Category Archives: coronavirus

mini co2 detector

01 Wednesday Apr 2026

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Yeah I know I’m (quite) late to the party on this, but I just got this cute mini CO2 detector. Because as much as I try to be careful about sitting next to open doors or windows when I’m out in bars, etc, it’s not always possible, especially when I’m working. Anyhow, this little guy will clip onto my kipling bag and at a glance I’ll be able to see, well, if I should actually be there. Again, not super helpful if I’m in the middle of a sherry tasting, but in other circumstances I would be able to just get up and leave.

Meanwhile, masking for me has now been extended (or re-extended) to include supermarkets and pharmacies. I don’t know why I let those slide. Possibly because my neighbourhood farmacía always has the door open and I’m seldom in there more than five minutes. And I am never at the supermarket when it’s super busy, but it’s another public place that hundreds of people pass through daily and we all know that aerosols linger for hours after they’ve gone. So now they are back to being included along with any public transport (taxis, buses, trains, planes), crowded public places like airports, train & bus stations, and any sort of hospital or health care centre. And that’s easy because I always carry a couple of masks in my bag.

But can I tell you? I actually hate it. Wearing a mask triggers all kinds of shit for me, feeling restricted or claustrophobic, not able to breathe, all that. The last time I was on a 5-hour train ride to Barcelona I got hit with quite a panic attack because of the mask that I COULDN’T TAKE OFF. But I sucked it up because in the end it’s a minor inconvenience, all things considered. And because I am not just protecting myself… I am protecting you too.

I still require that anyone signing up for my food tours and sherry tastings be up to date on their Covid boosters. I mean, it’s just another layer of protection, because if the people I’ll be sitting across from for 2-3 hours at least cared enough to get boosted maybe they also wore masks on their flight over. The other day someone wrote back saying they assumed this was a “leftover message” from the Covid era as it was no longer applicable today. The Covid Era. Like it’s something from the past. Honestly, sometimes I despair.

So far I’ve been lucky that I’ve “only” had Covid once, well that I know of, in October 2022. Though it is possible that the “cold” I picked up in March 2020 was Covid, but of course there were no tests available then.  Meanwhile flatmate Peter has had it twice, but we never caught it from each other while infected because we wore masks at home, stayed away from each other as much as possible and kept the windows open. Also… WE STAYED HOME. For at least ten days, or until we got two negative test results in a row.

For some time there has been a hepa filter in the living room at Casa Azahar and more recently a baby hepa in each of our bedrooms. There are a stack of Covid-Flu tests on the living room bookshelf, plus boxes of both surgical and N95 masks in the hallway. Nothing is perfect, nor does it have to be. Whatever mitigations you take, it will all help. Mine are to wear a mask in the aforementioned situations, test when I am sick (3-4 times at least) and stay home until I am sure I won’t be infecting others. This does not impact my life in any serious way other than to keep me aware that we still need to be looking out for each other. A few minor inconveniences, yes. But you know what? I think you guys are worth it. xx

delusional december

09 Tuesday Dec 2025

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Here we are once again, heading into year 6 of the COVID pandemic and people are still in fucking denial. Even people I know here who have always seemed reasonably reasonable are not only NOT getting their Covid-Flu boosters (although they have been available to everyone in Andalucía for the past couple of weeks) they are also NOT GETTING THEIR KIDS BOOSTED.

I think the greatest trick the Devil every pulled was when they told us early on in the pandemic that KIDS ARE NOT AFFECTED and somehow people chose to believe this. When even the least scientifically-minded person must have wondered… how would that even be possible? Why are kids magically exempt from viral contagion? Well, because they weren’t that’s why. Just like they’re not now. Yet even more than adults they are shoved into crowded social situations every day without any protection or proper ventilation and parents are somehow aghast when their little darlings comes home with yet another “bug” while they also suffer from a litany of symptoms that leave them almost constantly feeling “under the weather”. But god forbid anyone should mention the C-WORD.

Peter has just got over his second “bug” in two months. In October it turned out to be Flu A, this time it apparently was just a cold (he tested negative for Covid-Flu several times over ten days). But he stayed home and wore a mask. We also bought a small hepa filter for his room as it was too cold to open the windows for fresh air. And I think thanks to those precautions I didn’t catch either “bug”.

Which brings me back to… why the fuck won’t people take any precautions at all?? For starters, get vaccinated and keep up to date on your boosters. Wear a mask in crowded situations, especially on public transport. Stay home when you’re sick. If everyone did just those three simple things there would be so much less airborne illness. But people seem intent on pretending we are back to “normal” despite what is right in front of their faces. In short, people are inherently selfish.

[A note: I was reminded by my friend Sharon that one of the worst offenders are health care workers who are not wearing masks in spite of what they should have learned during the worst of times in 2020-2021. Bad enough that patients don’t mask up, but doctors in cancer wards, for example? No excuse.]

Because although Covid-19 is airborne and often presents as a respiratory illness, it is in fact a cardiovascular disease that affects the entire body, ageing blood vessels while destroying immune systems, increasing inflammation and leading to all manner of short and long term complications. IT IS NOT A COLD. And it isn’t seasonal like Flu, which is bad enough (and also isn’t a cold). What’s so frustrating is that we have the tools to help, if not eliminate, significantly reduce transmission. Except nobody cares. There’s no social conscience or sense of civic responsibility any more. Was there ever?

I sit here looking at everyone out there almost frantic in their need to spend and consume, with one obvious example being the over tourism explosion. Investing more and more into the most fragile of economies while destroying the cultures it requires to exist. I mean, just pull one thread and it instantly unravels, and then it’s gone, as we found out in March 2020. And it’s going to happen again.

Anyhoodle… I’m pushing 70 and probably won’t be around when the worst of it happens. At least I hope I’m not. So why then do I care so much? I can’t help it. In spite of all my cranky complaining I still love this world with all my heart. I even love some of the people  😉 Because the best of you are simply awe-inspiring and admirable in your empathy and courage, your talent, your energy and generosity… and so you inspire me to keep getting out of bed and caring. Please don’t ever stop.

The rest of you… either get vaxxed, wear a fucking mask and stay home when you’re sick or fuck off.

five years of covid

14 Friday Mar 2025

Posted by in coronavirus, covid, health, hope

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It’s still so vivid for me. I’d just come home from a Decanter research trip to the Axarquía visiting Bodegas Dimobe, Viñedos Verticales and Bentomiz (where I spent the night) and the next day after lunch I went to Capuchinas Viejas. After which Susana drove me to the Santa Ana train station just outside Antequera and I got home about 9 pm on March 12th, 2020.

Of course I’d already been hearing “rumours” about the schools closing here because of what had been happening in Italy, then shops and restaurants were also mentioned, so the next day I popped over to Casa Morales to ask my family what was going on. And they had no idea. This was Friday. And then on Saturday March 14th everything shut down. Bang. Just like that. And life changed forever.

It started off being a bit surreal and we somehow had the notion that this would all be over in a few weeks, so people hunkered down and stayed home. Now in Spain we had a more rigid lockdown than most other countries. We were only allowed out of our homes (one person at a time) to go either to the supermarket or the pharmacy. And if you had a dog you were allowed 20 minutes but had to stay close to home. Otherwise we stayed home. For close to two months. During that time a few more shops and services were deemed “essential” and we all started wearing masks.

This was also when some bars and restaurants (I think my friends at La Azotea were the first) began offering take-away and delivery options.

I took to doing daily walks on my rooftop, with my music plugged in, going round and round like a hamster in a wheel, just to get a bit of fresh air, sunshine and exercise. I was lucky because it was just me and my downstairs neighbour Encarni (Peter was living elsewhere at the time, thank god) so it was allowed. It was prohibited to socialise on rooftops if you lived in a multi-dwelling building.

Then we were allowed to go out for walks, but without straying more than one kilometer from our homes. And you had to wear a mask. Walking times were assigned by age. By now it was May and already getting hot so elderly people were given the early morning cooler times, then other age groups at different times. Shortly after that bars and restaurants were allowed to open but only at 30% capacity. Memory is a bit fuzzy about this, but I think by mid-June most bars and restaurants were operating almost normally, especially if they had a terraza. Though vaccines were still many months away and it would be a year before everyone had their two required shots.

Of course much has changed since then, but sometimes I am almost nostalgic for those lockdown days. Obviously not for the death, fear and uncertainty because those were terrible dark times for many of us. But for a while it was almost like we all cared about each other and there was a glimmer of hope that we would come out of this crisis stronger and with a renewed sense of community and social responsibility. Instead… well, you can see for yourselves what’s happening. But dammit we were so close, or so I like to think. We missed our moment to shine. Fuck.

Oh, and COVID is not over. But you already knew that, right?

plague doctors

24 Friday Jan 2025

Posted by in coronavirus, covid, health, hospitals, sevilla, spain

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The Plague Doctors of the middle ages put themselves at great personal risk to carry out their duties, much like any doctor would today. Oh wait, let me revise that. Much like doctors did during the first two years of the pandemic. These days doctors are more likely to be carrying plague (well, Covid) and are not taking any precautions in order to not pass it on to their co-workers or their patients.

Today Peter and I went to the Centro de Salud to make appointments for blood tests and I thought I would pop in to their drop-in emergency room and have someone take a look at my throat. Ever since I got that killer sore throat more than a month ago, which evolved into a big mucousy mess of a “cold” including a non-stop runny nose and chesty cough, well it’s never quite gone away. It’s more like it ebbs and flows, with some days feeling normal and then WHAM it’s back again. But each time it comes back with slightly different symptoms. Lately I’ve noticed a somewhat disturbing pain just above my clavicle on the right side of my oesophagus that I thought should at least be mentioned to a doctor. Since this “cold” first arrived I reckon I’ve done at least eight Covid/FluAB/RSV tests and so it kind of points to a possible bacterial infection.

Anyhow, after a short bus ride from hell crowded with unmasked people coughing and hacking all over the place we arrived at the Centro to find… the exact same scenario. I’d read about health centres and emergency rooms here being overwhelmed by “respiratory illness” patients and so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. But I was completely dismayed that NOBODY was wearing a mask. So the last thing I wanted to do was remove my mask in a small unventilated examination room with an unmasked doctor getting up close and personal to have a look down my gullet.

And so after making the blood test appointments (Feb 3) I decided to hold off and maybe try to see a doctor then if my symptoms are still a concern. But I mean… idiot selfish asshole people coughing all over everyone and not bothering to SIMPLY PUT ON A MASK is one thing, but oughtta-know-better professional health care workers doing the same… is unconscionable, to put it mildly. I honestly don’t know how they justify their behaviour when they are clearly putting their patients and co-workers at risk. THEY should be the ones setting an example but it’s like we’re living in the upside-down now.

For my food tours and wine tastings I require that people be fully vaccinated with the most recent Covid booster. Today a potential client (63 years old) told me that he and his wife went to get their flu and RSV shots a couple of months ago but – AT THEIR DOCTOR’S RECOMMENDATION – they did not take the Covid booster option. Wtf…

People always say that the medieval Plague Doctors looked scary… I say the present day ones are far scarier. Because they have the science to know better but choose to ignore it. And they don’t seem to care who dies or is disabled as a result. Shame on them.