The family moved back to Spain from Australia in 2015.

We shared many happy childhood memories on holidays at his hometown of Taree or relatives' place in Tamworth. And now we have our own families.

We last saw each other nearly two years ago at a reunion at his parents' home in Cundletown.

I now keep up with his news on Facebook and I remember one of his posts about schools being shut in Spain from mid-March, due to the coronavirus.

Michael's experience seemed so remote and so unlikely to ever be replicated in Australia: "End of Day 1 'working from home' with two kids. Not been fun or easy but, hey, we made a chocolate cake!"

Yet, less than a fortnight after Spain closed its schools, ACT schools had gone "pupil-free" and the coronavirus pandemic has just become very real in Australia.

More than two months later, Michael, 49, is still in shutdown mode.

Spain has recorded the second-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world (nearly 185,000) and the third-highest number of deaths (more than 19,000), after the United States and Italy.

But, as the number of new cases recorded in Spain falls, slivers of the society have started to re-open.

Michael says for most people, "the quarantine" continues.

"Certainly, they have eased some measures this week with those who cannot work from home, such as construction workers and others in the manufacturing sector," he said, on Friday.

"However, much of the tourism sector, one of Spain's big earners, remain bound to their sofas. Personally, I cannot see the schools opening any time soon."

Michael lives in a second-floor apartment in Madrid, working for an international school on the city's northern outskirts.

In March, he started tracking the number of coronavirus cases in Spain on Facebook, not to be macabre, but to keep an account of the terrifying figures and inform friends and family in Australia.

He is a history teacher. This is social history par excellence. On March 8, he posted that Spain had 517 cases of COVID-19. His latest post, from last week, listed 169,496 cases.

"As soon as I saw Italy falling, I knew we were next," Michael said.

"The two countries have a lot in common, like New Zealand and Australia. The cultures share similar customs and ways of living and as we are only a short flight away, with much trade and tourism between the countries, it was just a matter of time before the outbreak was replicated here."

He said the first cases of coronavirus in Spain appeared as early as late January. A "state of alarm" was declared on March 14, locking down the country, initially for 15 days.

"Many Spanish own a second house out of the city and the timing of the shutdown was such that it enabled thousands of families to pack up and leave before police were mobilised.

Invariably, they thought they would see out the 15 days in their second residences or at least, squeeze in some spontaneous vacation time away from Madrid," he said. But the lockdown has continued.

The restrictions on movement have been harsher in Spain than Australia.

There is no mail service. Most people are housebound.

Michael and his ex-wife used to have their two children week on, week off, but the lockdown has meant it was easier for each parent to have one child for a week, and then swap.The only reason to leave their apartment, by law, is for essential supplies or work.

"We can leave to shop for food but we are obliged to use the nearest supermarket which, as a self- styled cook, I find a little annoying," he said, adding last week police threatened him with a 10,000 Euro ($AU5800) fine for trying to go to a farther-flung supermarket.

"We can also go to a pharmacy. I went to one to renew a script and it was like a scene from Outbreak. The pharmacists were in the full-body, white disposable overalls that cover the head, as well as the flip-up, welder-style clear plastic face shield.

"We cannot take more than one child with us to the supermarket, but then they are not allowed to go inside. This is crazy as the law also says they are not permitted to be in the car alone either.

"When I had my son, for example, I had to get him to duck down in the carpark while I hurried around the store. For us, changing the kids over each Friday has been like running the gauntlet as well.

"The police demand some proof of separation but so far the parenting plan from Australia has been enough to waive further evidence."

His children have been doing their school work online and are coping okay. "Their resilience and ability to adapt have been pretty good to be honest."

"At the moment, my son is doing a project on a second laptop that I just happened to have on loan from my employer when the schools all closed. Without that, I do not think we could cope. I have a cheap iPad that could substitute but without that, he'd be trying to do work via my phone," Michael said.

"For families working from home, sharing device time must be driving them batty. I cannot imagine poorer families doing anything online and having to just make it up as they go along."

Michael says teaching teenage students remotely has been a challenge, and he is often on his laptop for 10 hours a day.

"I actually have less time available now than when I physically was at school for our 9am to 5.10pm workday. It's more a question of how to best use the time available and still shoulder my responsibilities as a teacher, father and manage all the life-admin tasks," he said.

"Sanity? That's another question. Some days, when the sun is out and shines through the lounge room window, I sit and soak it up, getting my vitamin D hit. Also, being single, I find the online dating scene a distraction at times and sharing conversations is a social outlet that is as cathartic as chatting with friends and family back home. I really miss not being to at least go out for a walk or a ride and I envy people with dogs that can get some fresh air and some sunshine."

There have been some low moments, most recently when he couldn't give his children the freedom to even exercise indoors.

"A friend sent me through a PDF on my phone that was issued from the government this week with details about what people could now do and not do. It was easy enough to understand, however, I received it a day after it was issued.

"The underground parking garage has been great for us. The kids and I go there and spend about 45 minutes rollerblading, skipping, practicing ball skills, but I was accosted by a neighbour who cited the same document as grounds for her to report me. The common areas of apartment buildings, playgrounds in gated communities and so on are now off-limits. The kids and I were gutted and as fines are disproportionately high, there is no use in sneaking down for a little exercise anymore."

A good day can come, however.

"Something as simple as getting through a backlog of emails and getting marking done makes for a good basis," Michael says.

"Surviving the demands of classes online and parents who are now starting to see us in a different light is also a win. Being able to respond to my own kids' needs, as well as hammer in some free me-time is of itself, indicative of a good day.

"A good day is also when I get to bed before 11pm."

He does not personally know anyone who has died. Perhaps not surprising in a country of 47 million people, making those who have succumbed to coronavirus 0.04 per cent of the population.

Michael says the feeling among Spaniards he knows is that the government was too slow to respond to the health threat, but fears for the economy are growing. He believes the lockdown has "deeply damaged people's ability to earn money, created massive uncertainty and the jobless numbers are now incredible, to say nothing those that work for cash".

"Personally, I think they have gone into a kind of blind panic and applied blanket rules that will have crippling effects on the economy as well as people's lives," he said. "Their approach was a copy-and-paste one from Italy, hardly a sophisticated response that, by and large, will do more long term damage than save lives. We are all worried about our livelihoods more than the virus. People here, though, having lived through civil and international unrest, are more rapidly inclined to swallow the whole package first at face value and ask questions later. But I do feel something is brewing. I think in time the pinch will come and people will find the police state, just too much."

He says Spain was just getting back on its feet after the 2008 global financial crisis before the pandemic hit. Living with parents became the solution then for the rent-strapped; he fears that will be the case again. He believes Spaniards are "becoming restless", worried for their future. "The nightly 8PM clapping sessions acknowledging the frontline medics has all but ceased, at least where I live".

"Spanish society is old, very class-driven. The majority of Australians do not employ maids,nannies, groundsmen or security. Here, Covid-19 has disrupted the very fabric of lives at every strata of the social food chain. Some attest that as much as 18 per cent of the Spanish economy operates on a cash-in- hand basis, or 'dinero negro' as it is known here. Many working in this shadow economy also claim unemployment benefits, which when combined with their under-the-table earnings, afford them breathing space, just above the poverty line. Without that vein of income from wealthy families, the subservient class will be bereft of the means to make ends meet."

Michael says he'll stay in Spain and his goals post-crisis will be simple and humble. They'll have to be.

"To be healthy, employed and make rent, will soon be the key focus for most Spaniards, as well as the multitude of foreigners here who live a hand-to-mouth existence," he said.

"I have been fortunate to keep my job, do my classes and maintain myself. Many are not as lucky."