A taste of freedom. Today it was with a little fear and a lot of excitement, or possibly the other way around, that we snuck out of our apartment to taste the outdoors.
We could not have chosen a more beautiful day to begin to regain our lives. Receiving conflicting messages about what would be allowed and being advised we were only permitted to go 1 km, we threw caution to the winds and began to pedal with anger down the Plaça Catalunya looking over our shoulders. As it turns out walkers were restricted to the 1 km limit, whereas "sportspeople" could cover the whole city district of Barcelona.
It was fairly early and so very still and the first thing I noticed was that 7 weeks ago it was the end of winter, while today it is definitely summer. Somehow we had hibernated through the end of winter. Being outdoors, seeing the sea and breathing the fresh air was an incredible experience. As we headed along the coastline I realised how early the Spanish citizens can get up if properly motivated. Being outdoors at this time used to be normal for us and we would seldom come across other people. Today though it was great, everyone had found some sort of equipment - be it an old bike, some dusty roller blades from the back of the cupboard or any old pair of sneakers that vaguely resembled running shoes - and they all became athletes for a day.
I was so impressed and I'm crossing fingers that the enthusiasm of the Catalonians doesn't get our new found privileges revoked.
After 7 weeks in isolation it surprised me that we could easily pull 45 km out of the rabbit hat without any stress. Once in the mountains we realised we were running out of time and began to race home. However minus traffic (as many streets had been closed for the athletes) we got back in record time and were able to fit a few extra blocks in as we did not want this to end. Approaching our final lap, with ten minutes to go, the police suddenly emerged from nowhere to remind us with loudspeakers that pumpkin hour was fast approaching. It was with sadness and regret we re-entered our prison - until tomorrow...
It felt normal to be out there and I did not feel at threat from the other people. We were certainly not able to maintain the recommended social distance and eventually Kevin and I stopped pretending we did not know each other...
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