Sorry to leave you in suspense yesterday…and Tuesday! I meant to post, but like I’ve said before, once I start to do things, there is no turning back to post. So here we are, a couple days late, but that’s ok! Don’t want things to get to MUNDANE around here during the quarantine…gotta keep things fresh! and fun!
This is the first week in a couple months that we will open from Thurs-Sunday and I keep swinging back and forth on how I feel about it. Part of me is enjoying having enough time to get things done- to finally work on our summer menu (which is not just making the menu, but getting ingredients to test out the sandwiches, take photos, etc), update our website, work on some new summery drinks, order stickers, update our expense logs, make phone calls, etc, but the other part of me feels panicky (does that have a k?) that this could be the new normal for awhile. Things are definitely still good, and business ebbing and flowing is a normal thing, and we also knew summer wouldn’t be a great time for us, but combine summer with a global pandemic and … sounds like a recipe for disaster. I feel a lot of pressure for things to always be perfect, or as close to perfect as they can be. Small things really get to me and from an outside perserpective, you might think I’m crazy, but for me…I feel all this pressure that my name and who I am is on the line. So things have to be perfect, but like Luis said last week- every day is a new day to do things better and to change things that are not working, and in the meantime, we are growing- fairly rapidly- and THAT is a good thing.
Yesterday was the first day that felt sort of “normal” around here, but honestly, I don’t even know what normal feels like anymore. It’s gotten to a point that when I watch tv and see people sharing food, or sitting close together, I’m like….”….can you DO THAT?! Be careful!”. I can’t imagine what it will be like when things are “back to normal”. But anyway, yesterday was sort of normal because at 9:00 (pm), Luis and I used the public bikes and rode into the center of Madrid and there were thousands and thousands of people out, but I told him it felt a little like Santiago, Chile, or Cuba to me–lots of people in the street with nowhere to be. The stores are still very much closed, but there are so many people out and about. It’s bizarre. I know there are bigger fish to fry and people have bigger (real) problems, but my existential crisis of the moment is feeling sad that there may be no summer. Since I was little, I have always loved the heat of summer, the laziness, the going to the pool or the beach, the summer clothes, the BBQs, tan lines, staying out late, and that things are just more relaxed, even if you have to work. I love Spain in the spring & summer- the terraces, the parties (not that i go to any lol), that the sun sets at 10 or 10:30 at night, the beach, the food…all of it. I don’t like the intense heat, but all of those other things make it more than worth it and the fact that there may be none of that really makes me feel sad. I feel sad that I might not get to see my family, and if I do…there may be nothing to do. Will we just stay home? I feel sad that this huge party that happens in Malaga may not happen, or may not be the same. I feel sad that the pools might not open. I feel sad that my business might be in the dumpster until September. It’s just a lot of unknown.
I like this ad that’s around Madrid. It says “Adopt. It’s a gesture that changes your face/ (or changes your look)”.
Anywho, time to get dressed and head over to the shop. Planning to test out some new bagels today (chocolate chip and kalamata olive…not in the same bagel).
Hasta luego, amigos!
