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.