Category Archives: home

green sleeves

02 Tuesday Jun 2020

Posted by in home, sevilla, welcome

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green sleeves

So yeah, I don’t sleep much. Or well. Never have really. So not surprisingly I’ve been sleeping (or not sleeping) less (or more) and even worse during lockdown. Not because I’m locked down per se, more because I can’t let my mind wander too far into “what ifs” and this is easier done while awake than when asleep.

But one indulgence I now allow myself, being locked down and all, is that I can get up whenever I damn well please. I mean, there’s nowhere to go. And I have no work to do. Before I used to find it hard to stay in bed after sunrise, even if I’d only slept a few short hours, because it seemed a waste to miss a beautiful morning (I love mornings). But now? Fuck it. I probably only average about 4-5 hours of sleep a night, waking up anytime after 4 am. And there’s no way I can get back to sleep because, well, I can’t. So I read stuff on my phone, play with the cats, maybe get up two or three times because I’m restless. Before I know it it’s 7 o’clock. I know this because Loki has been spending the past hour or so moaning and pawing at me to feed him breakfast. So then I get up, feed the beasts, open the windows and go back to bed.

And since I’m not forcing myself to get up I sometimes even manage to doze off for another blessed hour or two, which feels amazing. Once or twice since lockdown I even surprised myself by waking up again at noon (!!). Unheard of. But it’s all part of the whole becoming a cat thing. So what does this have to do with green sleeves you ask?

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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?

 

lockdown day 66

18 Monday May 2020

Posted by in coronavirus, home, lockdown, lockdown sevilla

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People keep asking me how I am holding up during lockdown, am I bored, going stir crazy, am I making plans, making sourdough etc etc.

To be honest I think for the first month I was in a bit of a daze. I didn’t know what was going on and neither did anybody else. And that part actually hasn’t changed. But what has changed, at least for me, is that I feel less of a need to try and do anything about, well, anything. Instead I am observing. Watching and waiting. Because honestly, why waste my energy?

Meanwhile, I do seriously wonder how the hell I ever held down a full time job. Especially as, being freelance, my job was actually 7 days a week. Yeah, not every day all day, but I was pretty much always working, or at least “on call”. And yet I always found time to work, get all the chores done, see friends, do the shopping, keep up with an exercise routine.

But now? It takes me half the day to organise taking out the rubbish and maybe slipping in a quick supermarket run (and this only happens about every ten days or so). And when I am expecting a delivery, that also seems to take up half my day. Can I do a rooftop walk? What if I miss them? Should I time that with hanging up my laundry? I am suddenly overwhelmed.

For example today. I can’t believe it’s already 16.00. ALL I did today was get up, have coffee and breakfast, then did some cleaning up, changed the cat sand. After that my rooftop walk (approx 1 hour). Then I hung up some laundry (big evening activity coming up – changing the bed sheets!)

Meanwhile I will eat my late lunch soon (my one meal of the day), while watching something on Netflix, then possibly have a short accidental siesta in my chair. In between now and bedtime there will be some Instagramming and chatting with friends on Whatsapp, maybe a snack. Then suddenly it will be 23.00 and I’ll wonder where the hell the day went.

Have to say that all during this lockdown time I’ve been frustrated, sad, scared, worried, and have also had times of enjoyment and optimism, meanwhile not sleeping much…  but I haven’t once felt bored. How about you?