Where I get my news in Malaga

News - where I get it from

As you can see from my past blog posts, we were anticipating that there would be a lockdown here in Malaga if the Covid numbers continued to rise and went above a particular point. This did not come to pass as anticipated and numbers are starting to go down marginally here in Malaga over the last few days. Hopefully this will continue.

There are a number of ways in which I get my news here in Malaga. With the whole Covid situation it is particularly important to have up to date info and sometimes I find that Twitter is best for instant info. Along with using Twitter I also go to the El Pais in English website and also the Sur in English website as well as picking up the hard copy of the Sur in English newspaper on Fridays. I pick up my Sur from the Tourist Office on Constitution Plaza.

Sur in English

Here's some pics of this weeks Sur in English. It's a great free weekly newspaper and I've highlighted some of the parts that I find particularly useful.

As well as news articles there is a variety of lifestyle articles including "What happened today?". This week's article features the date of 29th of January 1999 where a Valazquez art work sold for a record sum. Along with an interesting article, there is something further where the journalist pulls out some words from the article and translates them in to Spanish in a useful "Language Footnote".

Here's this week's "Language Footnote" which are actually really relevant for us given the work that PIGSY is doing here in Spain along with the work that I am doing promoting him, his art and his brand!

As you can see the Spanish words all relate to art which relate back to the article on the Velazquez article.

Language Crossword 

And then at the back of the paper is a crossword which is actually bilingual, in that you answer the clues in the Spanish language. Some of the words that turn up in this crossword are words from the "Language Footnote" which is helpful for learning new vocabulary. See One Down, for example, which is looking for the Spanish word for Painting, which is obviously "Pintura" as noted in the Language Footnote. I think this is a great fun way to add to my language learning here in Spain.

Event Listings

Further to all of the above, the Sur in English also prints full listings of all of the cultural events that are taking place in Malaga and we use this to plan ahead for the week and to take in some of the art that is on show in the city. 

I rate the Sur highly - it's a quality newspaper and they even have published articles about PIGSY which is a good indicator of what type of news outlet they are :-)

Grand stretch in the evening.....

Early Spring

Weird weather here in Malaga with unseasonably high temperatures coming over the next few days. It's being reported as an "early Spring". 

Unfortunately Bones is in a hairy state at the moment. I don't think I will get him to the groomer in the very near future so he is going to be hot. I will need to watch him as he has a bad habit of sitting out in the sun until he gets too hot.....and then heads in to the house. It might be the case that we close the door on him in the cool back bedroom.  We will see....

Let there be light

Other than that, along with a "grand stretch in the evening" (see pics below taken at 7.15pm tonight) there is an ominous  feeling here in the city with very few people around after 6pm when the shops close. We are currently on a 10pm curfew but there seems like there is an expectation that a full lock down will be introduced. With one of my sisters living in The Netherlands where there is a lock down along with a curfew and another living in Ireland where the lock down has been extended until March 5th, I may be joining them under restrictions. Watch this space......

What will be will be and while I don't want a lock down, it is good to see there being more light in the evenings. A symbolic light at the end of the tunnel if you will.

Lock down prep

Tomorrow I plan to do a bigger than normal shop and load up the freezer with meat for dinners etc. Just in case a lock down is announced over the next few days. I know there probably won't be an interruption to the food chain or a run on toilet paper, but given how high the numbers have gone in Spain it is probably better to visit the shops less often. Additionally there currently is a large police presence on the streets of Malaga and given that my Spanish is poor it is also probably best to be staying off the streets so as not to put myself in the position where I have to interact with the police. Ciaran found himself cordoned out of our street one night near Christmas when the police were controlling crowds and numbers on the main shopping streets. He had to talk to a police officer and explain where he lived. When the officer heard him talk he queried if he was a tourist. Which says a lot about Ciaran's Spanish, I think!!

Where ever you are in the world, mind yourself and take care. Stay positive and know that things will get better.......eventually.

Slow start Sunday

Sunday Stroll in Malaga City

Sunday was beautiful here in Malaga.....in fact it was a little too warm in my 4 layers on our morning walk! But I really enjoyed taking in the Vitamin D.....

For our Sunday stroll yesterday we walked down near the Marina and stopped for coffee near the Pompidou Centre. We had brought a flask of coffee with us and stopped off at La Canasta and bought a Napolitana (Pan au Chocolate) to share. 

We sat on a bench where we could see the water and all of the marina activity and it was also a safe area to let Bones off his lead and have a wander on his own. He never walks far and generally keeps coming back to us. Then after awhile he gets bored and comes back and sits beside us......and then tends to fall asleep!

Here's a pic of him exploring the area near the Renzo Piano designed building that houses the Pompidou Malaga Museum

What I'm currently drinking......

Coffee and Chocolate - a great start in the morning!

Here in Malaga, I've been enjoying a cup of coffee with a little chocolate in it, to start my day. I guess it is what you could call it a mocha. I found this "Valorcao de la Taza" chocolate powder in the supermarket and was attracted to it by the picture of churros on the front of it. I do love a churro and a cup of hot chocolate in places like Cafe Aranda but it is not something that I do regularly. However to make my mocha coffee, which I do regularly everyday, I simply add a small spoonful of chocolate powder to my coffee and give it a mix. It blends really well and adds a little chocolate sweetness to my coffee. On Saturday's after my volunteer work in the Cudeca Charity Shop I tend to make a mocha coffee with Bailey's in it.......just because it's the weekend and also because I feel like I need it as a treat after feeling like a dummy for fours hours where I try to make sense of all of the Spanish language I hear over the course of the morning.

See below for pics - I always make my hot drinks in my PIGSY art mug of course!

Sausage Tree Vodka

I received a gift of this premium Irish vodka. Wow is it good! Extremely pure taste and what a fantastic bottle with a big chunky cap. You can read about it here. 

How gorgeous is the bottle, I love the color and the shape and it feels very nice when pouring. Strange to comment on these type of things as in reality they are not so important in comparison to how the vodka tastes, but a lot of thought was given to all of this and I think it is very successful and all in all a very well created and designed product. Tastes great and beautiful to look at!

So that's what I have been drinking as of late (along with a little Spanish red wine!), what have YOU been drinking these days?!

Work Cafe, a great concept

Work Cafe by Santander Banco

Today I took a walk down Calle Larios to the Santander Bank Work Cafe. The Christmas lights are still up (but not on) in Larios and as the sun shone on them, the most amazing shadows were cast. It was quite beautiful.

Work Cafe

The Work Cafe is a great concept. It is like an informal co-working space with a cafe, desk areas, meeting rooms and also comfortable seating for chilling out. Anyone can visit and use the space and as far as I know you do not need to be a member of Santander Bank. However, if you are a Santander Bank member and when you pay using your bank card at the cafe you get a 30% discount on your purchases. Seems like a good deal to me!

 

Working on my blog 

I'm currently working on my blog and also on the PIGSY website www.ciaranmccoy.com  here in the Santander Work Cafe and I can tell you it is an awesome setting. I highly recommend!

For me, working in spaces like these (even in Starbucks) makes me focus more than when working at home. I also like these spaces because they can help make a division between home and work. The other reason that I enjoy working here is that the insulation is really bad in my apartment and so on cold days it is really cold. Last Wednesday it was raining heavily and very cold.......but it was lovely warm and comfortable doing my work here in the Santander Work Cafe!!

Congratulations USA - a new day has dawned

20th January 2021: The Inauguration of President Biden and Vice-President Harris

Yesterday was a day I had been waiting for a long time......since 4 years ago when Hilary Clinton was defeated. At that time, as the election results started to come in it was time for bed in Ireland due to the time difference. Just before going to sleep, I turned to my husband and said that we would be waking up in a New World where a woman would be President of the USA. My husband said back to me, something like "Enid, you need to prepare yourself, you are going to be disappointed. He is going to beat Clinton". I told him I thought he was very wrong and went to sleep content and safe in the knowledge that the next President of the USA would be Hilary Clinton.

Well we all know what happened next.

But now it is a new day!!

And yesterday President Biden and Vice-President Harris were sworn in.

Thank you America, I am so very proud of all of my friends who voted for this good man and lady who will lead the USA onwards and upwards.  

The world starts to heal from today. 

It's stopped raining!!!

Hello Sunshine!

While there was record snowfalls up in Madrid there a deluge of rain here in Malaga. I guess we can blame Global Warming which is bringing about massive climate change. However, after 7 days of heavy heavy rain the sunshine came back yesterday. Along with the heavy rain we had low temperatures which pushed us to order a heater from Amazon and then while we were waiting for it to arrive we went and bought a small one from Carrefour. Along with this two hot water bottles were called in to action. Yes it was that cold!

But that's all changed now and for the next 10 days or so we will have sun with a temperature of 14 degrees today going up to 18 degrees over the next week.  I will gladly take it!!

Yesterday when the rain broke we got out for a walk and checked out some architecture in Malaga. Pictured above is a small courtyard that you get let out to as you exit the ~Picasso museum. It's a very calm place and if you ever come and visit me in Malaga I'll take you for a look!

Back on curfew here in Spain

Restrictions in Malaga

After loosening restrictions for Christmas and 3 Kings celebrations here in Malaga, the authorities have now put restrictions back in place that will see us on a 10pm curfew with restaurants and bars closing at 6pm. 

We haven't been out in ages preferring to eat on our balcony with just the two of us. However, this weekend we did eat out in two restaurants - El Meson de Cervantes and Casa Lola.

El Meson de Cervantes

We had eaten in El Meson de Cervantes back in February before there was any major talk of Covid and restrictions when we first visited Malaga in order to find and rent an apartment for the year. We both really enjoyed our first visit to this restaurant, it had a great ambiance and the food was excellent. We probably over ordered on our first visit because we were unused to eating tapas style but on this visit we knew to order a few small or medium tapas and then add more if we needed.

One of the really interesting dishes we had was this black pudding one with sweet potato - really good!

But this was my favourite - battered prawns with treacle. Oh dear lord, so so good!!

Casa Lola

Then the night after we visited our favourite Casa Lola where we had our usual order of Russian Salad along with a few other tapas including Prawns Pil-Pil which were amazing!

And now we are in a restricted situation so it's nice to have the memories of these evenings out.......and of course as the vaccination is rolled out across the population restaurants will open up again in the evening and we will get back out for nice meals. It's something to look forward to!

Quizzing times!

Let's get Quizzical - online Quizzes with DLR Libraries

 

So here's something fun that I've been getting up to!

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown are currently running online quizzes for both children and adults. On the night after Christmas night, they ran a big bumper one that was Ireland themed. I took part in this one here in Spain, along with friends in Dublin and also a friend in Washington DC! It was great fun with Ciaran helping me out on all of the sports questions and more.

Online Quiz

Then last night there was another quiz which was 80's and 90's movie themes. This was also a lot of fun with a nice easy opening question about the character Baby in the film Dirty Dancing. What was her name? Out of 4 choices, it was of course "Frances" or Frances Houseman to be exact!

Connecting virtually through trivia

For this quiz I played along with friends in Dublin (who are currently on lockdown in D6 and also in Waddelai) and some of us texted each other during the quiz to see how we were all getting on......and there was some good natured slagging too in regards to who was beating who!!
There was about 100 people quizzing and I was happy with a mid table result of ending in 43rd place!

Join in on the next Quiz

There will be future quizzes so if you want to join in the fun, send an email to libraryquiz@dlrcoco.ie and you will be sent the link to join in the fun. 

In all honesty it is a great lock down activity and even if you aren't locked down due to Covid, it is the perfect thing to stay in and stay safe doing on a Saturday night from anywhere in the world!

Zooming in to the New Year!

Malaga Marina 31st Dec 2020

Happy New Year!

I can honestly say that I have never been happier to see the back of a year. 2020 was generally good for me but even still it was a terror of  a year that has caused so much misery the world over. For me, there were challenges but they were mainly able to be over come (i.e. my move to Spain for a year was set back by a few months) but I still felt like I was floundering many times due to everything that living in a pandemic brings. It took me awhile to realize that once you get to the fact that something is going to be bad, you then have to come to the conclusion that in reality it will be way worse than you thought. It will also go on lot longer than you thought. I don't think I was alone in thinking that things would be getting back to normal in Summer of 2020. And boy was I wrong!!

But there is a lot to look forward to. Things will get better and mass vaccination is on the horizon for the world. We will overcome Covid 19.

New Year Celebrations by Zoom

We met virtually with friends on New Years Eve which meant that here in Spain we could celebrate the new year with friends in Ireland. The two couples we met with had planned to have dinner together but that was cancelled due to the heightened Covid situation in Ireland. However, the couple that were due to host, still went ahead with their plans to cook a special dinner and dropped it around to the others. Here in Spain we got to see the lovely food that was made and were told about how it was made. We had eaten our seafood dinner and cheese and charcuterie canapes so we enjoyed hearing about what they were eating and enjoying. There was also bubbles being enjoyed in both countries with Bollinger being drank on Moyne Road with a sparkling cava mixed with OJ to make a mimosa being drank here. All in all great fun and a few hours with great company passed very quickly! We wished each other Happy New Year about 11.30pm Spanish time and then Ciaran and I had our own little celebration when the clock struck 12 here. We went out on to our terrace and took in the sights and sounds of the city celebrating with fireworks going off around us.

It was a very different celebration of the New Year but it was one that kept us all safe and we will remember it forever.

And thankfully it is good to end this bad year knowing that all of my friends and family are safe and well and hopefully will stay this way well in to 2021 until we are all vaccinated.

Happy New Year to you all!

My facebook post just after midnight