Category Archives: home

busted!

15 Thursday Sep 2011

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A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the back of my comfy chair (inherited from Agustín a few years ago) had gone a bit wobbly. Then it started sinking on one side, getting worse and more wobbly by the day. And so I thought the best thing to do would be to cut it open and see what the problem was. This is what I saw.

See that white elastic with the double line running across it? Well, that and the piece of wood it’s attached to, should be attached to the other side of the chair. My theory is that it got bashed about during the move last February and then Loki – doing his Jungle Gym routine climbing up back of chair and then hanging there – didn’t help. Damn. The wood slats on the left-hand side have snapped in two places.

Thing is, that old comfy chair has seen me through some very hard times. After all the cancer ops I would never have been able to sit comfortably on – or even get up from – the IKEA sofa/bed, which has to be one of the worst-designed sofas ever. I needed something with sturdy arms so I could settle into and push myself out of the chair without having to use too much “gut power” with stitches going from here to there.

I don’t know what to do now. Repairing the old comfy chair is beyond my capacity, and I’m not sure it’s worth getting it restored by a professional. In the meanwhile, I have brought the IKEA reading chair down from upstairs. It’s a bit low-slung to be comfortable getting in and out of, and it also leans back too much. I need a more upright chair.

This afternoon I’m going to wander over to a small neighbourhood upholstery place I pass all the time. They will either solve my problem or cost ten times more than buying something new.

home improvements

14 Wednesday Sep 2011

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A few hours ago these three taps were sitting out on my dining table and now… they are all where they should be! I’m so thrilled because the old taps here were a constant daily source of frustration and annoyance. As you can see, the new taps are not only bright and shiny, they are also clever.

Many thanks to Pablito, who did a great job. Afterwards I made his favourite dish – *my* carbonara – and we had a nice time eating and drinking wine and chatting.

More home improvements coming up next week – watch this space!

new kitteh?

13 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by in animals & pets, cats, home

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I mentioned this little guy in yesterday’s post, as a possible new playmate for Loki. The idea of getting Loki his own kitten has been on my mind for awhile now because, although he and Azar get along well (most of the time), I know that it would be more fun for Loki to have a cat closer to his own age to play with. And so when I saw a poster in the street on Monday saying that the people who’d taken this little darling in were leaving Sevilla in two weeks and needed to find a home for him I decided to get in touch.

I went to visit the kitteh and immediately fell in love. He’s so tiny, can’t be more than two months old, and just gorgeous. Of course the problem with taking in a street cat is making sure it doesn’t have any contageous diseases and, after talking to Fani, the woman taking care of him, she agreed to pay for the tests and I said I would take care of vaccinations when he’s a bit older. But a phone call to Yolanda stopped us in our tracks. She said the kitten is probably too young for an accurate test result and, if I took him in now, I’d have to keep him isolated from the other two just in case until he could be properly tested. Then Fani said that she would take him in to Yolanda’s on Thursday to see if he could be given the test, otherwise she may consider taking him back to Greece with her.

So, we shall see. I had thought of holding off until winter to get a kitten, but when I saw this poster I thought “maybe this is my new cat!”. And after meeting him I’m still hoping that we can work something out. I mean, there is enough room for him here to stay in “quarantine” for a month or so. After going through all this worry when I took Loki in I realise how lucky I was the day I brought Azar home. I gave him a good scrubbing and checked for fleas (surprisingly he didn’t have any) and then had to give him de-worming medicine, but that was all I did. I didn’t realise I might be putting Lua and Sunny in danger. But now that I know the risks I can’t take any chances. Stay tuned…

man about the house

08 Thursday Sep 2011

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A couple of weeks ago the tap outside on the terraza started leaking. At first I wondered if this might be the cause of my crazy water bills (not to be confused with my insane electricity bills) but it turned out that this leak wasn’t of much consequence. But it was still there. And while I’m pretty good at general home repairs and maintenance there are some things I’ve never had to do – like change a tap – and so I feel a bit out of my depth. I called the landlady’s handyman who’d recently done some work in my kitchen (and who also helped me move my washing machine), but he was busy on a job and had no free time for a couple of weeks. And I sure didn’t want to call in a professional plumber because my landlady had told me this was something that happened after I moved in so I’d have to pay for it…

Then my friend Pablo came to the rescue. He stopped by tonight and said the tap needed to be replaced and that he’d pick one up and do it for me sometime in the next few days. And it turns out he’ll also replace the crappy taps in my bathroom! Well, I’ll have to buy the taps, but he said he could do the work for me. I’m so happy because these taps have been driving me mental since I moved in and the landlady had her guy “fix” them while he was doing odd jobs, but basically they are old crappy taps and beyond repair.

Then, since Pablo seemed to know about these things, I asked about the possibility of changing the electric ceramic cooker (only 3 out of 4 burners work properly) to a gas one, and he checked around and discovered that the gas line was already in place so it would be a very simple installation. So now I’m all psyched about doing these few home repairs with Pablo’s help and advice. I’ll need to get a plumber to hook up the cooker (when that day comes) but meanwhile it’s so nice to have a “man about the house” who can help with these things. Even though he lives across town and I’ll end up paying him in carbonara dinners, it’s still a source of comfort.

Gracias Pablito!