After a long while waiting we certainly can’t complain about the weather…. or maybe we can as we are British and its done a U-Turn and been a bit too warm!  No, only joking – we had a couple of days of 30 degrees a week or so ago but now it has settled down to about 25 degrees during the day and 18 degrees overnight, which is do-oable with the windows open…. any warmer and sleeping is hard work even without too many mosquitos buzzing around!  On that note, you’ll be pleased to hear that there don’t appear to be too many – I am seriously hoping I don’t live to regret saying that – however, I have only inadvertently managed to squash one mosquito so far this year on the lovely white fluffy walls…. so that is twice in two years – not too bad I guess, although we definately need to work out where the magic spray comes from as if it takes blood out of white fleece, it can do anything!

Not a huge amount to report on over here over the last three weeks but the time does appear to be flying by despite us feeling like we aren’t doing a huge amount…. although we have nearly completed all the tax returns which a bit of a feat!  I have started to have strange dreams though, waking up one morning thinking that I was still doing my squats (just to be clear, I am talking about the exercise and it wasn’t a typo) in my sleep… must be something to do with the amount of time we have spent without going out much!

We have been keeping up the photo challenge and despite a handful of slightly more difficult days… including yesterdays VE Day photo (above), it is fair to say everyone is doing an amazing job and the photos are good fun!

A few of my photos from the last couple of weeks – going clockwise from top left Colour, Perspective, Spring Plants and Flowers, Black and white and Buttons – are as follows:-

The good news is that last weekend the Spanish government agreed to let people start doing a little exercise outside.  Inevitably, everyone has gone a bit crazy and are not only pushing the boundaries but also, a large percentage of people appear to have taken up running suddenly…. that’ll get the physios back on their feet again!

As much as the government had obviously tried to plan for everything (ahem) it really wasn’t a very good move to start the outdoor activity on a Saturday of a bank holiday weekend with Mothering Sunday when it was 30 degrees… we probably bore the brunt of it as we are by the beach but people were definitely not thinking about social distancing….. just getting on the beach and dipping their toes in the water!

So, unlike the UK,  Spain is allowing people to go out in age groups –

• Between 14 and 70 years old are allowed to either do exercise (run, cycle, skate, surf, etc. but not swim) between 6-10am or 8-11pm. Alternatively you can walk but if you choose to walk, you can only go 1km from your home.
• If you are 70+ or if you are high risk, you are allowed out to walk (no exercise) between 10-12am or 7-8pm – again only within 1km of home.
• Children under 14 are allowed out with a parent and a toy … bike, scooter, etc.(up to 3 per parent…. children that is, not toys) within 1km of home for a maximum period of an hour.

As the week has gone on people have gone out earlier, stayed out longer, strayed further from home and generally you are seeing groups merge bit by bit.

I went for a run on the first morning and over cooked it…. not only because I hadn’t run for the 7 weeks of lockdown but also as I had been returning from injury before this all started, so 9km later although the adrenaline was running high, the calves were rock solid (forefoot running)…. I just got a little too excited about it all and paid the price as couldn’t walk or climb stairs easily for a few days….Ok, lets just say I am starting to get back to normal now… eight days later – that’ll teach me, I may start to increase the distance a little more slowly next week!

As our ‘time slot’ is a bit odd, we haven’t really been out apart from the odd run and the normal supermarket visit. The morning slot is when we do our exercise and by 8pm we are eating and chilling for the evening, so not much else has changed.

Spain’s easing off is in four phases and we had thought that we would be passing to the next phase this coming Monday (11th) – but alas no, they have obviously been hiding something from us.  The next phase would have meant that the Aire would have opened up again to Spaniards who live within the province to 50% capacity but still with the services remaining closed, terraces in local bars and restaurants would have been open up to 50% capacity, we could have met with up to 10 others for social activity and would have been able to travel slightly further afield to get food from shops and markets.  At least we can now see how the other areas deal with the little oddities – they still plan to keep the age groups and times but also open bars and restaurants…. so does that mean that you can only go within your allotted time slot, or is that in addition? Not one for us to worry about currently as it’ll be at least another week before we can progress forwards.  It doesn’t effect us much anyway as we don’t have any plans to go running to the local bar or restaurant, or meet up with groups of friends, although it would have been nice to go into Alicante market to buy some nuts and coffee beans!

We will keep up with our twice daily 45 minute walk by the motorhome, morning exercise – which hopefully will include running along the promenade a little further next week if my calf muscles allow it – and our supermarket trips, we are happy and don’t need anything more and are going to start stocking up on the wine in light of a potential homeward journey in the next few weeks.

As Keith pointed out to me, we are about to enter week 9 of lockdown which means that we flew back from the UK 8 weeks ago tomorrow, and not through any particular reason but just as it has occurred, we haven’t eaten any meat during this period.  It is fair to say that when we see a recipe or a photo for something meaty looking amazingly delicious we salivate, however we do the same for Vegan or Veggie food too – we both admit that we are looking forward to a good bacon butty though !!

So, apart from a mix of old recipes we have been cooking up a few new ones as follows:-

• BBQ Cauliflower Pittas with Romesco Sauce, amazed by how much the cauliflower takes on the flavour.  A really lovely BBQ meal

• No Noodle Pad Thai – absolutely delicious and really filling

• Flat Breads– a quick and easy bread that you can prepare in half an hour and cook in the tying pan
• Butter Bean, Pesto and Spicy Tomato Salad– Refreshing but filling salad
• Falafel with an Indian Salad and a refreshing Quinoa Salad – lovely summers meal that can be prepared ahead of time

• Gigantes with Tomatoes and Kale– A bit like a quick stew although still full of flavour.  Goes really well with a bit of soda bread to mop up the sauce

• Soda Bread– cooked on the pizza stones on the BBQ and it worked really well
• Sticky Aubergine Fried Rice – one pot dish with loads of flavour…. got to love ginger and chilli though!

Let’s see what Boris announces on tomorrow and whether we manage to progress from Phase 0 to Phase 1 next week…. keep smiling !