Category Archives: animals & pets

passing on pulpo

18 Wednesday Jan 2023

Posted by in animals & pets, food & drink

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pulpo

I remember exactly when this happened but I still don’t know why. On April 30 (last spring) I went for lunch at a lovely place called Harinas Cocina a Fuego Lento and ordered the pulpo. And it arrived looking gorgeous, perfectly chargrilled with stir fried mixed veg and romesco sauce. Turned out it tasted as fabulous as it looked but after my first bite… I couldn’t eat any more of it. Suddenly it felt wrong, somehow, but I didn’t know why or how. And I haven’t been able to eat octopus since then.

Of course whenever I mention this to someone they immediately assume it’s because I watched that (frankly bizarre and disturbing) Netflix documentary about a grown man who developed a creepy “relationship” with a female octopus. So no. However, over the years it seems I have been absorbing all kinds of cool and interesting facts about these amazing creatures, often in the wee hours when I’m scrolling Twitter when I should be sleeping. Videos of them solving puzzles, working out escape routes, and especially about how all those suckers are full of knowledge, memories and feelings. So on that day back in April I took a bite and it just made me sad.

I remember thinking afterwards OMG THIS IS A SLIPPERY SLOPE because pigs are also very clever and there are plenty of other animals that are frankly adorable, especially when little (and at their most delicous). Because this whole octopus thing was not a conscious decision, it just happened to me, so who knows where this will lead, if anywhere at all. Well, wait and see…

constancia is back!

26 Tuesday May 2020

Posted by in animals & pets, music, sevilla, welcome

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constancia-2

You may remember Constancia from back when I first met her in October 2018. Well, I had known of her for years previous to that, passing her in the streets almost every day, but that was the first time I stopped to chat with her. And we became friends in a way. After that I would always greet her and chat a bit, blow her a kiss (she loves blowing kisses) and sometimes I would give her some cash or some food. She lives with her husband just beyond 3 mil, and she really does work hard, out there every day with her little dog and her accordian. Often I would pass her coming home after a tapas tour, going on midnight.

Anyhow, just before Christmas I saw her while on my way to pick up clients for a tapas tour… and she was without her little dog. And my heart just sank. So of course I stopped to ask what happened, and of course the dog had died (ripe old age, she’d had a good life) and I couldn’t do anything but hold Constancia in the biggest hug I could manage and kiss her cheeks. Oh man, it was so heartbreaking to see her without her dog and knowing how much pain she was in. And worse then to tell her I had to go (I ended up late for my tour) but that we’d talk soon.

 

Next time I saw her we talked about her getting another dog and I said I could check rescue shelters and help her find a new pup. But Constancia was very clear. She wanted the exact same breed as Piti, she wanted a female, and she wanted a young puppy. Well, I’m all about adopting rescues rather than buying from breeders, and how would she even find another Bichón Habanese anyhow, but you know what? In the end her husband found one, a mini replica of her old dog.

And I know all this because when I was doing a “rubbish run” last week (wearing my latex gloves!) I took the long way home and suddenly saw Constancia with her accordian and five-month old brand new little Piti out in the street. Oh my god… big air kisses all around and the little pup was so adorable and very friendly. And I saw Constancia smiling again. Made my day.

cat scratch fever

21 Thursday May 2020

Posted by in animals & pets, casa azahar, cats, home

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WTF. I bought this cat scratch tower thingy last September and now look at it. Eight months later and it’s been totally ripped to shreds (mostly by Luna; Loki still prefers the back of the sofa and Morcilla has all but destroyed my office chair). But as you can see, it’s only the posts that have been shredded. The rest of the stand still stands and is in more or less good condition. I wish these companies would sell replacement posts for these things because they’re not cheap to replace. It’s a shame to throw this whole thing away, and in any case I can’t afford to replace it. But posts at, say 10€ each, would be a reasonable option and would also mean less waste.

Probably the only one who will miss it would be Luna, so it’s not exactly “essencial”, but Luna has so few things she loves (she’s such a weirdo) that I will leave it here until she actually destroys the cardboard posts themselves (which she did with the previous tower) and the whole thing collapses. But at least the previous one lasted a year and a half. Cats, eh?