The end of a long life...

Playlist

Various - 2024 LPs of the Day Playlist

Up in the middle of the night...

...and, properly, just after 7...

Out for breakfast at 8:30...

...down our street...

..round the corner and up the hill...

...to Cafelito...

...for croissants...

...and lovely coffees, including Cafe Bonbom for me...

An Espresso, condensed milk and foam...

Yowsah!

We walked from there to the Retiro Gardens...

Past the Reina Sofia...

...and across the Plaza in front of Atocha Station...

Only a couple of the book stalls on the climb to the gardens' entrance were open so far...

A chestnut, not this one, was taken for posterity for the shelf at home...

A lovely walk ensued...

...past the under scaffolding Crystal Palace...

...close to which, a man was feeding the birds...

...onwards...

...past the Reina Sofia annex, which will open in 2026...

...and to the lake...

...where a saxophone player was recorded for possible future use...

...and a seat was enjoyed...

...before we exited...

...into the Plaza of Independence...

...and the Alcala Gate...

...and walked further in search of the Bodega recommended by a Twitter chum, where the intention was to take lunch...

We were heading for the Malasana district...

Past various impressive buildings...

...and found ourselves at the Barcelo Market, where a very small but very tasty Empanada was enjoyed from a stall for just one of your European Euros...

Onwards for a seat at the Jardines del Arquitecto Ribera...

...before a further walk on to...

...Plaza del Dos de Mayo...

...where loads of school kids were on their morning break...

...and we took a seat at Gato...

...for coffee/beer...

..after which, a wee browse in a 2nd hand bookstore where I swithered over a book on the art of Frida Khalo, before being persuaded by the EP that it wasn't worth the two of your European Euros outlay as I didn't like Khalo's work...

I didn't buy this book either...

Time to head for our chosen lunch venue - more walking...

...and looking up...

Finally, we made it to Calle de Colon and Bodega de la Ardosa...

A lovely wee place - a glass of wine...

Tortilla de Patata and unpictured ham and beef croquettes...

And then, a call from sister Sheila....

"No easy easy to tell you this.  Mum died this morning..."

And so, things changed of course...

Just me and Sheila left now - Dad, Pam and mum now all gone...

But what could I do?  Nothing could be changed...

Brief details provided on the event...

Luckily, Sheila had been at the house, by chance really, as there was a meet with an Occupational Therapist to discuss a new machine to help lift mum from her bed and into her chair and vice versa - otherwise, Sheila would probably have visited this afternoon...

Still, mum would not have died on her own, as the carers were there when it happened...

She'd told them she didn't want to get out of bed as she wasn't feeling up to it...

Sheila asked if she'd like some breakfast and she asked for some cereal, which was duly provided...

She was enjoying that when, suddenly, she dropped her spoon and and keeled over...

And that was it...

No rallying this time, after rallying so many times before over the years...

My last words to her?

"Don't die before I get back"...

Defiant until the end...

And so, as a tribute to my old mum's own stoicism in the face of constant pain and, when it comes right down to it, lack of quality of life, I decided to carry on with the day...

There was nothing else for it but to do so...

A slightly more subdued lunch than we had hoped but it was excellent, taste and enjoyability-wise...

We headed down towards the Gran Via and Sol Plaza...

On the way, as a tribute to carrying on the way mum would have carried on, I popped into Killer Discos and bought some CDs for six of your European Euros...

A collection of Alternative music...

...some jazz fusion...

...some punky stuff...

...and an old Spanish film and pop star of whom I'd never heard...

...onwards and, in never seen by either of us before store, Lefties, a nice wee denim jacket for the EP...

We walked on...

...to Sol Plaza...

...and onwards to 

...Plaza Mayor...

...where I managed to botch this selfie, due to my hat encroaching on the man on the horse...

Further walking...

 ...took us to Ziggy's, where this frankly preposterous purchase was made...

Souvenir-tastic...

Then, we tried and failed to find the great wee bar at the Rastro flea market site...

...but found a nice shady streetside table elsewhere instead and watched the world go by...

It turned out we were now not that far from home, having completed  huge circular route around the city since setting out this morning as we passed our breakfast venue once again...

Back to the apartment for rest and reflection and to, quite literally, recharge our batteries...

After an hour or so, back out...

..and to our new bar...

...Bar Benteveo... 

...before popping over the road and into Santa Isabel Cafeteria for tea...

...starting with more drinks of course...

And then, we kind of misunderstood the menu and ordered probably far too much food...

But, we scoffed the lot...

A constitutional followed, once again down to the Reina Sofia...

...and back home...

Erm...

Lowlight of the Day : The end of a long life...

Today's New Music:-