my gal

17 Thursday Sep 2020

Posted by in casa azahar, cats, home

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Not the most flattering photo as I am just out of the shower, no makeup, damp hair (don’t care)… but it was a MOMENT. I was sitting at my desk and suddenly Morcilla climbed up onto my shoulder and did her little nuzzling thing that leaves me weak. She hasn’t done this since spring, mostly because unless I’m wearing a sweater this hurts like fuck (CLAWS). But today I was wearing an embroidered cotton dress that is a bit thicker – how did she know? – and so it worked. Oh, my girl. We were made for each other.

my 27th sevilla anniversary

16 Wednesday Sep 2020

Posted by in casa azahar, friends, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars

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Twenty-seven years ago today I drove down from Salamanca with a friend and with all my worldly belongings in the back of his car, along with some precious cargo – my two cats Lua and her son Sunny. We arrived in Sevilla at 8 pm, as previously arranged (to meet landlord and pick up keys), and miraculously found parking almost in front of my new home in calle Mateos Gago. But there was no landlord. And as this was 1993 there were no cell phones, so we just waited. And waited. Finally we asked the bar we were parked in front of if we could get something to eat and drink, but we didn’t really want to leave the car because of the cats and all. And bless them, the people at Bar Campanario actually brought food and drink out to our car, like we were at a drive in, and it was lovely. The landlord finally showed up at 11pm full of apologies, but we were fine (though the cats were happy to see a litter box!). Bar Campanario ended up becoming my local, heck even my living room (my studio apt across the street was tiny), and the owners became fast friends.

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6 months on…

14 Monday Sep 2020

Posted by in coronavirus, sevilla, sevilla shutdown

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It’s been exactly six months since lockdown began. Well, some say it was officially declared on the 16th of March, but in fact by Saturday the 14th here schools, offices, shops, bars and restaurants had all been ordered to shut and people were told to stay at home. As with, I think, all of us, it took a while for it all to sink in. What it would mean to us, our lives, the world. I remember the “good ol’ days” when my main concern, chatting with friends, was that all my tapas tours for the spring had been cancelled and I was going to lose the high season trade. Back then everyone was sure this would all be over by summertime. Ha.

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