Tag Archives: covid

new restrictions for january 2021

11 Monday Jan 2021

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jan 11-25

Here they are, the Christmas hangover restrictions for the next two weeks. Meanwhile the new Covid strain, which is supposedly 70% more contagious, is still being taken around Andalucía by people who insist on having “their old lives back” and taking non-essential trips. At least they’ve closed the regional borders again. Also a shout out to those people who have to go out and about town every single day, cramming into shops and bars. What the fuck is wrong with you? These next two weeks are going to be very telling in terms of new cases and deaths. I’ll be spending them mostly at home, as I have been doing since, um… March?

accidental lunch

09 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by in coronavirus, covid, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars

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accidental lunch (1)

I was supposed to have a perfectly on purpose lunch with my friend Lucy, since our birthdays are a day apart and we haven’t seen each other in ages. But when we arrived at the bar I’d chosen (a new place being run by my friend chef Javi Abascal) it was fully booked. Should have known as it was the first Saturday since the January sales started, and also the first non-rainy day all week. After checking out a couple of other places (all fully booked) Lucy and I decided to postpone our birthday lunch for another day, preferably mid-week. To be honest, I have only been going out to eat during the week and at an early hour so I get to places before they get busy.

Anyhow, since I was already dressed and outside I decided to take a river walk, something I haven’t done in far too long. And it was lovely. Meanwhile, my friend Peter had been in touch so I told him I’d be in the Alameda in about half an hour if he wanted to meet for a beer. Then, while I was waiting for Peter (by chance I’d stopped to check my phone in front of Al Aljibe) I saw a couple of women at a table in the terrace paying up (it was 3 pm by this time) and so I took possession of the table and told Peter where I was.

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(too) at home in my home (?)

30 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by in casa azahar, coronavirus, covid

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stay home

I find myself in a bit of a quandary. Let me know what you think. I was going out a bit more a couple of months ago, when restrictions were lifted, while of course still being careful. To be clear “going out more” meant that aside from essential shopping and occasional river walks, I would go also out for tapas a couple of times a week. But since the recent curfew and all that I’ve stopped my walks and maybe meet a friend for tapas once a week. The rest of the time I’m at home.

And the thing is, I’m okay with that on a personal level. The new restrictions with shops/bars/restaurants closing at 6 pm, no going outside our municipalities, and the curfew from 10 pm to 7 am, don’t actually affect my “new normal” life since I haven’t been out in the evening for months and haven’t travelled outside Sevilla since March. But I am wondering… am I TOO okay with this? As a person who suffers from agoraphobia, is all this giving me too much “permission” to just succumb rather than push myself to get out there?

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looking for a new home

17 Tuesday Nov 2020

Posted by in casa azahar, cats, home, sevilla

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looking for a home

Don’t get me wrong. I REALLY do not want to leave my present Casa Azahar, where I have lived now for more than three years, because I feel more at home here than anywhere else I have lived in Sevilla. And it would actually break my heart to leave here.

But we are living through difficult times and the truth is, I just can’t afford to live here anymore.

At first I thought back in March that getting through maybe six months would be doable, but then they cut off my government financial support at the end of June, so things got even more difficult. And it’s not only gone way beyond six months, it looking like this situation is going to last another year, or even more.

So with a seriously heavy heart I’ve started looking at possible new homes. Of course nothing I see looks like home, and taking into account the cost of moving, it would be almost a year before I even recuperated that cost so that I would actually be paying the lower rent. Is it worth it? Last year I thought about the prospect of taking in occasional lodgers, but unfortunately this just isn’t possible during covid.

I like to think that my real home is wherever those three guys are, happy and cosy on my lap. But dammit, leaving here would just hurt so much. Anyhow if any of you in Sevilla know of someplace nice please let me know. Things are getting a bit desperate.