatos . That is a Spanish term that, in one word, serves to describe privileged kids who have no sense of responsibility, and are selfish as hell. That word describes a great deal of the teenagers that went on end-of-school trips to Palma de Mallorca, where they cavorted to their hearts' content, and are now disseminating new cases of Covid all over the country. There are a few that realize they are responsible for their actions, but just a few. One, a Galician, interviewed by La Voz de Galicia, declared that they had been at fault for attending a macro concert in Palma's bull ring, and various other parties, knowing that the pandemic is still there. Unfortunately, those don't get much air time. The ones that do, are the ones that are angry that their trip has been interrupted. Over two hundred have been confined by the Govern Balear to a four star hotel on the city's ocean front. Of those, about sixty-two had tested positive by yesterday. These children and their par...

Almost a month ago, I subtitled my blog with Final Stretch , because it seemed we were in the final stretch of the pandemic; people were being vaccinated left and right, the number of contagion was falling steeply. The brakes just got pulled. The Delta variant, highly contagious, is starting to gain on the British variant, which was already more contagious than the original. Only those who have been vaccinated with their two shots are more likely to stave off Delta, the rest can easily get sick. And, thanks to end of school trips to Mallorca, around a thousand cases have been detected almost all over Spain among teenagers who let their hair down at the offered macro parties. Worse, still, it's not just the teenagers in some cases, but their parents and other family members, as well. Common sense, sentidiño as we say here, is brilliant in its absence.  Despite this, Spain has gone ahead with its new rules on masks. But, it turns out that the new rules are the ones I already abided ...

I am so out of it. I am tired . I got my second shot yesterday morning. I was fine all day, with only minor aching in my arm. But then, around evening, I got extremely tired. My body ached. I had a small headache. I took a paracetamol, and I got a bit better. But then, during the night, I was cold, couldn't sleep well because of that, and awoke with a low-grade fever and general achyness. Now, I'm a bit better, with another paracetamol. Hopefully, by tomorrow, I'll be my normal self. It's been busy for me since I finished classes last Tuesday. The car was in the garage Wednesday and Thursday, having the clutch fixed. Wednesday night, Midsummer, we had our own little bonfire to jump over and keep witches away. Friday, I went on one of my road trips, the first since last June, and yesterday I got my second shot and got zonked out. My road trip had been up in the air. I had been intending to go down to Porto, where I haven't been in at least two or three years. But, in...

When I was sixteen, I started working after school practically across the street from my high school, at Harvard Medical School. I was a type of office and research lab help in the Department of Physiology. I ran errands, washed glassware, and typed information into computer programs. Eventually, I drifted to the department's main office, where I entered invoices into Harvard's computer system, and did all types of office grunt work.  There were two secretaries in the office, Robin and Margaret. Both were nice, though perhaps Robin, more so. The department administrator, to whom we all responded, had her office right next to the main office, and her name was Denise Zakher. From the first, we hit it off. Margaret, the less imaginative secretary, couldn't understand how I could joke so freely with Denise. The administrator was a serious person, who did her job meticulously and got what she expected from people. At times, she could be intimidating. But I noticed a glint in her...

It's official! As of next Saturday, no masks will be required outside in all of Spain. We'll still be obliged to wear them inside, in public spaces, and we are told to not get very close together, but we don't have to wear those stifling pieces of paper or cloth in the hot summer sun! So, on the day when I go for my second shot, I can go without that bothersome mask, just pop it on when I get inside. My husband got his second shot last week; according to the studies, he should reach full immunity by this week. I'm getting mine next Saturday, so I should reach my full immunity by the middle of July. Oh, how heavenly not to have to worry that we might end up on a respirator if we get ill!  The studies also show that, while vaccinated people can still transmit the virus if they are infected by it, and are asymptomatic, they don't transmit as much viral load as someone who is unvaccinated. That helps explain why contagion is going down as vaccinations are going up, desp...