Coronavirus
Memory Quilt
There is something about living in isolation that stirs the memory of similar experiences, maybe as a way for the mind to cope or to be reassured that this, too, shall pass. When I was seven, I spent a summer […]
Reflections
Coronavirus
Escape From Intxaurrondo II: Resilience
As of this last weekend, my mother-in-law has been locked down for one month. Thirty one days, by herself, in her apartment, in a neighborhood called Herrera, on the outer edges of San Sebastian. And while the rest of us, […]
Coronavirus
Last Easter
I’ve just received a lovely message from my niece in the UK wishing me a Happy Easter, and we reminded each other of how we had been together this time last year. In the current situation, I would have probably […]
Coronavirus
Nicaragua, Nicaragüita … Donostia
Every once in a while, this Covid-19 thing brings back flashes of Nicaragua, where I spent a good part of three years between 1983 and 1986, first as a cotton- and coffee-picking brigadista (that’s me with the shovel on latrine […]
Coronavirus
What has Changed: Life on the Mountain During Lockdown
And so, I am asked, what is happening up there on your mountain top? What has changed? And I have to sit and think for a moment. Holding back my thoughts from taking flight with the birds singing is the […]
Coronavirus
Sensory Explosion
It’s been two weeks since I’ve been out on the street. It really has. Hard to believe isn’t it? Hunkering down at home has become the norm for me. After incredulity and a kind of grieving process for normality, acceptance […]
Coronavirus
The Year the World Stood Still
Many, many years ago, before you were born, in the year 2020 the world stood still. Very still, for months on end. You see, there was a virus, a terrible virus, it started in China and then spread throughout the […]
Reflections
Disconnected
One bright summer morning I decide to take my bike and venture down towards the beach. At first I start off slowly, my legs feeling heavy, but soon I pick up speed as I spin down the hill, the wind […]
Coronavirus
The Things We Carry
This morning I left the house with the intention of trying to mail a letter. Even in normal times in Spain, this is not the easiest of tasks. First, you have to find the post office, of which there seem […]