So that was Christmas and Humans of Mallorca enjoyed their gatherings, some broke the rules and most didn’t. We watched TV, played games in our bubbles of 6, ate too much and drank what we wanted. We were in the middle of a pandemic in the middle of one of the most beautiful places in the world. A Christmas walk along the sea shore or in the mountains occupied some of us. We loved seeing children on their new bikes and skates and dolls being pushed in little prams. This Christmas, in all those ways, was much the same as any other. The element missing for 2020 was the ability to choose to do or go somewhere different. Curfews, and nothing much open past 6 pm gave the whole thing a different flavour. I am actually not complaining just telling you how it was for us in our little slice of the world.
No what’s to do about it? This is the question for today all us Humans have been warned of the announcement coming tomorrow. The ‘Stay in your Municipality’ has sent us scurrying to define our space. From Soller how far towards Deya or Fornalutx can I go before I break the rules? This one is Lockdown 2021 and is likely to be with us awhile. The decisions being made right now are all pretty complicated. People living here or who have travelled here have things to do. Some have arrived to finalise their Residency status.
Through no fault of their own the only appointments they could get were three days before the end of the year and the start of new look, after Brexit, UK. Their stress levels are off the scale and one more restriction of movement will push them over the edge. They already had to run the gauntlet when they arrived without a final Residency Certificate in place. Airport officials needed persuading about the story of arrivals for admin purposes.
What this actually means is that we are stuck with the Humans we have around us. A bit like family really, as some you love to spend time with, others you simply don’t, and more who you have to make more of an effort with. This is our world now as the drawbridge has been pulled up or is it? I have enjoyed talking to people I never knew existed in our Valley. They have come down from the mountain or are spending more time here and getting out more. Some wonderful Covid friendships have developed and it has been a real pleasure to get to know who we are really sharing our space with. In many cases previous rules and groupings no longer apply.
Round the world our friends tell us of the latest lockdown plans for their area. In Canada, for instance its 28 days from 26th December. I think all countries are now bored with the decision ‘every two weeks’ regime. The month at a time is the new way of thinking developing for this next stage. Preparation is the key to fill our local days and nights. Christmas presents might amuse us and sorting out the left overs a culinary challenge. There is something strangely comforting about having done this lockdown business before. No matter how tricky, we know this will not last forever, especially as the vaccines are being rolled out.
What have the Humans of Mallorca learned since the first lockdown in March? They know that to control by lockdown, in all its manifestations, was to delay the virus spreading. Certainly not stop it. but just hold it up from time to time to allow the health service to draw breath. This stop, start, is the future now until the vaccine is given to enough people to make a difference. Now we see that it is not rocket science at all. Some mighty clever people are working on the science to give us the vaccine. We are lucky that much of the early work was already done on this while scientists were working on the SARS vaccine. It is an illusion to think this new vaccine has been truly rolled out from beginning to end in 7 months. The full story on all this will be told one day but in the meantime its ‘make do and mend’ as we start 2021 with the vaccine being the glitter ball.
Happy New Year to all Humans of Mallorca and we look forward to a 2021 full of stories and interviews…