Category Archives: friends

christmas eve 2011

24 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by in christmas, fiestas, food & drink, friends, holidays, home

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This has been one of the most relaxed and pleasant Christmas Eves I can remember. Got up a bit later than usual and had some coffee and breakfast. Luckily I got all the supermarket shopping out of the way yesterday, so today just had to pop over to the market for the fish and veg. I couldn’t believe my flatmate Peter! He was Feliz Navidad-ing everyone and being all chatty. I think maybe my delight of Christmas has rubbed off a little…

After getting back from the market I wrote a few Christmas cards and we went out again, this time to just stop by a few places – well okay, tapas bars – and say Merry Christmas to everyone. Of course we stopped for tapas at some of them, and I also got to pick up some amazing blue goat’s cheese (cabrales) and a strong cured sheep’s cheese at our second stop, to go with my Victoria Nº2. And then we took a walk through the Christmas Market. My friend Pablo showed up at our last stop and we went next door with him for yet another drink while he had a tapita. And then the owner Carlos invited us to a glass of cava…

So just got home about an hour ago. Have been getting things ready little by little. Going to roast some small potatoes in garlic and olive oil to go with the salmon steaks with jamón and cava sauce. Some simple steamed broccoli to go with that. As a starter I’m going to deep-fry some gorgeous langoustine tails we got at the market today and serve them with alioli. For afters Peter has his chocolate cake and I’m sure he’ll also partake of the three cheeses (the two bought today and also the famous and fabulous cranberry wensleydale). And then we’ll get cosy with the cats and watch a Christmas movie or two…

I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas Eve too!

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justo

23 Friday Dec 2011

Posted by in culture, friends, sevilla, shoes

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The other day after I picked up my loaner iPad, Peter and I stayed at the Vineria San Telmo to enjoy a drink outside in the sunshine. I mean, sitting out in the sun in mid-December is pretty special. And then I saw my old buddy Justo. I’ve known him as long as I’ve lived in Sevilla. He used to do the shoe-shine thing outside my old home until the “powers that be” decided it was bad for tourism to have gypsy shoe-shine guys pestering the tourists. And to be honest, the majority of them were pretty obnoxious. But not Justo. He was always charming and chatty. I remember once, maybe 15 years ago, splashing out to have my shoes polished on my birthday.

And so when I saw Justo again we had a chat and, as usual, he pointed out the bad state of our shoes. Well, mine are suede so he couldn’t do anything about that, but Peter never takes care of his shoes and Justo said he would add two years of life to them for just 4 euros. How could I resist? So I bought Peter a shoe shine, and also about ten minutes of Justo’s time. We chatted and caught up a bit – Justo told Peter about how he’s known me forever – and I found out that he has been made the official shoe-shine guy for Restaurante Modesto! He even has a little badge saying so. All of which made me think about how much all our lives have changed over the years. And also about how “connected” I feel here, to all kinds of people and to all sorts of memories.

I told Justo I would put his photo on Twitter and make him famous, and he made me promise I would say he was the best shoe-shine guy in the Puerta de la Carne. Which I did. Because he really is. Peter’s two-year-old shoes look brand new.

the tree is up!

20 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by in cats, christmas, friends, holidays, home, sevilla

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It took some thought but last night I tried this hopefully cat-proof set-up, taking a tall bookcase thingy from Peter’s room into the living room and putting it in front of one of the windows. I think it looks okay, don’t you? So far the kittehs haven’t shown too much interest in it (the lower three shelves don’t have anything “interesting” on them) but Luna has a thing for strings and cords, so I tuck the cord away when it’s not plugged in.

Yay! I love this little tree.

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the antidote

06 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by in cats, food & drink, friends, holidays, home

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It’s a rare treat that someone cooks for me and lasts night it was a double treat when both Anna and Jorge made dinner for me and Peter. The perfect antidote to yesterday’s Monday niggles – a lovely meal and great company. And cats! What more could one want? Though I probably shouldn’t have had that second (or was it third?) glass of aguardiente…

Today is a bank holiday so I’m taking things easy. But it’s such a nice shiny day out there that I think I’ll go out soon to warm up. Feeling decidedly Christmassy.

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happy monday…

05 Monday Dec 2011

Posted by in cancer, cats, christmas, food & drink, friends, hospitals

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I mean, it started off okay. And nothing went horribly wrong. But things kept not going right. You know the sort of day I mean? Well, this was my Monday. At least until about an hour ago (it’s now 8pm).

I was actually supposed to have taken Luna and Loki to the vet’s for booster shots today, but one of Peter’s students changed her Friday class to this morning so I changed the appointment to Friday, because there’s no way I can handle taking two beasties to the vet’s on my own.

So fine. This freed up my late morning so I could go to the hospital to get my chemo port cleaned. I’d actually forgotten all about it – really should’ve gone last week. Anyhoodle, decided to make it a good morning and go to the gym before heading off to the hospital (new port cleaning hours are 12.00-1.00). And because Peter’s shoulder is causing him grief and he’s been complaining non-stop I thought it might be a good idea for him to go to emergency instead of waiting two months for the MRI… and this is when things started to go crappy.

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