79. Time goes fast, use it though

Lavinia, February 2, 2022

I can hear it by everyone, that time flies, but it seems to go even faster over here. Our season break has been over for 2 months, and we seem to have accomplished very few of our plans. Very little, and a lot at the same time.

So it seems that everything has been turned upside down a lot more than before. Both our private part and the technical and stock places. There is progress, that’s for sure. But everywhere  I look there is chaos, because apparently it is necessary  to muck everything out and finding a new place for things to create more order. So, the chaos stays, also in my head. And that gives me a lot of stress. A bit ironic : now I have more stress than when we are filled with guests, in the middle of the season. But I promised myself and Wim that there had to be order in our daily lifes and environment, so we would be able to enjoy more on free periods.

Unfortunatly there were little free moments the last few months. It is our own fault of course, because we decided at the very last to have the new studio built after all. Although we are not working ourselves, there are a lot of things to be done. The logical things, like making choises for the tiles and materials, the kitchen, and so on. On top of that we need everything at short notice, so we have to put constant pressure on the suppliers to get the materials here on time. And that seems to be the biggest challenge. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? So I promoted myself to become the ‘bith of Alicante and surroundings, by by biting me like a pitbull in my ‘prey’ or in some jammed path. Making phonecalls, making complaints, believe me, it is not really fun doing it, but it is the only way to get it done by the time the first guest arrives in only 4 weeks. We are still on schedule, it is really going like a train, and that brings peace.

Fortunate we have a top-team of workers, electrician, plumber, plasterer who respond to each other neatly and complement each other perfectly.Unfortunately the domain is it’s littered with cigarette butts, we don’t get them taught off …
But we like to take it on board, because they work hard, and with pleasure.

Last week their dilapidated  old radio broke, and they missed it terrribly. We thought it would be a nice gift to replace it for a new one, but the son of Miguel – who was our partner in crime – didn’t want us to spent a lot of money on it. Wit hall the dust and dirt, it wouldn’t last long. So I went to one of the many Chinese shops here, wellknown for their ‘rubbish’, but now and then it can be convenient. I know the guy of the shop in the meantime, and asked for a transister radio I spotted behind the counter. It was clear that he didn’t sell it so often, because he was not aware himself of what he had. In the meantime, there was there was a long line of people waiting, while the Chinese seller fell from one surprise to the next when he unpacked the bright red radio that I had pointed out. He couldn’t believe his own eyes, turned the thing round and round, and admired ‘his’ merchandise. I felt a bit uncomfortable, because the whole cue behind me probably thought that I was being scammed, buying the cheap ‘bling bling’ radio. The Chinese was probably very curious himself if the thing did work indeed, and promptly lit it. It was not like the best sound quality, but he beamed as if he had the best speaker on the market. I laughed a bit and tried to get into his enthousiasm, thinking : “please put it back in the box and let me pay the bill, so I can leave here. Even while he made the bill , he kept on saying : “tambien con sol (even with solar energy)”, of course with the typical strange Chinese sounds in his pronunciation. And always his funny smile because he was so pleased with himself. I’m almost willing to bet that he’ll take a few more in his stock very soon.

When I came home, Wim gave the present to Miguel and his crew. They were thrilled wit hit, and ever since, there is daily and since then, loud music has been heard every day through the super-deluxe loudspeaker of the flashy device, and you can hear the workmen singing along loudly. Singing out of tune, and worse, but happier than ever. And the shiny red device is neatly stored every evening. It is handled with much more care than their expensive drills, or any other work tools for that matter.

Wonderful, isn’t it, that feeling of ‘a child’s hand is soon filled’. If only we were all a little bit more that grateful child…

Hasta luego,

Annemie or Ana