Don't Panic

Since I wished you a merry Christmas we have been on our annual winter pilgrimage to the sun drenched Med.

Balcony breakfast

It was cut short somewhat as the authorities placed us all under house arrest so we could stay virus free, we were allowed to go bog roll hunting in the local supermarket and shopping for other essentials. To make sure we stayed in they have closed all gathering places - the beach, paseo, bars and restaurants, oddly hairdressers could remain open. The gestapo were patrolling the streets in loudspeaker vehicles hailing the balcony brigade to stay put or face the consequences.

Pre shutdown get together

In the Spanish supermarkets the first items to be bulk bought by scaredy cats were pasta and rice, the same happened in Britain. Why?! If I fancied going on a panic buying trip myself I'd head straight to the pie aisle, pork pies, cornish pasties, and Fray Bentos tinned pies, then on to raid the freezer aisle for fish and chips and Aunt Bessies Yorkshire Puds.

Hopefully all the selfish panic buyers will take excess stuff to the food banks after they realise food production/distribution isn't going to stop because of coronavirus. What happened to the British stiff upper lip.

As a result of the emergency measures we decided to bring our departure date forward to 'Paddy's Day'.  Listening to the panicked voices of Sky News presenters we heard of travel permits having to be sourced, borders closed, police blockades and the military turning folk back around at Madrid. We did the whole journey to Bilbao via Madrid in 9 hours and only saw couple of police officers, going about their usual duties. There were signs on all motorways saying only justified journeys allowed.

We stayed a night at the Ibis, no food outlets are open during the emergency, the kitchen made us a carbonara, pizza and a salad which we had to collect and take back to our room with a couple of bottles of San Miguel.

Brittany Ferries have just announced that they are stopping sailings between Spain and UK from the 20/3 till the 12/4, so lucky we moved when we did. BF have told us all outlets onboard will be shut, bring your own food and drink, we will self isolate in our cabin the whole 26 hour trip.

Breakfast get together

Girls just like to have fun.

A more serious pose bar the bunny ears.

Don't panic Russel.

On a serious note we planned to drop in on Betty my outlaw on the way home but have decided best not to, she is very relieved. Which brings home to me just how scary this situation is for the elderly.
She received a Tesco delivery today and a few essentials were out of stock!

Stay safe.