Author Archives: azahar

looking for a new home

17 Tuesday Nov 2020

Posted by in casa azahar, cats, home, sevilla

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looking for a home

Don’t get me wrong. I REALLY do not want to leave my present Casa Azahar, where I have lived now for more than three years, because I feel more at home here than anywhere else I have lived in Sevilla. And it would actually break my heart to leave here.

But we are living through difficult times and the truth is, I just can’t afford to live here anymore.

At first I thought back in March that getting through maybe six months would be doable, but then they cut off my government financial support at the end of June, so things got even more difficult. And it’s not only gone way beyond six months, it looking like this situation is going to last another year, or even more.

So with a seriously heavy heart I’ve started looking at possible new homes. Of course nothing I see looks like home, and taking into account the cost of moving, it would be almost a year before I even recuperated that cost so that I would actually be paying the lower rent. Is it worth it? Last year I thought about the prospect of taking in occasional lodgers, but unfortunately this just isn’t possible during covid.

I like to think that my real home is wherever those three guys are, happy and cosy on my lap. But dammit, leaving here would just hurt so much. Anyhow if any of you in Sevilla know of someplace nice please let me know. Things are getting a bit desperate.

black christmas

13 Friday Nov 2020

Posted by in christmas, coronavirus, covid, sevilla, spain, travel

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Those of you who know me also know that there are probably not many other people you know who LOVE the Christmas season as much as I do. This isn’t because of all the happy memories of Christmases past… in fact it’s the opposite. It’s because I never had any nice Christmas memories growing up, so when I left home at the ripe old age of 15 I decided to start making my own traditions. And Christmas became MY THING. And OMG I love it, not as a religious holiday but kind of based on the concept of the birth of Jesus being a metaphor for the birth of compassion in the world. Not a GOD, but just a person like us. So I always made sure to make a big fuss over everything about celebrating the birth of compassion, and yeah, also love the lights, the songs, the movies, the everything. Don’t care too much about gifts, but again, that is another expression of appreciating the people we love, and letting them know, so that’s cool too.

Thing is, this year is different. Really different. We have constantly seen catastrophes happening around us because people will JUST NOT LET GO  of the idea that they can’t do things like they have always done. First it was that they NEEDED their summer holidays (who the fuck travels abroad ON HOLIDAY during a global pandemic??) and as a result of people not staying put we are experiencing a killer second wave of this fucking virus. And don’t even get me started on non-maskers and “herd immunity” assholes and people who have still had big weddings, birthdays, etc. Anyhow, now it’s coming up to Christmas and my Twitter feed is full of people talking about getting home for the holidays and I am like WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK??

Have people learned NOTHING?? Here we are in Spain not allowed to travel outside our own municipalities, with a curfew from 10pm to 7am, and yet they are still allowing tourists in and out?? This also goes for people who live here and have family elsewhere (or vice versa), somehow thinking that their family gathering is worth more than the safety and lives of others, that THEIR situation is the exception. This is the exact opposite of what Christmas should be about because this isn’t about giving or sharing or caring, it’s about selfish personal desire, and then just doing what you want at the possibly horrific expense of others. Honestly, I despair.