05 Saturday Dec 2020
Posted in casa azahar, cats, caturday, home
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This is actually a pic from last winter, with all the cats piled on top of me in my comfy chair. It’s started happening again with having to put the heat on a couple of nights ago. Suddenly I’ve become very popular again.
04 Friday Dec 2020
Posted in christmas, coronavirus, covid
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Sent to me my my lovely friend Pilar and really it says it all. Even if you aren’t a believer (I am not, but I am a lover of Christmas), I think the true meaning of Christmas is the same for many of us. We don’t need the parties, meeting up with friends and family to feel Christmas alive in our hearts, to feel genuine love and compassion for others, and to share that with others albeit virtually. Translation below…
I don’t know who invented the phrase “Save Christmas” and honestly I am a little tired of hearing it and reading it on social media, I would like to say that Christmas is not being saved because Christmas “IS”.
It is a space of time that for those of us who believe in God which has a meaning of Hope, Faith and Love, we live this time with the hope that the world will become more human and more caring. This year it will be different, the dinners, parties, meetings will be different, perhaps we cannot share it with all our relatives but our love towards them will remain the same.
We must wish that each heart remains in this life, that not one more leaves us, we must SAVE LIVES not Christmas because Christmas will live and will continue to live each day in every one of us.
03 Thursday Dec 2020
Posted in food & drink, friends, sevilla, sherry, tapas, tapas bars, wine
So ever since Reyes Morales joined me at Casa Román to help me celebrate my 27th Sevilla Anniversary I’ve been promising to bring her a bottle of a nice mencía rosado to try. We both have a preference for crisp white wines and rosés over reds and I discovered this rosado while looking for more economical ways to still enjoy wine while being completely broke. Anyhow, yesterday was finally the day! I showed up at Casa Morales with my chilled bottle of wine and we sat at the table Reyes had reserved for us, in front of an open window (so lots of ventilation) and she proceeded to order food for us. Well, between the two of us and Reyes’ husband Juan Carlos (who stopped by for a quick glass) the bottle didn’t last that long, so then we were on to the sherries.
I’ve known Reyes for a long time, but it’s only been in the past year or so that we’ve started connecting on a more personal level. She is truly a warm and wonderful person and we always have a great time when we get together. Well this time rosé led to sherry, which led to more sherry and eventually a penúltima down the street at Bodeguita Romero. I’m telling you, that chica is a bad influence. 😉
02 Wednesday Dec 2020
Posted in coronavirus, covid, home, work
So… FUCK. Today I received by certified mail the official refusal of my application for the Ingreso Mínimo Vital, kind of the lowest you can go with begging for money from the government. This was because they cut me off from the monthly assistance for self-employed (autónomos) in June, because I had taken a break last year in August from social security payments since I had no work that month. I mean, a LOT of us seasonal workers do this, because otherwise you are paying 300€ a month even though you’re not not making a penny. So we sign off. And apparently they don’t give a fuck about the previous ten years or more that we have been duly paying in… miss a month you are fucked over.
I had government assistance (700€ a month) March-June, which of course doesn’t cover my basic living expenses but hey, it was better than nothing. Then they issued an extension of this aid, but suddenly I wasn’t eligible if I hadn’t paid into Social Security every month during the previous year. Bear in mind this was my first “baja” in almost ten years. Didn’t matter. I was cut off. So of course at the beginning of July I signed off again, because I was actually unemployed, no longer running a business and clearly not able to keep paying 300€ a month. And now they are saying that as long as I am signed off I can’t apply for any other self-employed assistance. Catch-22.
So a few months ago I applied for the Ingreso Mínimo Vital (400€) and also for rent assistance. These are the two things you can apply for if you’re actually rock bottom, but it turns out I’m not eligible for those either. I honestly don’t know what’s expected of us, and by “us” I mean all the self-employed in Spain who are being hung out to dry in this Catch-22 situation.
I’ve spoken (again) to my landlord and he still doesn’t want to lower my rent, it seems he would rather take his chances of me moving out and somehow not being left with an empty apartment for several months. But just the idea of moving just breaks my heart… for now I will hold on to this place until I can’t any more.
The whole of November I was caught up with my only paid gig since March – another article for Decanter. And despite the stress, insecurity and anxiety that I suffered over it this past month, if they asked me to do another one tomorrow I’d say HELL YEAH. 🙂 And not just for the money. It just felt great to be focused on work again and to be doing something. And so now it’s back to wondering what I’m going to do next.
How are you guys doing?
01 Tuesday Dec 2020
Posted in coronavirus, covid, restaurants
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Learned a new word this morning. Streeteries. A new term for enclosed outdoor eating spaces (think it was first coined in NYC). And yes, you don’t really want to be using that word. Or go to one of these places. My friend Julie @woollygee sent me this photo today, taken in northern England. I mean WTAF. How is this any different from eating indoors? In fact, it’s probably worse because it’s a small enclosed space without proper ventilation. Can’t you just SEE all those Covid droplets forming on the inside of the plastic??? Looks like a giant petri dish to me. With a lid.
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