The Covid-19 virus has caused world-wide suffering, not seen in peacetime, a time that was not foreseen by most. Since March 2020 we have lived in Alicante until now mid 2021. This is a kind of a journal, a record of this time and some of my reflections.
Since March 2020, mask wearing outside and inside public places, social distancing is the law, and sanitising one’s hands has been the norm, and there has been varying restrictions that have changed depending on the infection rate. Examples that included: no travel outside cities, no household mixing, pubs and restaurants were closed, non essential shops closed at 6 pm, curfews and only 2 people are allowed to socialise.
26 February 2020, Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, with the numbers of Italians known to be infected by coronavirus tripling every 48 hours, appealed to fellow EU member states for help. His hospitals were overwhelmed. Italian doctors and nurses had run out of the masks, gloves and aprons they needed to keep themselves safe. The distress call was met with silence. EU leaders have been asked fundamental questions about the purpose of the European project when states failed to come to each other’s aid. Increasingly desperate health ministers had been unable to convince their heads of government and finance ministries of the scale of what was coming and the imperative to act. Governments belatedly rushed into uncoordinated acts of protectionism. EU institutions and agencies failed to coordinate a response. The glacial speed of Brussels’ bureaucracy demonstrated the inadequate response to the crisis. In February 2021, the President of the EU admitted that their rollout of the vaccine across the EU could have been better organised.
3 March 2020, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, announced that he was requisitioning “all stocks and the production of protective masks”. The next day, the German government banned the export of PPE. A total of 15 member states placed restrictions on the movement of equipment or drugs within the EU during the outbreak. European countries were in full-blown crisis mode and individually acted to impose restrictions on the export of key medical supplies to neighbours. Leaders stressed the importance of European unity, yet within days Germany unilaterally closed its borders, bringing the continent to a halt. There had been 50km traffic queues on the German-Polish border. The divisions of old Europe appeared to be back.
Mid-March 2020, Alicante. We are in lockdown. The world had stopped. Governments have mostly adopted similar policies, in mostly the same sequence, at mostly the same time - at this time. There is a fear of an uncontrollable pandemic.
Prime Minister Sanchez of Spain referring to lockdown, “I know that is a drastic measure... but experts agree that it is an effective measure in the fight against coronavirus,” he added it is the most difficult time since the 1936-39 civil war, and he had warned that the outbreak would worsen, “We must prepare ourselves emotionally and psychologically for very hard days ahead.” We all fear the worst. Forty-seven million Spaniards are told to stay at home unless they had a specific reason to go out. Fines start at €100. In addition, the military have begun patrolling the streets of some cities, identifying areas that need disinfection. Only necessary trips to the supermarket or the doctor are allowed and the streets were empty.
Cities have become ghost towns. When I walk to the supermarket during lockdown, always keeping an eye for any police enforcement, with my shopping bags hung high over my shoulder, the streets have an unpleasant eerie feeling. Only a few dog walkers ramble on those food excursions. This is our slight pleasure in our daily containment. My wife goes to our local supermarket. I shopped in a different one, just for an outing, two blocks away. Police had stopped friends to check their presence on the street. They had asked if they were going to their nearest supermarket.
Lockdowness and social distancing have killed musician’s livelihood. This was my way of life here, evenings listening and talking to musicians. The TV channel Euro News showed three German musicians; who had to go on benefits during the pandemic, a violinist, a children’s entertainer and a backing musician for well known groups. Many in the musician’s world, give as good a show to six people as they would do for thousands. Bud they have egos too. They have the showbiz attitude, the show must go on. It’s called professionalism, I feel sorry for them. There is nothing like live performance and the atmosphere that live music creates. That strange alchemy that brings people from passive observation to often wild abandon can only happen in the setting of live music. The room is transformed. Theatre, cinema, all can happen even under miserable social distancing. But a pub gig is the antithesis of it - its aim is to bring all together. Pubs, even Irish themed pubs try to carry the craic with them. Listening to music in pubs or small groups is mood enhancing, a few Guinness helps. Later, the camaraderie, the singing, the dancing with friends and strangers, the freedom, and the joy. Music, perhaps is engrained in me, live music especially. I read somewhere that a gathering without music is just a dull networking event. So true. I hope the powers that be recognise the importance of the music industry in keeping the world turning, being happy and not just for the tourists or those on special nights out. It was difficult enough before Covid, I am sure they will be able to share their talents again
October 1918, Alicante - the Spanish flu, the great pandemic of the early 20th century killed more than 50 million people around the world. The wrongly named Spanish Flu, originated in the American military. Cities throughout Spain were overwhelmed. One of the most affected areas was The Mediterranean areas and in Alicante, the mayor, Antonio Bono Luque, was forced to request help from the civil governor, José María Caballero. He needed money to buy medical supplies, disinfection material and build a new cemetery. He proposed to demolish and evict parts of the three poorest neighbourhoods of the city, “where more deaths have occurred and do occur is in those parts of the city where hygiene is least practiced.” The focus was in the foothills of the Castle Santa Bárbara, a place I know well, in which people had lived in overcrowding and misery. It was the neighbourhood of Las Provincias, a group of precarious houses located on the slope of Mount Benacantil, below Castle Santa Bárbara, that was the nucleus of the city. Las Provincias is gone, Carmen and the Arrabal Roig neighbourhoods still exist but were the main sources of influenza disease. Interestingly, Cafe Heladeria, in Arrabal Roig, that overlooks the Mediterranean has been our regular venue for coffee or a beer, and where I have written most of this book. Buy the books here
For six weeks 15 March to 1 May 2020, our only lockdown, was followed by restrictions, so April was a cruel month. In 1918, T S Eliot wrote The Waste Land and then published it in 1922 when the world had been recovering from the Spanish flu. It’s a poem about a world turned upside down - by war and a pandemic. March 2020 was our cruellest month when the world shut down. No doubt someone will pen another poem to reflect our times. April is the cruellest month, breeding/Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing/Memory and desire, stirring/Dull roots with spring rain.
2020/21, Mother Earth, has benefited from the lack of pollution during this global downturn. Rivers are cleaner, birds and fish are returning to their natural habitat. “We have lost touch with nature rather foolishly as we are a part of it, not outside it. This will in time be over and then what? What have we learned? I am 83 years old, I will die. The cause of death is birth,” exclaims David Hockney, the famous painter. Indeed what have we learned from the latest chaos? Rats are moving as their normal source of food has disappeared but experts feel they should self control through cannibalism!
1 June 2021, 11.20am was the time my wife and I were vaccinated with AstraZeneca. We are in Alicante because getting back to Australia presents many problems. The flights are expensive and likely to be changed by the commercial airlines and their capacity have been greatly reduced because of the pandemic. 12 hours after the jab, we got flu-like symptoms. It was horrible, we were disorientated and could barely sleep or walk. Bed was our only solace. After 36 hours in bed we felt recovered enough to rise, make dinner and watch TV. A few days later, we managed to enjoy a drink in our local, with friends. That night both of us had cramps in the calf, on the side of our jabs. I jumped out of bed, Rosemary’s cramps were not so bad. The ache lasted for days. It took over a week for me to be clear of the side-effects. 24 August is our next vaccination. We will likely wait until then before we attempt to return to Australia. So the reason the Spanish government is vaccinating us is because our country of citizenship advises to stay here. We are stranded Australians, stranded Irish Australians. Buy the books here
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© Hugh Vaughan 2023