Tag Archives: covid-19

no feria

16 Friday Apr 2021

Posted by in coronavirus, covid, fiestas, sevilla, spain

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The Plaza San Fransicso is all dressed up with nowhere to go after the various “no Feria” activities were (thankfully) cancelled this week. Starting Saturday, and throughout the following week, there were supposed to be flamenco fashion shows along the Avenida, various outdoor concerts, private group lunches in selected Casas Palacios, and yeah, even bullfights. Which leads me to ask… what the actual fuck were these people thinking?? It’s a fair. Yes, it’s Spain’s biggest Feria and, no, we didn’t get to have one last year, and it turns out we don’t get to have one this year. But so what? Because it’s just a fucking fair.

Don’t get me wrong, I love so many of our festivities here, and have also been missing them. I’ve lived in Sevilla for almost 30 years, so these have become a part of my way of life. But I mean… PANDEMIA, guys. And so, taking into consideration those who have lost their jobs, businesses, homes – their lives! – I don’t think it’s not a huge ASK for still healthy people to just say, hey no problem, we’ll do it next year. Something to look forward to.  🙂

wall of hearts

15 Thursday Apr 2021

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You know what – goddammit – they aren’t just fucking numbers. They are people who got sick, who died. They are also people still suffering from long Covid, even if they didn’t happen to be people you personally knew. I honestly don’t understand why it has to happen to someone you know before you take this to heart. Are you that self-centred, selfish and borderline narcissistic? Whatever happened to empathy? Social conscience and responsibility?

Anyhow, we are going back into Level 3 here in Sevilla, predictably after the Save Semana Santa Shitshow that happened here a couple of weeks ago. They say the numbers are rising? Actually, the sick and dying are rising. Don’t forget that. All of those people had lives, families, loved ones. Just like you. And just because you’ve been “lucky so far” doesn’t mean you haven’t infected others. I’m so angry today I could spit. Just stay the fuck at home. Follow the rules. NOBODY needs to take a fucking holiday during a pandemic.

one down, one to go…

12 Monday Apr 2021

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So after spending all day in a total tizzy (my vaccination appointment wasn’t until 5.30 pm) I made my way to the health centre, bared my chubby arm, got the jab, and then went for a cold beer. Peter had met me there on the off chance that someone might not have shown up for their appointment and he might luck out and get his too. But it turned out that they were calling people by year of birth and he is just a couple of weeks away from his. It was actually very efficient. I was called within less than a minute of arriving, then was told to wait for 15 minutes before leaving. I waited half an hour just to be sure – I once had an anaphylactic reaction after a chemo infusion (after I got home!) and don’t ever want to experience that again.

And so that’s one down and one to go. On July 1st. Guess I should know soon enough if I am going to have any nasty side effects. So far so good… 🤞

az for az

09 Friday Apr 2021

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AZ

So I got the call this morning. My first vaccination will be on Monday and the second one on July 1st, about eleven weeks apart. Astra Zeneca, which I have to admit I’m not too happy about. According to this article there are benefits to delaying the second dose, but I still don’t understand why AZ is considered dangerous for people under 50 but fine for people 60-69 (which is the latest vaccination strategy). I’m guessing they’re experimenting because they don’t have data on over 60s yet. Anyhow, have already heard from a few Twitter pals that they, or someone they know, has had AZ and they are fine. But what if I’m one of the unlucky 1 in a 100,000?? 😬

it’s been one year…

14 Sunday Mar 2021

Posted by in coronavirus, covid, home, sevilla

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A year ago I was away on a research trip to Málaga, visiting wineries for an upcoming article in Decanter Magazine. It was just an over-nighter (March 11-12) and I packed a lot into those two days, arriving back home by train at about 10 pm, then finally getting home (taking the bus from the train station) by about 11pm. A hot shower to “wash the train off me” and then into fresh pjs, I got into bed just feeling happy to be home again.

During those two days travelling around Málaga in the Axarquía, and meeting up with many people, there was lots of kissing and close contact. And it was during this trip that I had what ended up being my LAST HUG… fuck.

Anyhow, the day after I got back, on March 13th, I went out to do some shopping and stopped in at a couple of bars for tapas and heard the first whispers that the bars were about to be shut down, like in Italy… like what? And then the following day, March 14th LOCKDOWN was officially declared. I made a last quick trip to the supermarket that afternoon to stock up on cat food (I always have plenty of toilet paper) and after that the world changed.
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