Easter week and not a tourist in sight....hotels all closed....the airport a ghost town but there is an air of optimism around the island. It just shows you how far we have come over the last three weeks.
We are not lamenting the lockdown Easter we are hoping above hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and this surreal state of affairs is coming to an end. The death toll and the number of cases in the Balearics remains dangerously and depressingly high but the figures are dropping.
On Tuesday, thousands of people will return to work again after a two week lay-off. It is basically construction workers but there will be more movement. For the last two weeks only essential workers were allowed to go to their places of employment but the government has decided that other sectors are also vital for the economy. It is a risky move.
But the lockdown will continue possibly until the middle of May. The government hinted as much during a recent press conference. But there is hope.
It is amazing how you can get accustomed to life in lockdown though and it is amazing how you adapt. I went to the supermarket in El Corte Ingles on Friday. There was a short queue outside and people were being allowed in as soon as someone left. A security guard in gloves and a mask was controlling numbers on the door, and the giant shop was closed to the public except the supermarket area. Perhaps by the end of next month we will look back on this time as a complete nightmare with relief that it is all over. But for the time being we can just hope that soon it will all be coming to an end.