While I wait for my second jab of Astrazeneca I am maintaining my STAY AS CAREFUL AS POSSIBLE stance because, well, why wouldn’t I? Gotta admit it’s hard though, and it gets tougher all the time. I miss seeing friends, and travelling, and I MISS HUGS. With things “opening up” the past couple of months I’ve still had to tell visiting friends that I can’t meet up with them, and I have also had to turn down invitations to media events for gastronomy & wine stuff and restaurant openings. Today was particularly disappointing because I’ve been looking forward to this one restaurant opening for AGES and then had to decline the invite for the big opening media dinner tomorrow. It’s even worse with friends because I worry that I am making them feel like lepers. But I just can’t.
Steeling my resolve was finding out yesterday that a friend of mine in Sevilla (40-something) has caught Covid from their partner who was working out of town… they are now both sick as dogs. Partner has had one vaccination shot. Which not only still left this person open to catching the virus but also to passing it on. Yikes.
The news about all the recent more contagious variants leaves me boggled as to why Spain is opening up to tourists who will arrive here untested and unvaccinated. Further away, Las Vegas has totally reopened, just like before, with no masks or social distancing required in their packed casinos. Meanwhile, even further away, Melbourne is tracking and tracing everyone possibly responsible for the recent outbreak of… 12 people. Fuck, we had 400 new cases just last Saturday and I doubt anyone is tracking them. There is no continuity here.
It’s basically a global shit show with some countries doing better than others. I don’t think we are doing that well in Spain, though I do appreciate the continued mask mandate. Once that’s gone we’re fucked, it will be like opening the coronavirus floodgates. Because we still need to get through not only this “experimental” summer (we’re all guinea pigs folks), but also regular flu season next winter, combined with the new Covid variants. There’s already talk of booster Covid shots next November.
I am tentatively thinking about day trips to Jerez and Cádiz in August, by train. And maybe a longer visit to my beloved Málaga in September. I haven’t been on any sort of public transit since March 2020. In Sevilla I have taken maybe 3-4 taxis for hospital appointments, always with the windows rolled down. Otherwise I walk.
Sometimes it feels like all my efforts are in vain when I see so many people flouting the rules and, generally, being selfish assholes. But I can only do as much as I can do. And so I keep doing it, no matter how many times I’m criticised for being a “Debbie Downer”. Because really, I just prefer being alive, and helping you stay alive too. xx
casa azahar 
Yes, while it is a relief to get the jabs (I had my second Pfizer on Monday with no side effects other than a sore arm) it’s no time to be complacent. The vaccination is not a cure. You can still get it and pass it on even when vexed. And if you catch it you can still be ill but are less likely to be hospitalised or die. Opening up Willy nelly seems a bit stupid to me too. But on the other hand we can’t live our lives shut away forever. It’s especially galling when you are getting older and less mobile. Plus we are not taking the level of risk that the pretty young things are…….so we are going for a walk along the beach, possibly not in July and August when it’s too crowded,we are having meals in restaurants where we feel safe and we have booked a Tio Pepe concert in August. But…we won’t be travelling on an aeroplane, going to the Uk or anywhere out of Spain (and not to Madrid, Barcelona, the Balearics or canaries anytime soon, and maybe not at all this year!
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Apologies for the typos, I hate predictive text!
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