Here in Spain we are confined to barracks and life as we know it has ground to a halt. The prime minister spelled out the special measures in a broadcast on Saturday night and the country is now effectively in lockdown.

The situation is changing so quickly that everything appears somewhat surreal and it is easy to think of ourselves as characters in some kind of Orwellian dystopian novel. In Europe Spain is currently second only to Italy in terms of the number of cases of this virus. Today so far there are over 2000 new cases and 90 new deaths. Obviously, by the time you read it those numbers will have climbed further.

Almost all of us are stuck at home and some, like me, are alone. My wife Catriona is in London at the moment where she is on hand to look after her dad. Our son Leo will join them shortly for what will be their own period of isolation and our daughter Pippa will tough it out in Glasgow with her flatmates.

People who are scattered far and wide look in on this blog and their various own situations are undoubtably also somewhat in a state of flux. Wherever you are do take care of yourselves and the people around you and keep your spirits up. This will all blow over one day.

I am not allowed out to the river now as all unnecessary travel is banned. For that reason I will have little to report on, at least on the subject of fishing, although I will continue to post on the blog from time to time as it offers a welcome distraction.

Again, look after yourselves.

Un abrazo a todos.

 

DSCF4317

On the day before lockdown I sneaked away to the Río Guadalhorce. I took just this one fish. Lockdown means that for a few weeks I won´t be around to bother them. They can all sleep easy in their beds at night!!