Twelve months on and there is little change as we continue to wear masks as we go about our daily lives. At that time we were confined to our homes. Now we have the discomfiture of having to produce our covid passports it we want to enjoy a restaurant meal.

King Felipe VI also spoke of the pandemic in his Christmas speech, saying that a successful vaccine rollout has improved the situation from what it was a year ago, but he urged people not to become complacent or to drop their guard.

Meanwhile the Torrevieja council plans to wipe out 32,000 sq mtrs of prime parkland at the expense of 2 x 82 mtr towerblocks despite objections from the Alicante provincial government, and medical care in the region continues to suffer as the CCOO union, which represents members of the Torrevieja health department, has denounced the “lack” of medical personnel, both in the emergency service and in primary care.