Category Archives: spain

summer house temps

21 Wednesday Aug 2019

Posted by in sevilla, spain, summer

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Translation to celcius for this tweet linking to a New Report on recommended temps for energy efficiency. It caused a huge Twitter fuss with everyone saying how high these temps were, that babies would die, etc, etc.

· 25.5C when you’re home
· 29.5C when you’re not home
· 27.5C when you’re sleeping

But this looks totally reasonable to me, especially because these are the actual temperatures I live with in summer (when it’s 40ºC outside). I set my A/C to 25C when I am home, if the indoor temp goes above 28C, and it usually settles at about 26C. I turn it off when I’m not home, and then it can hit 28-30C, especially during the afternoon. If I’ve been out in the evening I cool the place down for about an hour before bed and when I get up in the morning it’s usually 26-27C.

And even this costs me a small fortune. My gawd, if I left the thing on all day and night I’d be broke. At night a fan is enough, and I also have a fan going in the living room when the A/C is on to move the cool air around. How about you?

san lorenzo 2019

10 Saturday Aug 2019

Posted by in culture, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars

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Since my first ever San Lorenzo day celebration six years ago this has become an annual event for me. Ramón and Mari Carmen of the Antigua Abacería de San Lorenzo host the celebration on August 10th, in honour of the patron saint of cooks and chefs, and namesake of both their barrio and bar.

As always, a variety of grilled flesh were on offer throughout the afternoon, along with a typical white wine punch from Huelva called ponché alosnero. I particularly liked the boat full of nécoras (velvet crabs) on display though I cannot eat them whole as instructed by Ramón. It was also a clever way of incorporating their August beach theme with the saint day celebrations. Good times.

The martyr San Lorenzo was put to a slow and painful death on top of a large gridiron with live coals beneath it and, the legend concludes that, after enduring the pain for a very long time he made his famous cheerful remark, “I’m well done. Turn me over!”.

a day at the beach

06 Tuesday Aug 2019

Posted by in seasons, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars

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Some of you may remember the fabulous Antigua Abacería de San Lorenzo from their annual San Lorenzo day celebration. But Ramón and Carmen are never idle. This year they returned a week early from their summer holidays and set up the Costa San Lorenzo, a perfect beach spot for people like me who, frankly, no longer enjoys going to an actual beach anymore. At Costa San Lorenzo you get to enjoy a beach atmosphere without all that nasty sand and noisy hoards of sunbathing, well, hoards. Had a great time there this past weekend and will be back on Saturday for San Lorenzo Day. Of course!

self help

29 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars

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In most bars this is known as “la carta” (the menu) but here at Casa Moreno Emilio calls it “la lista de auto ayuda” (the self help list). This week I’m doing the rounds – stopping in at my favourite bars that are going to be closed in August for their much deserved summer holidays. It’s nice doing this, just to have a drink with them and say… see you in September! Also, I get kisses.  🙂

loo brush backlash!

23 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by in culture, humour, instagram, sevilla, spain, tourism, travel

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Soooooo… have been working on a blog post about tourism in Sevilla. Well, it applies pretty much everywhere I’m sure. Just putting some thoughts together about the effect of mass tourism on travel destinations, and also about how places are so often marketed in a misleading way. One of those horrid catchphrases that I’m sure you’ve all heard by now is LIVE LIKE A LOCAL.

To wit I’ve been capturing some photos of how I – a local – actually live in Sevilla. This was one of them. Funny, right? Well, apparently not. I got some serious verbal backlash when I posted this on Instagram a few days ago with #livinglikealocal and #livelikealocal hashtags. This was followed by a dozen or so “unfollows”. And I had been SO CLOSE to reaching 5000 followers  😉

I would have quoted the Divine Ms M – FUCK ‘EM IF THEY CAN’T TAKE A JOKE – but I’m sure that would have just got me into more trouble. Anyhoodle… will let you know when I finish.  🙂