Song of the day: “Love me again” by John Newman. Oddly enough, I would never have liked this song if I hadn’t heard it for Tom Cruise’s “Edge of Tomorrow”, for which it was absolutely brilliant.
Soooooo. Many, many things have happened over the past few weeks. Some of them awesome, some of them not so, and others pretty darn horrid. Let’s start with the good stuff and see if we can ignore the last bits, eh? Hah.
First of all, on the 22nd of November I went to my first Bryan Adams concert. Yep. Been waiting for that since the whole Hipodromo scandal in 2007, and now I just had to go for it, or forever stop whining about it. So I went. Yes!!! It was at the O2 in London, and I got off at work early enough to head on out, find a parking spot and have a nice pizza with mango ice cream for dessert, before it was time to go stand in line. I had my tablet with me, so the waiting was no bother whatsoever.
When acquiring the tickets, there was some fear that the seat would be too far away from the stage, but as it turned out I got extremely lucky. Not only was my seat some odd eighty feet from the stage and high enough for me to be on the exact level of the stage, nope, it also turned out that my ticket got me into the pre-show American Express Lounge, which was an experience, to say the least, not to mention comfortable.
It was an extremely exhilarating experience, I’ll say that much for it. I knew all the songs, so I sang my heart out all evening, cheering and clapping like the best of ‘m, and I had a blast. If nothing else, the concert on itself made my stay in the UK worth it.
Which brings us to one of the less nice points. I am back in Spain, without work, once again, but I have to admit that I mind it less than I should have. Those last few weeks had been rather heavy, stressful and emotionally draining for me. I think it had partly to do with being torn between two worlds, but also because I discovered that being a live-in is far from easy. There is too much collision of characters, I suppose, and considering my hostess was fond of her privacy as well, it was bound to go wrong at some point, wasn’t it? Regrets and dissatisfaction make people say nasty things, and some were definitely hurled my way, meaning that I feeling slightly dented, if you know what I mean. I will need some time to heal, regain my balance and some of my confidence.
It was a rather sudden thing, I know, but what with the mounting tension these past few weeks, I took the out I was offered gratefully. I had my ticket already for a trip home, so all it meant was packing my luggage (couldn’t take it all, because big brother had left some stuff there as well) and cleaning up my room, and then spending the remainder of the evening with my co-workers.
Was a nice evening with wine and talk, and saying goodbye to the dogs there, before we took out my luggage and I returned to my room for the night.
Didn’t get much sleep, lying awake most of it. Only two hours before it was time to get up I drifted off and even then it was fretful rest at best. Got myself ready, gathered my carryon and purse, and was on my way in less than thirty minutes. Had to arrive at the airport early to pay for my luggage, and go through customs, and all that jazz. Afterward I managed to get some reading done while waiting for my plane to arrive. Did the same throughout my flight, besides talking to my fellow passenger; a very nice fellow from Pakistan who was going on a three day vacation to Spain. Did manage a short nap, which was very necessary.
Arrived in Spain on time for my appointment with a local shop owner for whom I agreed to cook a company Christmas lunch on the 29th. I met with her at the store, and she was extremely nice about it all. I got the budget I needed, and went straight to the store to get the ingredients for the next day’s cooking job.
Did what prep work I could in the evening, like my pumpkin compote, real Greek yogurt, and the right selection of veggies and dairy products. Had a total of five pages stored in the car the next morning, and was on my way on the dot, to arrived there at the appointed time.
For the remainder of the morning Tina (she’s that friend I went on a hike with some months ago) spent in the kitchen, cutting, prepping and cooking an elaborate lunch that was, much to my pleasure, completely vegetarian. I made my Hallmark Chickpea patties, which were a big success. Also my buckwheat burgers (based on a recipe I got from Maggie…thank you Maggie!), which were loved, even by the carnivores there. Hah.
Made stuffed red bell peppers with veggies, herbs and cottage cheese. Bout ninety percent of these went, while my stuffed tomatoes with the same cottage cheese base and added mushrooms and black rice…even had some of the filling left, which I mixed with extra black rice and which the guests really liked.
From the leftover tomato filling I made a rather nice brown sauce, and served a yogurt salad dressing that was devoured with huge enthusiasm…in case you’re wondering, I was invited to stay for dinner, so I got to see everyone’s responses; very gratifying…
Added to that, there were the stuffed eggs, and boy were they popular. Ten guests devoured 24 eggs after all, so I would say that they worked out well. Hah.
The main course was an oven dish of potatoes with roughly cut veggies and loads of herbs.
I made too much, of course, considering I forgot to ask what the male/female ratio was. Turns out there were nine women and only on men, which means a lot less consumption. *sigh* Luckily I was well below budget with the buying of the produce, so it didn’t matter all that much. As it stands, the lady in charge won’t be needing to cook for several days. Hah.
Was of course properly exhausted that night, but I got to bed early and went to bed late, and woke up “not tired” for the first time in months. My dogs loved it…so did I, for that matter.
Which reminds me…as a surprise, big brother and grandpa put in a new bed for me while I was gone. A nice hospital style antique, that regretfully, was a lot narrower than my old queen size. I had agreed to narrow, mind you, knowing that I’d need the space, but still, for the past few mornings I’ve been kinda wrecked because Knight II is determined to sleep by my side with his spine in the width of the bed. And Dax either wants to be on the other side, or between my ankles, while Sitabah wants her spot somewhere near my head. *sigh*
What else…well, for what it is worth I did a rather nice restoration on a three legged chair, back in the UK. Also, big brother and I put in a rather nice circular piece of outside tiling. A circle and cross of ceramic rectangular, along with three quarters of gray slate stone. It looked rather fancy.
There were supports that we hammered into the ground for a rather endless row of conifers. There was fencing to be fixed, stuff to be cleaned, and, most importantly, woodwork to be prepared for what was going to be the greenhouse. Got most of the prep-work done, but alas, that will now be up to someone else.
As to my time there…I learned some valuable lessons, made some good friends, had a grand adventure, so on the overall I can’t say that I regretted it. It was an experience that has taught me many things, so in the scheme of life being one big lesson, I don’t think it was bad for me at all.
Still, I wouldn’t have minded it to be a little less traumatic. Hah.
Well, that is all for now, I guess.
Right now I am back with my dogs, doing a proper cleanup of a place that has turned into a proper pigsty. Been doing some serious cleaning for two days now, and am not seeing the end of it yet. Seriously, you’re away for three months and everything is a complete and utter mess. Guess I am not as dispensable as I thought I was.
Gotta go. It’s getting to be a tad late.
I’ll be back.
