81. One, two, three,… go!

Lavinia, Sunday 13 march, 2022

It has already been two weeks since we opened up. It is an understatement that time flies, especially here. It seems as if we just closed our doors for the winterstop, and all of a sudden we already pampered guests for two weeks. It is unbelievable, elusive. In fact I hear that from all the people around us. Apparently times goes faster when you are getting older. Would it be in your bodycells, that sensation of time flying away? Or in your brain that has stored more and more memories in that gigantic fascinating brain of ours, and has to compress it, as it were, to make more room for new impressions?

The The run-up to the official start was quite tough at the end. Fortunately, we had our three musketeers here, the volunteers, who did a lot of work. They did a gigantic amount of clearing work and dragging. Which is not so easy, when you have to deal with someone like me who is not capable of throwing things away😉. Sorry guys that I made it so hard on you. Anyway, I seem to be able to reuse old things to give them a new life, as in our new Penthouse Sensación. In fact, I am quiet proud on a few things I made, like for instance the mirror at the bathroom, and the bathroom on itself.

For me it is a challenge to make something completely different from some old unusable object that no one wants. I like using things out of the garden also, like tree bark or old palm leaves, beautiful branches, and so on. In the meantime,  I became a real garbage detective. In Spain, there is no no garbage is collected, but there are containers on every corner of the street, where you can put your waste in. The recycling idea is not that common here, and the recycling parks are rare and not not easily accessible. So everyone places his old furniture or whatever he wants to get rid of, in front of the containers.  I have already ‘found’ really nice things that I do something with. Not every time it is a succes, I admit. But it is a hobby as any other one, isn’t it? Because we have so many opportunities in one of the houses to give my creations a nice spot, is a plus of course.

We started quiete slowly, a bit like a diesel. Always only two villas occupied, but in april it will change fast. So it is cosy, nice to adapt again before the real crowd. We still have some time to work out a few more things and to pimp up the Sensación. Which is nice to start.

Despite the calm, we still had an unexpected and less comfortable situation.  For the moment we have a very nice English couple as a guest. Phil is a real star fanatic, and has his telescope with dits and dats on it, to take pictures of star explosions and the gases that are formed with them. Milions of lightyears away I believe, but how fascinating, and what a gorgeous pictures. I have to share it with you, so special!

But, of course, this was not the drama. Apparently the English wife had been having upset tummy for several days. It turned out to be only getting worse, and on Friday she didn’t feel that well. She would relax, and stay at the villa. Phil, her husband came twice to knock on our door to cancel dinner that night, and the second time to ask for a kind of medicine. He was sure that it was only for one day, and that she would be better on Saturday. They probably bought a bad bottle of wine. Jan, the lady is allergic to fish, and Phil told us that sometimes they do a sort of rince of white wine through fish bones. They thought that might have been the case. Never heard that before, I must admit. So everything was under control, he said. We gave some bouillon with, so at least she would be hydrated. And we also said that whatever happened, he could call us day and night.

On Friday night at about 4.30 in the morning I thought I heard some knocking on the door. But, when you wake up in the middle of your sleep, you are not immediately clear in your head. So when I went to look through the curtains, I couldn’t see anyone. A dream after all, I thought. Only a few minutes later, Wims phone went, and I heard Phil on the other part of the line asking for medical support. Could we please call a doctor? Because doctors don’t come at your house here, you have to go to the emergency, or call an ambulance. and according to Phil that was not necessary. Wim decided to put on some clothes and to bring them to the private hospital in Elche, known that is a really good hospital. Within half an hour after their departure, Jan was already taken care of. It turned out to be serious, because she was admitted with a bacterial infection. And on top of that, they were supposed to leave for home today. How much bad luck you can have. Fortunatly, Jan is already feeling a lot better, but she has to stay for a few more days at the hospital. Although she just wants to be home again.  So they are forced to stay in Spain a little longer. It is odd, that feeling of concern for someone you barely know, and the relief that comes with it when you hear that everything will be okay. It feels like you get a kind of bond because of what you experienced together. Even if it was just a part of the whole scary experience. And just like they will have a special holiday story, when it is all over again, we have again a new experience at Lavinia.

Hasta Luego,

Ana