Lay My Hat

We moved into Phase 3 at the weekend. I expected floods of people but we have enjoyed playing on the beach with our grandsons for the first time this year. In the town of Palamos it is now the "Festa Major" which always corresponds with San Juan so it has always been crowded. This year it's surprisingly quiet. I haven't seen any foreign tourists yet. The first Ryanair did Edinburgh-Barcelona return on Saturday.
If you have Instagram you might like our entry in the decorated balcony competition. It's "Music on the Beach"
We'd love some more "likes"
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBvQ0uOlScL ... b2ra0lpdfc

Just super cost-brava. Good luck for the coming weeks.

Just back from a beach visit near Alicante, quite a few people about but plenty of space between groups. The nearest to us were a good 10m away. All Spanish, apart from us, all observing social distancing and no-one playing ball games. Yellow flag flying so only a few in the sea. Felt very safe and comfortable.

During a 3 hour period witnessed only 4 departures from Alicante airport, would normally expect 10 - 15 per hour.

We're now into full "new normality". You can tell that by the cars that have stopped across the zebra, the dogs on mile-long leads and the jet-propelled bicycles. Generally, all round, it seems normal apart from the facemasks but even that is normal too. Remember when crash-helmets became compulsory; some people had it hanging from the pillion seat while others had it on their head but unstrapped. Well now it's facemask on but not covering your nose.
The part that is not normal is the scarcity of visitors. Palamos is more of a second-residence town than a tourist resort but this Saturday I would have expected it to be mobbed. I get sunburnt easily so I came back ahead of the family. I met an old friend Felix. He's an estate agent and one of my best sources of good information. He rented us the first "local" to put our English School in 1987, then sold us a super old building which we converted. Then he sold us the rundown house/hostal that is now our home. In 2006 we bought a spanking new apartment from the plans through him. When we sold it a few years ago we had lost nearly half of its original cost. His family were originally in the cork industry with an office in London. Across the years he has been a mine of information but he lost a few quid in the crisis too.
Anyway he gave us a "like" for our balcony. We didn't win: somebody who was much more social-media and Instagram won with some tricky photography. I noticed a few likes from down south so thanks to those of you who took the time.
How is the "new normality" in other parts of the country. I'm sure the owners who are still in the UK would like to know.

costa-brava wrote: How is the "new normality" in other parts of the country. I'm sure the owners who are still in the UK would like to know.

To give you a comparison with France, here in our naturist apartment in Oasis village near Port Leucate things seems to be pretty well back to normal. The beach is as occupied as it normally would be for the end of June. We are now getting enquiries from the UK for weeks previously cancelled.