Yesterday started off as usual, though I was a bit miffed at having to miss the gym due to a late morning meeting. But the meeting went well and after a late lunch at home I thought I’d stay in and get some work done. I recently got commissioned to write a short piece for a very prestigious travel mag and wanted to get a good start on that. But I had a couple of other things on my to-do list and thought I’d get those out of the way first, and so I popped over to take a wine photo for one of my social media clients and then planned to pick up a new dish draining rack on the way home and get back to work. But first…

I decided to stop in and say hello to my friend María Paz at her new tapas bar Gago 6 as I would be passing by and I hadn’t seen her in ages. Well, that turned into a half-hour catch-up chat during which she gave me the birthday present she’d been holding onto and invited me out for Japanese food (we’re going tonight). She also volunteered to take me to my next PET scan at a new place on Wednesday (that’s a whole other story) for which I am very grateful. Especially as I don’t even know how to get there.

After that it was off to pick up my dish drainer thingy and get home. But on the way I passed the new Gusto Ristobar that’s been under construction for a while now and was delighted to see Bizzy and Franco inside (they also own L’Oca Giuliva, Maccheroni & Co and Pane y Vino). I got a tour of the place and then Bizzy and I caught up – she’s another friend I hadn’t seen in ages – and after a lovely visit I finally made it to the hardware store.

Let me tell you, this isn’t just any hardware store. It’s a wonderfully chaotic mix of traditional and modern kitchen gadgets along with your basic nuts and bolts, and the staff are fabulous. I’ve been going there forever and for the last year or so have been Twitter friends with Paula, who runs their online stuff. And so while I was there finally picking up my new dish draining rack I took a photo of Paula and Amalio to “tweet” and then it occurred to me that it would be a great idea to do a post on the Sevilla blog about Sevilla’s most famous ferreteria. And so more photo-taking and chatting ensued.

Then when I was just about home my attention was taken by two very sleek and beautiful greyhounds being walked by… Cristina! Well, I’ve known Cristina for years. She used to work at Zaragoza 64, where her father is the chef, and she is kind of a “tapas bar groupie”. I say that because I run into her everywhere (bars, restaurants, wine tastings). So much so that we finally made plans to go out for tapas together next week since we were probably going to run into each other anyhow.

And so what should have taken me less than an hour ended up taking more than three. And although I didn’t end up getting any writing done after I got home I did get material for new writing projects, a dinner invitation, a chance to catch up with two old friends and make plans with a new one and, oh, I bought a new dish draining rack.

How was your Friday?