… and I haven’t posted here since the end of March! The reason is that I’ve had painters in my apartment for three weeks and it has disrupted everything completely.

When they told me it would take three weeks to paint my apartment I couldn’t believe it, but in fact it was three weeks on Friday and they still have to come back tomorrow to finish. Of course, as a friend said to me the other day, whether it’s painters, plumbers, carpenters, electricians — they always have to come back!

The first couple of days were OK as they started in the kitchen and passageway, so I could sleep in the bedroom. But then my friend Cecilia had a health issue, and I went to her place for a few days to be with her. Because her upstairs bathroom is being renovated, and anyway it was difficult for her to get upstairs, she was sleeping on one couch in the living room. To make sure I was close to her during the night, I slept on the other couch. I was there for four days.

Then I came home, only to find the painters had started work in the bedroom, so I had to sleep on my own couch — I was beginning to feel like a couch surfer. I’m still there. Although the bedroom is almost finished, my bed is still under plastic wraps and the paint smell is too strong to sleep there anyway.

One good thing is that I had someone come in on Saturday to give the place a thorough clean (except for the bedroom of course), so it’s no longer thick with dust and I’m not feeling as if I need a shower all the time. And the upside of all this is that the apartment is looking nice and bright and clean. By midweek I should be back to normal — from my mouth to God’s ear.

Yes, we are in the second wave

The numbers of Covid infections has now soared to the point where there’s no longer any doubt we are in the second wave. The regional responses across the country are varied. In Buenos Aires, they are trying to shut down as little as possible in order to preserve what’s left of the economy, which I believe is a good thing.

In theory, public transportation has only been for essential workers all along, but we have all been using the buses for weeks. However, now they are back to enforcing the rules, so no buses for a while.

Restaurants, bars and cafes remain open, but must close at 11 pm as there is now a curfew from midnight to 6 am every night. So we can still eat out and support the restaurant industry, and since we can’t use the buses we are also supporting the taxi industry!

Today I’m joining half a dozen friends for an Indian lunch, and then probably a stroll around the artesan market in San Telmo — although there’s a distinct autumn feel in the air today so it might be a bit chilly for that. We’ll see.

Anyway, that’s it from me for this week. Hopefully as the painting is finished I will get back to posting more.