Spain in lockdown Phase 2 - Day 80

My oh my, 80 days and today I was finally going to leave the municipality of Pollensa!  But first we had a visit to the vets for the dogs' jabs.  These were due just as lockdown started but luckily we had enough worming and flea medication to last us; rabies jabs however are another matter!  They're valid for three years in the UK but for only one year here in Spain.  Currently the vets will only allow two people in at a time, wearing the ubiquitous face mask and, as everywhere else, you have to use hand sanitiser.  The receptionist also has a plastic screen.  Anyhow, all this we were expecting but what we didn't expect was that we could no longer go into the consulting room with Alfie or Tally and that the vet would take them in, give them a health check and do the deed without us.  Alfie is the least enthusiastic about the vets ever since he had to have a minor op to his paw a couple of years ago so we thought he could go first to get it over with.  The lovely lady vet took his lead and he realised mum or dad wasn't coming with him - bless, he cast us an anguished look, his little legs crumpled and she had to pick him up and carry him in.  Good job he's not a German Shepherd......  It was agonising for us especially when we heard his little squeak when he had his jab (he's a bit of a baby with jabs!).  He practically flew to us on being brought out.  Then it was Tally's turn and we didn't get quite the same level of "why don't you love me any more" looks but she too dropped like a stone to the floor and had to be carried. Cue Alfie barking in concern for where she had gone.  We were relieved when it was all over as, I suspect, was the vet after all the diva 'dying swan' drama!

After the vets visit we jumped in the car and off we went to the bright lights of 'almost' Palma.  Once past Pollensa we were in whole new territory for me and I was quite giddy with excitement 😝 it felt different to be on a motorway and going faster than I have in quite some time!  First stop, Festival Park.  If you're unaware of what Festival Park is, it's an outdoors factory fashion outlet park and at every access point to the Park was a security guard with hand sanitiser and roped off in and out sides.  All very organised.  It was very quiet though with very few people around and often I was the only person in a shop with very hopeful sales assistants circling me like vultures.

Every shop had hand sanitiser by the door, face masks in shops of course de rigeur and the staff were all VERY strict about it.  It was a hot day and I pulled my face mask under my chin when outside as I felt I felt stifled otherwise, but forgot to pull it up over my mouth/nose on entering one of the shops and I thought the shop assistant was going to faint with shock 😱  I put it in place very quickly before she needed medical assistance!  Those who do know Festival Park know that the fountain area outside the cinema where most of the cafes and restaurants are is normally pretty busy but today it looked like this:

Anyway, I had the opportunity to have a look round and do a bit of retail therapy and do you know what?  I couldn't get into it at all 😂  I bought nothing!  This is a pretty rare event for me if I'm honest and Ian was a bit stunned but hey, I like to keep him guessing.....

And so....onward one junction down on the motorway to Al Campo.  We got what we wanted in the huge supermarket there - it doesn't get more exciting than shopping for pillows, slippers and a dustpan and brush I can tell you 😳  Al Campo was much busier than Festival Park but again, everything was well under control, everyone wearing face masks and we felt perfectly safe.  Here is Ian carrying our exciting purchases:

On the way out I made a detour to Pull & Bear and bagged myself a nice summer dress so I hadn't lost my shopping touch completely.  The final leg of the trip was back towards Bauhaus (also well organised, everyone masked, hand sanitiser blah blah blah) where we got some solar powered lights, had a sandwich in the little cafe there - we certainly live the high life - and on home.  My headily exciting trip to 'almost' Palma was over......

In more local news I can report that they've installed a new pharmacy green cross light doodah outside the big pharmacy on the corner of C/Juan XXIII that has two of those lights.  For years now both lights have been operating in parallel universes with different dates, times and temperatures (sometimes by as much as 8 degrees) but now the one on the main road is a sexy new all-singing all-dancing one; it has a variety of twirly red and green patterns which are quite hypnotic to watch and the display data looks a very great deal more accurate to me 👍  quite why they've not replaced both of them I have no idea.  

Another local update - Formentor Hotel has announced that they will be starting to charge for parking at the car park at Formentor beach from this Friday.  They're obviously hopeful there will be enough tourists to make this worth doing; we will just have to wait and see how high summer evolves.  

Tomorrow first thing is my Tabata HIIT gym class on the beach again - a tough gig but I'll try to cope........

Stay safe and hasta luego!