20 Friday Sep 2024
Yesterday we had about an hour and a half of blessed rain here… really a full on thunderstorm. Much needed and appreciated but it blew through town way too quickly. Hopefully it lingered longer in the countryside. Anyhow, I was out hobbling around getting some errands done and this was the sky on my way home, about an hour before the storm hit.
18 Wednesday Sep 2024
After its poignant “summer holiday” cover last July The Sevillaner is back with more on the effects of over tourism in our city. The Giraldilla is a gigantic sculpture at the top of the Giralda Tower that also functions as a weather vane. It represents a pregnant woman dressed in a long tunic and with a helmet surrounded by a crown. In one of her hands she holds a palm and in the other a warrior’s shield attached to a lance with a Christian cross on top. In the other hand, the palm in her left hand symbolizes victory, since the Giraldilla also represents the triumph of the Catholic religion over the Muslim world.
The Giraldilla symbolizes Christian Faith and Hope, a feature that is evident in the uncarved pupils and the fact of being pregnant. Her clothing and the elements of war also symbolize strength. For the same reason it was placed on the highest point of the Cathedral of Sevilla, built on the old mosque; specifically on the old minaret, reaffirming the message.
On this month’s cover we see a dejected Giraldilla sitting on a pile of suitcases, better described by the artist below…
Credit: Tavo Studio
Creative Director: Tavo Ponce
Designer: Pablo Travasos
I imagined a Giraldilla that is still pregnant with hope, but without the shield that serves as a weather vane for a city that seems to have given up and wanders aimlessly. That still clings to the palm leaf as a symbol of an imagined victory of a Sevilla that has no other triumph than to continue being in love with itself. That watches generations go by drunk with love, nostalgia and melancholy, accommodated in that eternal sensation of the Sevillas we have lost. And that, now, is forced to find a seat among the checked luggage of the tourists who invade it en masse, along with that of the young people who have to leave like swallows.
17 Tuesday Sep 2024
Posted in events, gastronomy, sevilla
I went, I hobbled around best I could, met up with friends, tried a few things… but this year’s Auténtica Food Festival event was just beyond me and I barely lasted an hour. I’m still glad I went and luckily the 27 bus – the stop is five minutes from my house – got me there and back again easily (though nobody wearing masks on the bus!). Exhausted now. Also thanks to Peter for being my “crutch man”.
16 Monday Sep 2024
Posted in health, health & happiness, hospitals, sevilla
post-hospital Sevilla Anniversary cava at Las Teresas
An afternoon at the hospital wasn’t how I’d have planned to spend my 31st Sevilla Anniversary but FINALLY getting my MRI done was kind of celebratory in itself. I’d been waiting almost three months and since then I’ve gone from getting by with my trusty stick to barely being able to walk with a pair of crutches. This past month has been a long, frustrating and painful one.
The previous MRI last year (left knee) was at a state-of-the-art radiology place but this time it was at my old hospital Virgen del Rocío. I like to think I know that place like the back of my hand after having spent so much time there, but with “after hours” late afternoon tests half the entrances/exits are closed and nobody is manning the information desks… it took me half an hour to find my correct waiting room and also took some doing to find my way out again. After which I met up with Peter at Las Teresas for a glass of cava to celebrate the day.
Anyhow, I wasn’t expecting any big news today but it still came as a surprise when the technician told me the results wouldn’t be available for 15 days. What? I told him I had an appointment booked with my GP for next Monday, so he said he would leave a note on my file to help speed things up a bit. Fingers crossed. And of course after seeing the GP there will be more waiting… will I be offered physiotherapy? an operation? Meanwhile…
I haven’t worked since mid-July. Part of that was my doing, taking some extra “staycation” time in July, though in fact I stopped doing tours in August years ago. Way too hot. But when I suddenly couldn’t walk without crutches mid-August… well, that totally fucked everything up. I scrambled to find people to take the tours I had booked the first half of September, and now I clearly have to do the same for the rest of the month and possibly longer. Luckily I not only have Peter to help out with this, but two other freelance friends Fiona and Sharon have also been happy to take on the new tours being booked that I obviously cannot do myself.
This means that I know clients will be in good hands, and that’s great. But it also means no income for me and, now realistically looking at how this is likely to pan out, until something is done to fix my knee I will not able to do any tours. What I don’t know now is how long that will be. There is a little extra income out there, I’ve just finished another article for Decanter magazine and the Patreon brings in about 100 euros a month (appreciate it!) but I can’t live on that. I know I’ve been “pivoting” for ages with the tours, looking for other ways to move forward, without giving up the tours entirely, so maybe this is my wake up call. I just wish I knew how and where I am supposed to be pivoting and moving on to.
13 Friday Sep 2024
Posted in casa azahar, home, sevilla, television
Enjoyed these two very different short series this week. Wicked Little Letters surprised me, I wasn’t expecting it to be so clever and fun. British black comedy at its best with a terrific cast.
Kaos was also fun and started off strong but got a bit tired towards the end. The best part for me was when a drone shot of the Plaza de España came on the screen. Turns out they filmed a lot of it in Sevilla and Málaga back in 2022. And it looks like there will be a second season.
casa azahar 