Salut!

Covid-19 Diaries. Madrid (3): 'my heart bleeds for Spain'

My friend Richard Pretorius, an American stuck for now in Madrid, not normally any kind of hardship, resumes his part of Salut!'s Covid-19 Diaries series with a heartwarming letter to his late mother ....

Covid-19 Diaries. Madrid: (2) imagining last moments

No sooner had I more thoughts from Toronto to post here than Richard Pretorius came up with a brief, poignant update from Madrid. See the series of coronavirus diaries here ...

As I walked by an ambulance services depot with at least a dozen workers taking a needed break outside in Madrid, I thanked them all profusely in the Spanish I knew.

Covid-19 Diaries. Madrid: (1) balcony shows to lift the booze-free mood

Richard Pretorius is another of those friends dotted around the world as the global Covid-19 crisis deepens. I have not known him as long as I have Bill Taylor, whose jottings from Toronto appeared here yesterday.

We met while working at The National in Abu Dhabi and have kept contact since, enjoying lunch in London when that sort of thing was still possible and even, briefly, becoming colleagues again (Arab Weekly). He's in Madrid, from where he has been posting his observations ...

As to be expected, the Madrid lockdown has been extended another 15 days past March 25. It will likely get much worse here on the horrific death toll over the next two weeks. Silver linings, I don't drink alcohol alone at home.

So after this is done two Belgian beers will knock me out, I will have a little extra money in the bank and the nightly balcony shows will be etched in my mind as one of the great unexpected experiences. Vive Madrid! Vive La Vida Loca!