Category Archives: sevilla

la alfalfa

06 Sunday Feb 2011

Posted by in home, sevilla, spain

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[click to enlarge]

Welcome to my new neighbourhood!

Took a few snaps yesterday as I hobbled around on my crutches. This barrio is known as “La Alfalfa” because it has the Plaza Alfalfa at its centre, which used to be where they sold animal feed. Many of the streets in the area are named after old jobs that no longer exist, presumably where the workshops were located. I love that my street is named after the people who used to separate the wheat from the chaff … seems like a wonderful metaphor for my new life here.

You can see that the whole style here is different from the Barrio Santa Cruz. More homey, no tourists or souvenir shops. In fact, it’s full of wonderful – and useful! – shops, like bakeries, supermarkets (3 just off the plaza, one with a fab fish section), a gourmet butcher, florist, “euro shop”, convenience store, pharmacy, fruit & veg shop, a place that makes churros & crisps, and lots of little boutiques. There are also scores of tapas bars, and my gym is just up the street. The Plaza itself – about a two-minute walk from home – is always bustling and was recently pedestrianised, making it a pleasant place to sit out in the sun and enjoy a beer and a tapa.

I’m very pleased with the new barrio. It feels very comfortable and more “authentic” to where I was before. And I can still see the top of the Giralda tower when I look out my bedroom balcony…

central heating!

03 Thursday Feb 2011

Posted by in home, sevilla, weather

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OMG… this little tiny box on my wall is about to change my life. I haven’t had central heating since I lived in Bristol (1990-1992) and today I finally bit the bullet and turned the thing on. I’ve been wanting to save money but we’re going through a cold snap here, and I decided I have enough to deal with having a painful sprained ankle without also sitting here shivering away as I try to get some work done. So hang the expense! At least for today.

I’d much rather have this kind of aircon/heating system, with just one unit in the livingroom and another upstairs, but oh well. I am hoping that the double-glazed windows in the livingroom and my bedroom will help conserve heat (and cold air in summer). And anyhow, if the heat was shut off upstairs it would probably just go up the stairwell, so there is nothing for it but to heat the entire apartment. I was talking about this to Agustín last night (who has the wall unit system) and he said that if I set my thermostat to a low but comfortable temperature it should be cheaper to run it all day than to keep turning it off and on again. Given that it’s taken an hour for the temp here to go from 14º to 18º  he could have a point.  Once the place reaches 20º it’ll take less energy to maintain the heat than to turn it off and start from scratch again. I’m actually already feeling more comfortable at 18º but I guess it’ll be a question of trying out various combinations of space heaters and the central heating to see which is more economical, but right now I’m very glad to have this option.

Though I recall my friend Paco telling me how he hates his central heating because in summer cockroaches come out of the vents (!!!!!). But I already have a plan for that. One apartment I looked at during the search also had central heating and I noticed they had attached plastic mesh screens over all the vent openings, which was all I had to see to walk away and not take the place. So here’s hoping this won’t be necessary. According to an engineer friend who works for the water company, each and every house in the old centre of Sevilla is stuffed full of roaches. He had a few horror stories of breaking open walls to get at the pipes… but apparently they usually stay where it’s dark and damp. We’ll see what happens here.

But it’s such a fabulous place. Every day it feels a little more like home. Wish I could walk though…

settling in…

31 Monday Jan 2011

Posted by in change, home, hope, sevilla

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Here’s Azar sitting next to me on my comfy chair right now while I sit in the middle of the room with the desk wheeled over so I can use my laptop comfortably. Mostly all moved in now although the place is still a total disaster area, with lots and lots of cleaning and organising to do and a few things to get the landlords to fix…

But it actually felt great waking up this morning in my new home. And I’m so pleased to see the cats all curious about their new surroundings – especially Azar. He’s friskier than I’ve seen him in ages. And Peter also seems a bit recharged, in spite of all the physical work he’s been doing this past week, particularly yesterday.

Just one last bit of “leftovers” to shift over from the old place, and take care of changing over the utilities, and tomorrow I will say goodbye forever to the old casa az.

I thought I was going to miss my old place, but when I left it last night without all my stuff  inside I realised that what made it a home was everything I’d put into it. With all that gone it didn’t look so special, just like a place that used to be my home. I’m glad I have the video to remember it fondly, and I will miss the orange trees and the azahar, but there’s so much here to enjoy that I’m sure it’ll all balance out. And anyhow, the orange trees are just five minutes away (and I can also get a small one for my rooftop terrace!).

I have a feeling that living here in a new neighbourhood in this wonderful new apartment is going to be quite an adventure. Earlier today I hung out some clothes to dry in the sun on my terraza and thought … this is home!

the keys to the palace

24 Monday Jan 2011

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Ever since Steve’s typo, I’ve been referring to my new home as “the palace”. This afternoon I signed the contract, handed over the deposit and am now – officially – the keeper of the keys, though I won’t actually pick them up until Friday morning. Apparently there is still some painting and minor repairs to do, and then the cleaning woman is going to come over the weekend and get everything spic and span…

Meanwhile,  I’ll be moving some stuff over on Friday with Caroline, though I have yet to sort out the actual moving day or how I’m actually going to move. Today I spoke to Maria Paz’s son and he said he’d check out cheap van rentals and get back to me. So that bit is still up in the air. But wow! I have a signed contract and a new home. Go me!

p*cking

23 Sunday Jan 2011

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Today Peter and I have officially started packing after having collected a few boxes over the past couple of days. It’s hard to imagine that in a week’s time we may actually be moved… heck, it’s hard to imagine that we’re even going to find enough boxes, let alone get them all packed in time. It’s daunting, to say the least.

I still don’t even know how we’re going to move yet. Options are probably now down to renting a van and getting friends to help. I’m still waiting for estimates from a couple of moving companies but I’m sure they will be way too expensive. As for when, it could really be anytime after Thursday because the apartment is empty and that will give them time to finish painting, cleaning and doing minor repairs. I was hoping for Friday, which would give us the weekend to get settled in. We shall see.

But man – p*cking sucks! When I moved here from Salamanca all my worldly possessions, including two cats, fit neatly into a small hatchback. A year later when I moved from across the street I carried stuff over bit by bit. No furniture, just books, clothes, cats and kitchen stuff. And when I moved here from the apartment next door I didn’t have to pack one box, though I did fill up the laundry basket a few times. Compared to those times this is gonna be hell. On the plus side it’ll give me the chance to get rid of a lot of stuff, and there are lots of bookcases, cupboards and closets at the new place. Though I doubt I’ll ever look back on all this and laugh. Most likely I’ll shudder at the thought and just be thankful it’s over.