Tag Archives: sevilla

lockdown day 42

24 Friday Apr 2020

Posted by in casa azahar, coronavirus, home, sevilla, sevilla shutdown

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This is a photo of Plaza Salvador on a typical Saturday afternoon. So as you can see, right now during lockdown is a far cry from Sevillana life as we know it. It’s not only that, like everywhere else, people are staying at home, cooking at home, eating at home, actually living at home. I think perhaps it’s a more accutely felt change here because Sevillanos tend to spend a LOT of time out in the streets. Dinner parties at home are pretty much unheard of and if there is anything to be celebrated then we like to do it outside. Streets are usually crowded and happily bustling and there is little reason to go home because we have almost everything we need outside our homes. And even though I’m someone who loves an evening in Netflixing with the cats, I do also enjoy, love, need (and now crave) the energy that being out in the streets gives me.

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rooftop life

23 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by in casa azahar, change, coronavirus

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Remember last Sunday when I did that indoor race for the Red Cross? Well both Ania and I thought it was such a good idea that we are motivating each other to do this at least twice a week now. Ania actually runs a lot of it (indoors!), but I am just walking, so far managing about 5300 steps each time (rather than my usual 10,000 on my river walks). I am doing about 4000 steps upstairs on the terraza (that’s my rooftop walking route in the video) and then the final 1000 inside. Then I do a set of my lockdown workout.

Ha, anyone remember that one? When I said A MONTH AGO that I was going to set my phone timer while sitting at the computer desk, to make sure I got up every 45 minutes and moved around a bit? Well, never happened. I mean, I have been doing my mini-workouts, but not as often as I’d intended. Why not? Fucked if I know. I mean, it’s not like I’ve been busy doing anything else. But somehow I just couldn’t work up any motivation. I dunno, maybe it had to be a progression. Of what, I still have no idea.

But even after only a couple of 5000 step walks at home, I can see this working out. And, look what I found yesterday! I’d forgotten I had this cord attachment doohicky that allows me to hang my iPhone around my neck while walking (and counting steps – don’t have a fitbit or iwatch). And although it may sound silly, today I organised my “workout/walking clothes” so that I make the mental shift from hanging around the house in hanging-around-the-house clothes and get into fitness mode.

And it turns out I’m not alone. Since doing this I have spotted my next door neighbour also walking around in circles on his terraza, and Ana across the street is often out there tending to her plants and enjoying the fresh air, and even my downstairs neighbour is coming up to the roof to sit in a beach chair and take the sun. Also, “balcony life” has also been happening more in the past couple of weeks. Unlike in the past (almost) three years I’ve lived here, I hear my neighbours chatting to each other during the day, out on their balconies, and not just during the evening Balcony Applause. Something lovely is happening in the midst of all this mess, and it’s something I am trying to hold onto.

lockdown day 36

18 Saturday Apr 2020

Posted by in coronavirus, home, sevilla

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Last night I got an unexpected call from my friend Manolo Manosalbas, possibly the best food photographer in Spain. We’ve known each other for many years and we always see each other at various events, and for awhile I did some “tapas research” with his wife Blanca. But we were never “friends” like the kind who call each other up at 23.30h on a Friday night. So that’s why it was a surprise.

It turned out that Manolo just wanted to check up on me and also to talk about the “new normal” coming our way. I was really touched by this, as I do often feel a bit “forgotten” and truly miss my rather vasty social circle. The hard truth is that for those of us who work with hospitality and tourism, we are pretty much fucked now, along with all our friends who run bars and restaurants here.

Some harsh realities are starting to sink in now after five weeks of lockdown, with the (fake) news and (mis)information changing daily. The latest is that “officially” we are on lockdown until May 10th, but nobody really sees that lifting until the end of May at the earliest, and more likely sometime this summer. At first we heard that bars, restaurants and hotels would be able to open again shortly after that, perhaps September, but now reports are saying they will probably have to remain shut down until January 2121. Very sadly this means that many many places we know and love will not survive.

With a second wave of the virus imminent, until we have a vaccine it’s never going to be safe to go out there again, at least not how we were used to doing things. I’m kind of looking ahead with both a sense of trepidation and genuine curiosity bordering on hopefulness. I mean, we already knew things couldn’t keep going on the way they were. Now we have no choice but to make changes. I think for starters people are going to have to become less greedy. By that I mostly mean big biz, banks, landlords, utility companies, etc, but also on a personal level. It simply cannot be just about us anymore. Not sure I have that much faith in humanity to do the right thing, to be honest, but for now it’s all the hope we’ve got.  ❤ xx

sunday indoor race

15 Wednesday Apr 2020

Posted by in coronavirus, fitness, home

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Well, it’ll be something different to do on Sunday! An indoor race (both running and walking are permitted) whereby people count steps on their devices and send in screen shots of the final number on their Instagram accounts with the hashtag #EdpEchaUnCable. Then power company EDP will donate money to the Red Cross, based on the number of steps calculated…

Yeah I know, they could just donate the money (I mean, why not?) but I think it’s not a bad thing to promote something like this, get people involved, and get them moving.

So I’ll be up early(ish) on Sunday with my iphone in my pocket and will walking all around my apartment, up on the roof, maybe even up and down the stairs. You could join in too.  🙂