COVID-19 TSUNAMI!!!

THE SECOND WAVE OF COVID-19 OR THE AFTERSHOCKS OF THE FIRST WAVE? Post No.23 (A 13 minute read) 

I quote myself from chapter eighteen of my first book ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN, which can be accessed with these links to Amazon.com: ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN Paperback and ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN e-book entitled SECOND WAVE OR AFTERSHOCKS OF THE FIRST?

Distressingly, the backdrop to my writing continues to be COVID-19. It is a new sensation I think for many of us. Some are fearful, some are careful and some just do not seem to have got the message as yet! You know, there is a tremendously infectious virus going all around the world right now! And just about as far as our travel plans will take us!

As our television channels have been dedicated to informing us on all the day´s updates regarding the virus, I find it so disappointing to see the behaviour of so many people. The "I am alright Jack!" attitude! Add to that, far too many mixed messages and quite frankly, our population is continuing the spread of this virus because they are being allowed to!

When it came to starting to get back to work in mid-June 2020, bars, restaurants and nightclubs, were considered top priority! That tells me so much about the Spanish people and their mentality. Whilst they can go to the beach, have a beer in a bar, eat out in a restaurant and for the younger ones, large get-togethers with their vibes, you have got most of Spain content!! Take any one of those elements out of their lives and they do feel so hard done by!!

It says so much about their whole life-style, which is based around eating, drinking, listening to music and sunbathing at the beach! What is wrong with that, maybe you ask? There is not much wrong with that, is there! It sounds like holiday material for all those who do not get the same long months of sunshine every year that southern Spain does. Throw in the cheap tobacco and alcohol and well, no one really complains!!

I think the Spanish government´s policy has ever been, give them what they want at a cheap price and that will keep them quiet! And for better or worse, it is a policy that by and large works. It is really only the educated portion of the nation, which maybe aspires to more. The average Spaniard on the other hand, is content to be able to pay their bills and the rest of their monies will be spent on the previously mentioned items.

So when we went into lockdown, the tobacco shops were of course, along with chemists and food shops, the only shops open for a full twelve weeks. There are ever two sides to every coin and whilst many millions have been without an income for twelve weeks, there are others who have not been able to SPEND for twelve weeks either!! I really could not see these as top priorities. We could go to a bar or restaurant as of mid-June, but still not the local doctor!!  End of quote.

Hello and good morning to you ALL, wherever in the world you may be reading from today. I have mentioned the interest that is coming my way and I note that someone in South Korea has given my blog a read, thank you so much and also, my birth nation of Gran Bretaña has some who have looked my way. I just need an African reader and I can then say that I have become visible in Europe, Asia, the Americas and AFRICA. So readers in Africa and Oceania, are still to look my way.

I was not born with a great deal of patience. I am working much on my patience levels even now, right this moment. I really do not like typing. It is so formal and so impersonal, that it amazes me that typing has become our modern substitute for talking. I had a call on my mobile yesterday whilst walking in the street. My caller said that they would call at a better moment. "That is ok. I can walk and talk at the same time. That presents no challenge to me at all!" Now if I had to be typing and walking, that would be a challenge! One that I would not take on. I would simply stop walking, which would annoy me straight off, sit down somewhere and type. On finishing, I would get walking again!

But I write as I talk, I use paper as ears. My words are as breadcrumbs, that I am spreading behind me, leaving my own trail for others to follow, as I cannot be digging this same groove much longer. I need to move forward and for now, I am working over old ground! Trying to do now, the preparation for releasing a book. So, doing everything the wrong way but hey! SLOW IN LEARNING, yes, I am slow to learn the man-made methods of non-speaking communication!

Following on from my quote above, just to prove my point!! Yesterday´s news report told us of our reduction of spending in food shops as the prices of all aliments steadily increase. A reporter on the ground, surveyed a cross section of the general public and found unanimously the same decision making. Yes, they were spending everless on food from supermarkets but that was so that they would not have to sacrifice their beers and bars!!!!

They will accept poor diets but will not renounce the outings to bars and restaurants!!! This viral pandemic has helped me to see actually just how shallow-minded so much of our western population really are. My own I know only too well, part of the reason that I left was their shallow-mindedness! It is what I dislike in the Spaniards too. A total lack of aspirations but that has been enforced by decades of dictatorial leadership. Let them eat, drink and be merry! Let the men have their `paid for kicks´ at local `Knocking Shops´, which are illegal but none the less, were able to stay open during our lockdown period!

AN ESSENTIAL SERVICE, they were deemed! Well, absurd or what? Social distancing and mask wearing! What was it, two metres distance from anyone? Well, how many males do you know with a two metre plus penis?? The essentials???!!! It was only a chain of COVID-19 that was traced back to a brothel, that led us as the general public, to actually discover that in all of these establishments they were still getting together and drinking alcohol and `reducing social distancing to an extreme´, as per normal!!

"IT IS OK AS LONG AS YOU KEEP THE MASKS ON AND YOUR TWO METRE DISTANCE!" It insults the mentality of those like myself! The hypocrisy is mind blowing! But these are of course, businesses and whilst the majority are working illegally, that is they and many millions more. I quote myself again from this chapter:

The news announced last night that one million and seventy-four thousand people in Spain, lost their jobs in the first quarter of the year (2020), but those added to the receivers of unemployment benefit, were just fifty-five thousand! Unemployment benefit is not available for everyone! It is only available to those who meet the criteria, which is fair enough maybe! But sadly, the reality is temporary contracts for some 60% of the population. These seem to be pre-planned to ensure that very few people are able to add up sufficient time worked over a consecutive period of time, to be able to claim any unemployment support.

There are very few by percentage, in this town where I live, who are able to work for twelve months of the year. So much for tourism and it being one of our major sources of income and employment! We are able to see here very vividly, even as we are living it, that this town without all of the extra holiday home owners and the holiday maker´s monies, we are living exclusively off all of our pensioners, both national and international, as well as the civil servants, who were of course, covered by the government´s financial help!  End of quote.

We were moving to six million unemployed, just a couple of good working months left of the summer season out of which we would all have to survive the winter, where as I could see it, we would inevitably have to lockdown again! It really was going to be a winter of discontent! We had just notched up twenty-one thousand deaths of senior citizens in our care homes. We had a quarter of a million known cases and at long last, TEST and TRACE became active.

Anyone who could, was asked to work from home. That surely must have been bliss for many. My own sister was one of the few who suffered no interruption in their working schedule beyond the omission of the journey to and from her work place each day! It has suited many, I am sure. I know that as I sit here right now, WORKING, I wonder if I would even be able to FEEL the same way if I were with other people and their noise!!

Whilst millions of us were worrying about our survival beyond the coming winter, there were just as many others who just HAD to have a holiday! I really could not believe this! We here, needed tourists to come, we did and so a testing and fourteen day quarantine was introduced for foreign travel. The COVID-19 tide was now going to be lashing our shores indefinitely, this is where we gave up the fight with COVID-19. I quote myself again:

The student collective has been home now since February and whilst schools and universities were able to organize a timetable of education from home, it is now just six weeks before the autumn term begins. There are still no clear plans for the new term! So much hangs in the balance right now. It is crucial to get this second round sized right down and very quickly! A third round going around all of our educational centres in autumn, will probably be a reality if we start term on an iffy basis! 

Ideally, we need it all wrapped up and gone from our midst before winter comes upon us and the usual multitudes go down with the common cold virus! This is indeed one of the medical professions´ great fears. These two viruses running simultaneously. How many of our vulnerable senior citizens could cope with both, I cannot know! The new year will see how many of us survive to see it! Is there any chance of that if we have got our doors open to the world to come and go as they please? We do need them to come, we do! It is just about applying common sense and rigidly following guidelines, which are to the benefit of all the general public´s health and safety!

Down here, the beggars that we are, we are just stoically going through our respective day to day, dreading mass infection in our midst but knowing that, if we do not take the risk, there will be no food for winter and certainly no heat!!  End of quote.

Sadly, it was a very lean and cold winter for me and yes, I did title a chapter `Winter of Discontent´ but that is still to come. It was the precarity of more than fifty percent of the population here that determined our actions. Poverty was rife, poverty is now pandemic! Robbery was a desperate act, robbery is now a profession! We had, far too many of us, no other option than to get out hustling again.

11TH CENTURY NORWICH CASTLE, BUILT BY THE ORDER OF KING WILLIAM THE FIRST (THE CONQUEROR OF ENGLAND)

I was happy to hear that our King Felipe VI had cut any governmental payments to his father, the disgraced former King Juan Carlos I. In times of such great poverty, lavish wealth is nothing short of insulting. King Felipe and Queen Letizia did a lot of travelling around the country at this time, which was just what was needed. I quote myself again:

Is he (King Felipe VI) beginning to get in touch with the reality of his subject´s true reality? He has been touring around each and every region of the country with Queen Letizia and they have been well received on the whole. But there is a strong republican feeling growing. We have I believe, as the citizens of a country, at least the right to question all of our institutions and get satisfactory answers. It will be the younger generations who will decide no doubt, as to whether they stay or go as institutions.

I can still see a usage for all of our Califas and their families. Though the view from the towers of the castle enables you to see for many miles around, maybe the royal domains have become larger and larger and mayhap, there is only so much that you can see from one standing view point!! So, if the Califa is really to know for himself what is really going on in his kingdom, does he not need to come down from his tower and tread on the same ground that all, or most of his subjects, tread every day, there are no towers for them?

`TO GO ABROAD´, was how it was described in times gone by. Our olden day Kings and Queens would go out on `PROGRESS´, meet all their subjects and check out all their domains. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia do well to, `GO ABROAD´, at this moment in time, because if his subjects and his nation were not in a bad way before, they sure are now and their majesties ought to see it and hear about it for themselves. It might help them do some soul searching and help guide their decisions for the future of all of us! End of quote. 

What was your situation around this time, mid-June 2020, where you live? How were your fellow country men and women behaving? Where were their priorities placed? Have you visited Spain before? What part did your Kings and Queens play (if you have them) in your country at this moment in time?

I thank you for reading my words as always. Please FEEL welcome to comment in the comment box below, I would so love to hear from you. You can also make contact by e-mail via the contact box in the right-hand panel where there is also a follow tab. Knowing that I have readers looking my way from far afield really does give me a good, positive FEEL. I would so like to hear from you ALL. 

In my next blog, I will continue with our Califas and look at the part they HAVE played already in shaping our lives and institutions. So, please check back and continue following my trains of thought. Until then, happy learning INFJs around the world!

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