Locked down in Spain - Day #10

We are now on day #10 of lock down. Two days ago, the UK effectively got locked down but you have a great privilege, an option not allowed to us in Spain. You can go out for a walk or a jog. After 10 days locked down here I am a bit jealous. I would recommend you use it and hope that you don’t lose it because some idiots abuse it. Really, a long walk will help keep you sane. If I were to try that here I’d be chased back into the house by the police or army (or both), fined and/or gaoled. There have been over 31,000 fines so far in Spain varying between 100 & 600 euros for breaking the curfew. Yesterday someone was sentenced to four months in prison for breaking the curfew. On the news today the government are talking of increasing the fines to up to 4,000 euros and up to five years in prison.

Enjoy your long walks and jogging while you can and remember to #keepyourdistance

And when you’re not exercising #stayinside

Locked down in Spain - Day #5

(Published on 20th March)

As I write this I am currently locked down in Spain (Tenerife). The lockdown started at 08:00 on Monday 16th March and was initially to be for 15 days. That has since been extended to 30 days i.e. 15th April.

You are only allowed to leave your home to either buy food, for medical reasons or to take your dog for a short walk to ‘empty’ it.

All the restaurants, bars, gyms and non food shops apart from Chemists are closed and by Wednesday 25th April, every hotel in Spain will be closed. Imagine that, a country so reliant on tourism closing down every single hotel.

There are police and military patrolling the streets chasing people back to their homes and hotels and fining those who break the curfew. Their interpretation of minimum use of force differs from the police in the UK and are so they are enforcing the curfew robustly and with enthusiasm. Whilst the situation is being referred to as a Lockdown, I think had we been in say Venezuela the media might have referred to it as being under martial law.

Supermarkets are seeing never ending queues longer than those normally reserved for Christmas eve in the UK. The police and military are there too so as to maintain order. Only one person from the house is allowed to go to buy food. Fines of 600 euros if you break that rule.

Whilst the Police are patrolling the streets to ‘maintain order and to prevent looting etc.’ I’m told that petty crime is on the increase. It’s understandable really because Spain’s social security system doesn’t offer a safety net anything near as good as the UK and also because not everyone has money to buy food especially as so many of the population here work in tourism. To their credit the government have topped up the food banks. A bit ironic as food banks only exist because of government failures but, tactically, very clever to get food to the most needy.

We are lucky in that we have a house here and everything we need for a comfortable quarantine. I have always mocked my wife asking her if she is preparing for a nuclear winter however those cupboards full of food look like they’re going to come in handy. (She was stockpiling before it was fashionable)

I am resigned to being here for at least two months. In reality, it may be three or four months or even longer because right now, we don’t know what we’re dealing with. Whilst Mrs M. and I agree that we probably will contract the virus at some point, our objective is to delay that event as long as we possibly can by which time the health services will understand the virus so much better and will be so much wiser as to treatments and medicines etc. I was quite amused to hear someone say that they didn’t care if they contracted the virus because they were sure that they’d be in the 80% who just got a sore throat. When I asked them if they would fly if every fifth aircraft crash landed, they didn’t really have a reply. Whilst I don’t claim to be a Doctor, you certainly don’t want this virus until Boris has his 30,000 new ventilators in position so please, keep yourself safe.

Finally, for the time being, it’s business as normal. I am working from the office in the house here and our senior managers are in London running operations for the duration. If you have any security questions or concerns then please get in touch. If you need us to visit you and assuming London isn’t locked down, then we’ll do everything we can to come to you. Regardless of lock down or not, we are always at the end of the telephone to advise on security matters as necessary. 0207 118 1168.

Good luck and stay safe.

Bob Morrison