Domestic Happenings, Two Major Projects

The annual gathering of oranges, bring on the blossoms next!

Sorry it's been a while between posts. My dog/cat ate my homework/blog, believe it? Of course not, but my computer screen did crack which gives you a multitude of colour like a rainbow with black in-between and makes it hard to function with. Why? It seems they just do sometimes, Bruce has had it happen to him once too. While I could function, we have experienced the crack will grow until you can’t anymore, like one in a car windshield. Luckily last year, and again this, Ivan put us in touch with a MAC repairman. His name is Fermin, a name I’ve never encountered before, never mind the name, he’s just Great! He speaks some English, he’s professional, he’s reasonable in price, comes to either our place or close by at the Museo Plaza. 

Back “home” (Pepe's apartment) he contacts me with a potential carpenter for our leaky patio doors. The man has done reportedly amazing work in a Doctor friend of his in an old mansion. Met with the carpenter and Pepe, he is a retired gentlemen who had done carpentry work on the staircase for the previous owner! Kismet! 

Hadn't seen this one before, pretty!

Lunch at La Chala was lovely in the warm sunshine, much appreciated after the cool weather and rain. We turtled there for a while, as we do, after buying fresh produce from the Fruitier, after seeing the flat and other small errands. 

On the sign outside Bar Tino where Alonso works

Aside: “Churros are the Spanish equivalent of doughnuts, similar in shape to the horns of the churro sheep found in Spain. They are completely lacking in any nutritional value, extremely fattening and deliciously irresistible. The villagers often served them for breakfast with milky coffee or hot chocolate.” Excerpt From: Victoria Twead. “Two Old Fools in Spain Again.” iBooks. https://itun.es/ca/c0p01. Still haven’t had any….

The carpenter took all the doors and a bathroom window from our flat to refurnish them, it’s Saturday and we look at the weather forecast, for rain on Sunday - yikes, so we get a large tarp, cut it up to size of four doors and put it up with tape, bit of a chore. 

Living with the tarp makes the room like we are in an aquarium and if our complexions absorb it we’ll look like Smurfs! I actually don’t mind the Smurf hue but don’t like not being able to look out onto the street, keeping the seal shut. Very noisy though and affecting my sleep. We did well actually, with the rain, until the following week, read on.

The Zurich marathon is on again in Sevilla, Sunday, an annual event that in the previous two years we’ve witnessed has always had sunny days. It was cloudy day but no rain, we went to see Alonzo at his “new” restaurant, always good to see that man. We did something we haven’t done before and ordered the menu of the day, starter, main, dessert and a drink. We shared it but the main was so large I could only eat half and Bruce couldn’t help, he had a large, tasty bowl of soup. It cost 10 Euro, a really great deal if you are hungry but I think we’ll stick to tapas again. 

Moving back to our flat after moving out for a month while the elevator was installed and so glad we did move out. We have Rocio cleaning our flat on Monday starting at 08:00, dust is everywhere, although some has been cleaned up, when they were dismantling there were clouds of it so it took her a long time to get everything back to where it was. I helped unwrapping furniture and wiping things down which my back did not appreciate, but it’s now back to being a comfortable flat again. Pictures on the walls and as clean as we can get it. Even with couch, chairs, table and kitchen well wrapped, there was dust in the cupboards, on used to be clean dishes, well I won’t go on… Ivan came and helped move the fridge and kitchen hutch back where they belong. 

Our partner’s D & E came to visit us! Get out the champers! I sent a note to them warning about the marathon and perhaps closed streets but they arrived after it’s over so no problem. We look forward to seeing them again, as always, and a further plan to get together in the Spring won’t happen since they are going back to Ottawa earlier.

We met up Monday after the major clean, had the champers and orange juice and then since I was quite tired, just went to Gourmet Experience at El Cortes. We ate at the fish stall this time and it was really good, would go back, that good. They called our dish Tempura prawns but the tempura was almost invisible and they added chilis to give it some spice, yummy! 

The Contractor comes at 09:30 to finish off the edging on the elevator, weren’t told he would be here, noisy, using a metal saw to cut to fit. Then the Architect comes, looks around, leaves. Ivan is calling, weather is thunderous and raining cats and dogs so he really doesn’t want to drive into the City but does anyway, there is paperwork to sign to get further closure on the elevator with the City. The elevator company person arrives to get me to sign even more paperwork, takes it away to take to the City. Like driving without a license we cannot use the elevator without this permission, like a driver's license, or do so at our own risk. 

Pepe called about the doors/windows and they are supposed to be done for Friday installation but it rained a lot today and I suspect the carpenter kept them outside so may not get them until we have another good sunny day for them to cure. 

Well on a brighter note, D & E came here to the flat, they leave for Malaga tomorrow, fly to Basel on Saturday. So we killed two bottles of champers and quite a few oranges to make our usual drink. Haven’t drank this much champagne ever I think in a week but it was good. Conversation with them is easy, we are all curious people, well travelled and we do enjoy talking with them. They are more than relations or partners, they are good friends.

We had a good day Saturday, lunched out with Ryan and Angela at Badulaque, a restaurant specializing in beef from Argentina. They’ve been busy with visitors and we’ve been busy with elevator installation so it was great to see them again!

Went to the outdoor art market again on Sunday, it hasn’t happened for a while due to rain and other events in the City like the Marathon. Speaking to the archaeologist lady, who sells prints, I was commenting on the multitudes of people out. She said with Andalusia Day this Tuesday, Sevilla people leave for a four day weekend and many others come to Sevilla. They call it a bridge holiday because many people take the Monday off.

The doors for the main floor arrived Monday and the carpenter did a beautiful job on restoring them! It is amazing how much they cut down on street noise. Rocio, made new curtains for us, she said, new doors need new curtains. Pepe came to translate for us and we took him for lunch at Nazca, a Peruvian Japanese restaurant, well it’s different, and the food and service are good. 

Andalucia Day and we just go out for a bite and see two women, one doing commentary, the other dancing flamenco on the street! 

Our upstairs doors have been an issue, the carpenter couldn’t get them finished by Friday because they took more work than he expected, no problem, he’s a master. Saturday though it was very windy and raining hard. I went upstairs to find large puddles in both bedrooms so started mopping. Then to secure the plastic to the doors I stretched duct tape across, Rocio had come by that point to clean the flat and helped. We used up all the tape but felt they were secure enough and rain/wind abated later in the day.

Bruce "pretending" picture for Px2

The doors arriving and Pepe and Cora (the dog)

Baby steps with these two major projects, steps we don't have much control over but gradually it's coming together. As always in Spain, it takes longer than expected, frustrating for us but that's the way it is.

All for now, Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat