Spanish Practices - Real Life in Spain
Society & Culture:Documentary
Today Dead Man's Coat
Day Thirty four of the Spanish Lockdown, the sometimes amusing, diary of a Brit in southern Spain under the 'Alarma' - normal life has stopped.
To find out more: https://www.thesecretspain.com
Day 34 Dead man’s coat
It is day 34 of our Spanish lockdown and the day started fractious, we bickered about something or other, so I took the three good legs cat for his walk to get some space.
We are very, very lucky in that we have more than 150 square metres of terraces and even a narrow mountain garden that separates us from our neighbours.
I have a workshop down in the pool room and Chris has his gym area up behind the garage. It allows us to stay home but enjoy some space. My favourite space that I also share with the cat, is our little voice studio that sits behind the house, between the mountain and the back wall.
I have spent most of the day sticking back the acoustic tiles that were removed for the electrician when we had our building work done. Again this is not an easy process. I use contact adhesive glue to stick the tiles.. so had to source that from Amazon, but it came in about four days.
Last night I watched the YouTube channel “Doing it Ourselves” about a family who are slowly restoring the magnificent French Chateau De La Basmaignee. They are having similar challenges and now can only do work with what they have around them, making the best use of things that are in their workshop, left over wood stain, re-purposing and cutting sand paper to fit the sander.
Weirdly it has actually made their channel even more watchable, the place is extraordinary, filled with old paintings and antiques, but also many rooms are in a stately ruin. There was a bit where they had to shovel tons of pigeon shite from the attic, celebrating by raising up their cherry picker to the top of the roof and attaching the Chateau flag to the flag pole. It looked very dangerous, very good TV.
I find myself more and more vicariously living my life through others. I guess being trapped inside for most of the time I am longing to get out, go to the shops, eat at a restaurant, do all the normal social things again.
We watched Foxes Afloat, two guys on a narrowboat who are having to move to get water. The whole of the British canal system is on Lockdown and you can only move your boat for essential reasons. But their channel is, well normal, but hugely enjoyable. Colin one of the guys on the narrowboat has a natural talent for photography and his drone shots over the rolling English countryside are spectacular.
I try very hard to make the weekends different, spending less time on the internet and getting out in the garden or, today repurposing an IKEA unit for our little studio.
We learnt today that one of our colleagues from LBC had died of Motor Neurone Disease. I dearly loved Steve Butterick he was one of the most affable men I have ever met and more laid back than Dylan the rabbit in The Magic Roundabout.
He had a soft laughing face, just like Dylan too. Somehow he contrived to take the whole of Wimbledon off from work every year, he loved tennis and used to go and work for Radio Wimbledon the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club’s own radio station.
He was also one of the most frugal men I have ever met. We were once working together and he told me he had seen a carpet in pretty good nick in a skip outside some business or other. He decided to return later in the evening and retrieve it. It nearly killed him pulling out the carpet from the skip and then he had to drag it back home.. and then laid it in one of his rooms.
Another time he turned up in a very natty suit. “Where did you buy that suit?” I asked “From a charity shop.” He replied. Now this would have been the 1990’s before Charity Shops became cool.
I said it looked like a drug dealers’ suit. “Funny you should say that as I think I have found a bullet hole in it.” He was joking but there was a very suspicious hole right by the breast pocket, I would imagine the work of a moth.
Motor Neurone is a foul disease, Chris’ mum died from it, her demise was quick. It began by her having trouble swallowing food, it ended with her in a wheelchair. Mercifully she died in hospital of a heart attack.
Death and of course taxes are inevitable we hear today that the Spanish Prime Minister does not think bars or restaurants will begin operating until the end of this year. It all sounds a bit bleak again, but there is hope from the 26th April he will allow children out to exercise and play, if anything the children have shown us adults how to behave, they have stayed at home drawn rainbows, sent messages of love and support to the vulnerable, sung songs and embraced the virtual world that we now live in.
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