To talk to you about life in Spain right now

[Changednamesorry]

In case UK follows many other countries and tightens the rules, I made a post about what it's like here in Spain.

A few things worth buying. Vitamin D for kids in case you are not allowed to take them out from next week, especially if you have no outside space. Craft materials (these are now very scarce here as supermarkets have had to close that section if they had it to discourage browsing). Disney Plus for movie nights. Microwave popcorn!

I live in Spain. We have an apartment in the city centre and no outside space at all. I am separated from my son's father but we chose for him to move in just before the lockdown as we saw it coming in the news and wanted to ensure the kids were not separated from him for months on end. We get on very well, I appreciate this is not an option for everyone. We also have a flatmate who is a lovely 27 year old Portuguese guy. So we are 3 adults and 2 kids in 115 square metres of space..... And that's better than some of our friends who live in 60 or 70 square metre apartments. Spanish children have not been outside for 3 weeks. My sons are 9 and 3 and normally active boys doing lots of sports and we are normally out of the house every day between 8am and 8:30pm. That has all changed. Schools are fully closed and have been since 13th March, no exceptions.

1. How are people coping with kids?

Varying levels of coping, of course. Here with the little one I bake, do drawing, dance, play football inside etc. For the older one I made little bags. One has basketball drills (his favorite sport) which he does 2 a day. One has exercise sets (I will post an example), one has different amounts of screen time and one has activities linked to school (maths, history, Spanish, English, science projects, baking etc). He chooses 3 of those.

1. Grocery shopping.

My ex goes to the shops once every 6 days. That's it. You are asked to carry a paper justifying your journey. You can not go to whatever shop you choose. You must go to the closest one to home. If you are caught turning this into a walk you will be stopped and fined between 600 and 30000 euros. If the police decide you are covering up a walk with a "shopping trip".... Fined. Someone I know was fined 200 euros for only buying a can of coke and a chocolate. We have not seen scenes of panic buying or bulk buying here, possibly because in cities most do not have a car so you take a granny trolley and a couple of bags for life so no space for millones of toilet paper etc. This may be different in rural areas but there haven't been many reports of it (I haven't seen any, in fact). People wear a mask and gloves and supermarkets make you queue outside 2 meters apart and don't let many people in at a time. Most supermarkets also provide gloves and require you to wear them.

1. What can you leave the house for?

Essential food shopping, pharmacy, medical appointments, essential workers, walk your dog (but only so he can go to the toilet... No big long walks) Only allowed to leave the house individually unless you are accompanying someone who is unable to go alone.

4.Can you use your garden or roof terrace?
If it is for private use, yes. If it is for communal use (shared garden or roof terrace with other flats), no. You'll get fined as if you were outside.

1. Clapping?

Yes. Every night for keyworkers at 8pm. Most people join in. Slight difference with UK is its unusual for kids to be in bed before 9pm here. Occasionally will be extra one for kids at 6pm.

1. Doctors appointments

All non urgent appointments canceled. Telephone appointments with emailed prescriptions available and I had one within an hour of asking.

Please stay safe. It's difficult, but it's not forever and it will be less time the more people abide by the rules. Feel free to ask any questions and I will try to answer. It's tough, but we are coping. So will you if the UK tightens the rules for a while.

@LilacTree1

*people are terrified of dying”

Insanity. Do they think they’re immortal?

Nope. I know I’ll die one day - I’d just rather that wasn’t at 51, alone & feeling like I’m drowning - if that’s ok with you
FFS

@Changednamesorry

thank you for the link to the photos. I live Spain & have spent quite a bit of time there. It was very sad seeing such (usually) vibrant places so lifeless 😢

@BillieEilish. I LOVE Valencia I lived there for a while & had been planning on being there this March.

However, if exercise outside your own garden were banned, it would probably have to be universal.
would be very difficult to exclude "unpopulated areas" from a nationwide law

Yes it would which is why it is so annoying that the media are giving the impression that people are not being sensible. The great majority are but you wouldn't think so with some of the news coverage.

Well said changed name....live in Italy & i can't believe the arrogance & general attitude to the current situation in the uk, you are being encouraged to go out, we aren't allowed unless for shopping(1 person per family) or emergency, otherwise you get a heavy fine (around 200 £, along with a police record)....most of us live in apartments, no gardens or outside space yet we have managed to respect the law .......masked and gloved........what the f ....why can't people grasp the gravity of what's going on ?

Teabag37 again, the vast majority of people in the UK are following the rules. My social media is awash with people telling others to ‘stay home’. I don’t know a single person who is not obeying the rules. Of course there are some, it is the minority.

Why is no one talking about Sweden?

A few things.... We did full lockdown here with way lower figures than the UK currently have and we have a larger surface area and 20 odd million fewer people. I really implore people not to see it as "well their numbers are really high, it's different"..... Our numbers were negligible compared to Italy a couple of weeks before we locked down and now we have passed them. Please take things seriously.

Also the community here is strong and is helping a lot. Befriending neighbors (remotely of course) will stand you in good stead.

Your children WILL COPE if you normally cope. You will adapt ss a family, for now. Like those of you who have a second child..... Huge upheaval for s while. Then kids settle to the current normal if well supported. Kids mirror parents. So try really hard not to talk about how hard a more restrictive lockdown would be...especially if primary age.. Because if it comes in it will feel worse. Just on some "eh.... Let's crack on" and shield them from the news. We do not watch the news at all in the house.... We read it and talk about it as adults when kids are sleeping.

I'm not trying to be patronizing or bossy.... I'm just trying to help and hope that is coming over that way.

Rosiejim: why don't you talk about Sweden and others can respond?

We are definitely under lockdown until at least April 26th and I expect it to go on a bit longer after that too. Spanish law only allows 2 weeks at a time so they are just extending every 2 weeks. Just waiting it out and to be honest most have no issue with it. We want help financially of course, but people aren't demanding freedom to go out. If anything I will probably do everything slightly later than allowed and many will do the same.

If anything I will probably do everything slightly later than allowed and many will do the same. me too, but the minute I can go for a walk in the countryside (surrounded by rural areas and pathways) I will be going.

@BirdandSparrow yes... Probably will go with kids on roof terrace when they are allowed out, then allow them out when schools reopen and actually return them to school a couple of weeks after they reopen. If my ex has to return to work before then we accept that we won't see him for s few weeks. Luckily he works in a restaurant so his will not be one of the first jobs to be reinstated but will be eventually.

Is the only shopping every 6 days as much as you are allowed or could you shop more often if you needed to? Do you know whether rural areas are policed as much as towns and cities?

Where I am there is no restrictions on shopping but you do use hand sanitizer, some places give gloves and you useually have to wait in a small line depending on time. My local shop will now only deliver with a government letter but I haven’t had any problems shopping. No kids obviously but I think single parents are okay with community support and online shopping.

@Changednamesorry
Do you live in barcelona? I thought I might know you?! Wierd i know!

@BirdandSparrow I don’t like going to the bigger supermarkets either especially as my Spanish isn’t great and there’s loads of signs now and the plexiglass barriers it freaks me out.

Why is no one talking about Sweden?

Because this is a thread about Spain. The clue is in the thread title.
Start your own thread.

@HeddaGarbled you can go as much as you need to, but here at least people are really keeping it to a minimum. And you need to be prepared to prove why you're going more often – if the same policeman sees you out and about on a regular basis s/he'll be asking some very firm questions and you'd be at risk of a fine.

Do you know whether rural areas are policed as much as towns and cities?

I'm fairly rural and we definitely don't have as much military and police presence as the city 15/20 minutes from me, but it's a coin toss as to whether there's an army roadblock on one of the main roads or a police car outside the supermarket.

I've had a military helicopter doing figure-8s over my house every day for the past week. Not sure what they're looking for, but they're around in the air.

They're now saying that here on the islands we may have passed the peak , which is promising.

As a few PPs have mentioned, Sweden are at the moment not pursuing the complete lockdown- they are so far taking a different route, why is that?

Where I am in Spain we haven't been given limits on how many times we can shop but we are asked to go as little as possible to reduce the amount of time we are out and mixing.

This is so interesting.

OP, what is the mood like about entitlement to public spaces? Is there a debate about people who have gardens not using public space and people who have flats being able to sunbathe?

Is there a debate about people who have gardens not using public space and people who have flats being able to sunbathe? No, becasue nobody can use public spaces at all. You can only walk your dog briefly. Nobody's using public spaces for exercise because it's not allowed.

Some people wish they had more outside space and I think people in flats who can't even use communal rooftops for example find that really fucking hard, but I think in general, in my experience, people accept it's the luck of the draw.

There is anger about people flouting the rules though. Aznár, ex President of Spain left Madrid as soon as it was locked down and headed for his second home in marbella and was then spotted walking his dogs with his wife. There was a lot of anger, certainly in Andalucía, about that.

@Rosiejim there is at least one thread about Sweden if you have a look

Some people wish they had more outside space and I think people in flats who can't even use communal rooftops for example find that really fucking hard, but I think in general, in my experience, people accept it's the luck of the draw

I find this very interesting. We have family just outside Nerja, they are incredibly lucky to live in a nice villa with lots of private outdoor space. A lot of their neighbours are in small flats though, with only balconies, and they are apparently findings things difficult but, from all accounts, are just getting on with it. I know that MN isn't representative but I have seen it on other social media, that people here have an incredible sense of entitlement to their exercise, their right to ride their bike for 2 hours, their right to take their children out to play. I wonder why it is so different here.

Is it true that on your news, pet owners have been told to wash their pets paws and body if they have been outside now? Something I was told today and couldn’t find any info on google...

I know some have been doing it, but I don't know if they've been told to. I don't have a pet.

@NotEnoughCoffeeToday I haven't seen anything about that on the news here.

@PersonaNonGarter I think your use of the word 'entitlement' really gets to the nub of the difference between here in Spain and the UK, as @Thymelord has mentioned. I haven't got the sense that anyone here feels 'entitled' to anything, whereas it's definitely a thing in the UK.

I wonder if, as someone mentioned upthread, it's cultural leftovers from Franco here vs "the Empire" mentality....?