It ended up being a longer day of work than expected. If I don’t get another housesit after this one, I am going to be bleeding money for the rest of the winter. So, really, this is what I need to focus on. The coffers have dipped below the “I’m starting to get uncomfortable” line so I’m pleased that I have as much work as I can handle right now and a nice amount of receivables outstanding.

I quit around seven and headed out around 8:30 to the tapas bar. It’s chilly here in the evenings and I could not find my hoodie! It suddenly occurred to me that I must have left it at the bar the last time I went. When was that? It was unbelievable that it was only two nights ago; Sunday was really long! I hoped that this was the case and that they had a lost and found.

It was much livelier today, with quite loud music playing, so I can’t fault the server for hearing that I wanted “bravas” rather than “bratwurst” and therefore received a plate of potatoes with tomato sauce. It’s not what I thought I was in the mood for, but it was really tasty and something I was very happy to have accidentally had a chance to sample! They were not the famous fried potatoes with mayonnaise, but rather boiled. I’m really not a fan of potatoes unless they are the waxy ones that are rather meaty in their consistency and a bit sweet, which these were. The tomato sauce was a bit spicy and the perfect complement. So I left happy and perfectly satisfied.

As for my hoodie, I decided to call it a “camisa” (shirt). After a bit of rummaging through drawers and asking if anyone had seen a pink shirt left on Saturday (he understood me!), the owner found it! I was so happy to see it. Can you imagine me in this scenario in Bulgaria hoping Google Translate was asking the right thing?! I would have probably broken out the crayons to draw a picture!

I came in to find an email from one of my clients saying there was work in the queue if I wanted it even though he knew it was very late my time. I logged on and found a bunch of small jobs that would pay very well for the time spent working. So I went back to work until a couple of larger jobs came in that I could save for tomorrow afternoon.

I’m slowly starting to settle into Spanish time, being more comfortable with starting my day much later, taking a long mid-afternoon break for lunch, and then finishing quite late and not being in bed before eleven or midnight… rather like how I used to be. There’s just no point fighting it and it makes it easier to wait till late to go to the bar for a light snack! I was rather bemused at 8:30 tonight that I was raring to go out rather than to bed!

I’m definitely going into Almería tomorrow to break the ice on the bus and get orientated a bit. I want to get to a big supermarket and do a large shop of meat and staples to get me through the next six weeks, since I have a full sized fridge-freezer here, and then just top up at the little shop here as needed. So that will mean taking a taxi back. Depending on how late I leave and whether more work comes in, I may pop into old town and do some tourism as well. 🙂