A message was received today, and it looks like the Gentleman Friend’s childhood home may be sold. It is sad for him, as it is not only the place he grew up, it’s in fact the literal place where he was born, in the smaller room on the first floor. It is a lovely house, spacious, Edwardian and kept beautifully. Its passage is also a reminder of death, I think, as it could not have been sold whilst one of those who lived there was yet alive. Unlike others in the family, the GF and I are also rootless at the moment, and I think for him it does feel like losing home, not just a childhood home. I wonder if it will be as hard when my childhood home is gone. I think not, though my own parent also grew up in the same place (in a different house on the same site), but there are too many sadnesses wrapped up in it for me.
I got annoyed today and did something I only rarely do. My personal email address is, for some reason, commonly used by others to sign up to websites. This time I started getting a constant stream of emails from Morocco about bodybuilding supplies with no apparent way of turning them off, and I was getting increasingly uncomfortable to find private information about that person in my spam folder (aside from the impotent annoyance one experiences). I had emailed the organization a few days ago, to no reply. So I changed the account password so at least they can’t use it with my email address. One of the great disadvantages of being an early Gmail adopter, that people are tempted to use my very simple address for their own purpose.
Today my class was earlier than usual, starting at 9.30, so I had a very pleasant morning walk into Puerto Viejo. The sea and sky were at their best, misty shades of blue-grey almost but not quite merging into each other, while the tree-covered hills around the bay were wreathed in low clouds. Of course it rained, but not very much.
I am slowly getting used to my new Spanish teacher. It always takes time, at least a week or more. I am starting to despair of getting any fluency without actually living in a Spanish-speaking environment. And, to be fair, working far harder on learning it than I do at present.