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Category Archives: sevilla

100 days of solitude

22 Monday Jun 2020

Posted by azahar in coronavirus, health & happiness, sevilla

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

casa azahar, coronavirus, lockdown, sevilla, spain

unlock

Yesterday marked the official final day of lockdown in Spain. I started counting Day 1 as March 14th, so that makes it 100 days, but I see some other “official” numbers vary by a day or two. Doesn’t matter. For me it’s been 100 days of lockdown, which have been mostly spent alone, until a few days ago when I dared to meet a friend for lunch. Other than that, there’s been no human contact other than at the supermarket. My last hug was on March 11th. The only times anyone has even touched me since then was when I went to have blood taken, and the other day when the oncologist poked and prodded my belly. This has been hard for a girl who loves her hugs!

What else has been hard in terms of lockdown itself? To be honest? Not that much really. Sure I’ve been a bit bored at times (not often), worried, lonely, anxious, but I’ve also been surprisingly patient and even content, making sure my days include things I enjoy (cooking, chatting online with friends, cuddling cats, writing this silly blog) and I’ve even set up a workout routine for those days I don’t get out for a walk. But as I’ve said here before, I’ve already had training for this when I spent a year and a half basically “locked down” by cancer, chemo and several major abdominal ops. And then I read this very good article by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett which reminded me that I’d also had even more previous training with my agoraphobia, which used to made it impossible to leave my home.

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oncology update!

19 Friday Jun 2020

Posted by azahar in cancer, coronavirus, friends, hope, hospitals, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars, welcome

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Tags

coronavirus, friends, hospitals, sevilla, tapas bars

plaza espanaJust look how fucking gorgeous this is! That is the Plaza de España WITHOUT ANY TOURISTS. My goodness, what a beautiful sight. I snapped this pic while walking home from the hospital today. Finally got my oncology checkup to review all the tests I’ve had done (Feb-March). This got postponed, like most things, by the VIRUS. But today was the day. Luckily I had already been given copies of the test results from my GP so there were no big surprises.

Basically, after another colonoscopy, an upper abdomenal barium x-ray, another CT scan of my thorax and abdomen, and more blood tests, they still don’t know what THE THING is next to my stomach. But it appears to be behaving and they think they can rule out cancer. But short of cutting me open again they can’t know for sure. And they really don’t want to cut me open again. So there will be another CT scan and blood test in September to see if there have been any changes.

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día mundial de la tapa

18 Thursday Jun 2020

Posted by azahar in food & drink, friends, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, the new now

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

friends, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars

tapas day (3)

I didn’t even realise today was Día Mundial de la Tapa (World Tapas Day)! What a perfect moment to have my first tapa out in 97 days. And well it had to be THOSE gorgeous honey pork ribs at Eslava.

The day started off with a visit to the Alcázar Palace and Gardens, which just opened up to the public on Monday. I thought it would be nice to visit again before the marauding hordes start arriving here on Sunday. So I arranged to meet my friend Corinna at 11.30 (carefully timed so that after our palace visit it would be BEER O’CLOCK).

casaCorinna

Along the way we stopped in at a couple of bars just so I could say hello to people there. It was so lovely seeing dear friends again. Corinna and I  lucked out at Eslava and got a nice socially distanced space at the bar and had an amazing lunch. And I got to see Sixto! He runs Eslava with his wife and I’ve known him for many years. We agreed that the “reopening” in our new now is more than just about business, or even the food. It’s about the people, the ambiance, the… everything! Damn it felt good to be back.

tapas day (4)
Sixto

tapas day (1)

Baby courgette filled with bacalao
Croquetas caseras
Becquer’s cigar
Stuffed courgette flower
Cheesecake

tourist ghetto

17 Wednesday Jun 2020

Posted by azahar in neighbours, sevilla, sevilla shutdown, tourism

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Tags

barrio santa cruz, sevilla, tourism

tourist guetto
They are finally pedestrianising Calle Mateos Gago, where l lived for 18 years (just above those orange trees on the top left pic). I walked all through Barrio Santa Cruz the other day and didn’t see one shop or one bar open, even beyond the street works. Why? Because nobody lives there anymore. This is what happens when you turn a previously vibrant and thriving neighbourhood into a tourist ghetto.

the new (illegal) covid tax

16 Tuesday Jun 2020

Posted by azahar in coronavirus, restaurants, sevilla, tapas bars, welcome

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Tags

bars, coronavirus, covid-19, restaurants, spain

covid tasa

You know, there are always the bottom feeders who try to milk every opportunity for everything they can squeeze out of it. Look at this bill from a bar in the Canary Islands, charging a COVID TAX for serving beer. So you know, this is totally illegal, just like the dread Bread & Service Charges that show up on bar bills throughout Spain, and you are not obliged to pay it.

This has been a public service announcement.

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