A moment to myself

I wrote the following before the enormity of what was going on at the other side of the world reached me. I have been watching with absolute horror at the devastation that is hitting Japan and where other areas of the world are on alert as the Pacific Ocean belies its name. It makes all other things pale into insignificance. This is being described as the worst earthquake for many, many years.

Our own lives here go on as normal, but elsewhere in the world, it will never be the same again.

FR has left to go to Valladolid this morning. He's going to do some work on the car and he will go to Leon to bring back some more furniture and belongings that we would find useful to have here with us. Most specifically, our rugs. Soft flooring. Romy is desperate for soft floors again.

My gorgeous boy (one of them!)

Ruy has gone with his school on an outing to Granada today. He was excited but in a cool, quiet way -  unlike Romy, who talked about her school visit for weeks beforehand - no, Ruy keeps his thoughts more to himself and whilst he is not a quiet child - indeed, he is noisy - it's not chatter or thoughts that he expresses. He makes the noises of battles - he acts out imaginary games with gusto. But he doesn't say much about what he thinks. So his big day has crept up on us and suddenly - it is the big day!

Bye Ruy, have a wonderful day.

In addition to going to listen to a concert in the concert hall near the Alhambra, the class is going to visit some caves near Granada, which should be very interesting. Mateo has lent Ruy his camera so that he can take some photos to show us.







Mateo and Romy are at school as usual, but the house piso seems even more quiet than I had expected with all my family away.

So, I have spent the morning cleaning the living room, with no one around to
a) interrupt me
b) follow me making a bigger mess than the one I've just cleared up
c) get in the way or
d) giving me a reason to stop cleaning... which doesn't take much.

I don't like cleaning. I don't really think I am very good at it either.

However, I do like the house piso to be clean, so I've swept the floor - in true Andalusian style - and gone into all the corners with my good old British 'vac'. I've dusted and polished. I've removed clutter and toys.








However, it's not home.
We're still looking for that.



My lovely tidy living room is a metaphor for my state of mind. I get one bit sorted; something becomes clear and I know what I want and what to do.........






........and then I discover all I have done is move mess from one place to another. And there's still more stuff to sort.


And I will have to start on that now.
Soon, I mean.

(How come some people can keep all areas tidy at the same time? Do they always know what they want as well?)



It's akin to finding the right house - get the main priorities sorted; be clear about what you want - work on the bits that don't quite match the requirements afterwards; accept that compromise is vital.....

I thought we'd found the house we wanted this week - in fact, I was sure. It might still be 'the one' but then the very next day, we saw something else. Something rather exciting.

When FR returns, in a few days time, I think we might be making a very big decision.