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Saturday vibe. I think we can all relate…
04 Saturday Apr 2020
Posted in casa azahar, cats, caturday, home
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Saturday vibe. I think we can all relate…
02 Thursday Apr 2020
Posted in coronavirus, health & happiness, home, hope
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Exactly three weeks ago today I woke up to birdsong in the lovely guesthouse next to Bodegas Bentomiz. I also woke up with a killer sore throat that felt like I was swallowing shards of glass. Another cold? Or was it that virus we’d been hearing about? This was two days before the national lockdown so most of us still had little idea how serious the situation actually was. Anyhow, since then this “cold” has persisited, and has been having quite the journey, visiting various parts of my body. The sore throat morphed into a very sneezy sinus thing with blocked ears and tinnitus, loss of sense of smell and taste, back to the throat, then a cough (not a dry one!) with slight tightness in the chest, then whatever. I can’t remember all the pitstops it’s made. Anyhow… IT’S STILL WITH ME.
But this morning was the first time I worried because the Throat is back (really ouch!) this time with a very distinct heavy feeling lower down, just below the clavicle, and at this moment I’m not sure if the chest tightness I’m feeling is due to illness or anxiety. Still no fever though so fingers crossed.
Because I always have sinus issues going on it’s not that uncommon for a cold to take root like this and take forever to go away, but this usually happens mid-winter not spring. Meanwhile I’m keeping my hands away from my face as much as possible (seriously, not easy!) and washing the hands way more with each passing day. I’ve also stopped going to the supermarket, with my only outings a quick five minute rubbish dump every 5 days or so. And yet this damn thing persists and keeps upping its game. I’m not kidding guys, if more than a day or so goes by without a post on this silly blog of mine, please get in touch, just in case.
Stay home. Stay safe.
28 Saturday Mar 2020
Posted in casa azahar, cats, caturday, home
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Doesn’t even bear thinking about how I’d be getting through this without these three darlings. This pic is from a chilly winter night a couple of years ago when Morcilla, Loki and Luna ALL piled on top me while netflixing (bit warm for that now). Hope you have at least one loved one with you. It helps a lot.
20 Friday Mar 2020
Posted in casa azahar, coronavirus, health & happiness, home
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So unless I want to turn into an even bigger of the biggest of blobs (really would hate to put back on those 5 kilos I lost in Dec-Jan!) it seems I need to GET ACTIVE. At home. In my living room. Not easy. To wit, I have come up with a plan to set my iPhone timer for 45 minutes when I am either sitting at my desk or slobbing in my comfy chair.
This means that every 45 minutes I will do a short ACTIVITY. I have read that this activity has to be sustainable, so five minutes or less is ideal. So far I have a short arm routine with those weights you see up there (got it off a Cindy Crawford workout video a million years ago – but it is surprisingly effective). I also have a leg workout, with the help of holding on to a chair (or two). And I am working on a yoga stretch thing.
Other activities could simply be dusting and sweeping a room or two, doing the dishes, maybe doing a couple of times up and down the hallway stairs, or a walk around my rooftop. The important thing is to not just be sitting around all day. Got any other ideas?
19 Thursday Mar 2020
Posted in andalucia, casa azahar, coronavirus, sevilla
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Shit, I don’t actually want to do “lockdown” posts every day, but there’s not really a helluva lot else going on atm. Though I do have some news! The other day I posted this photo of my street guy Nico on Instagram and Twitter, asking people who had to be out (to shop, walk a dog, etc) to keep a look out for him in my street and maybe give him some spare change. Thing is, I wasn’t even sure if Nico knew what was going on, and it was so sad to watch him sitting out there with hardly anybody walking by. And then the next day he vanished and I didn’t see him for three days. I wondered if the city councel had done a “clean up” and moved the street people somewhere else, and I was worried.
And then this morning, there he was again! So I called out for him to come over and as he stood below my balcony I tried to suss out how he was doing. I asked if he had food, or if he needed food… and it was so hard to understand him. Even my neighbour Antonio (who was out on his balcony across the street) couldn’t make out what he was saying. So I told Nico I’d be right down.