Killing Me Softly


 
As usual I’m sat at a table with my coffee.
For me, this is Sitges’ best time of day.
La Santa Maria Hotel has changed hands since we were all last year and the German Matriarch Uta who owned and oversaw everything has been replaced by a faceless manager from a chain of hotels.
The place has been streamlined and changes made, most noticeably. In the guise of the Maître d, who is now a 1980s dressed bundle of nerves with a quick temper and bad manners.

But breakfast time remains what I always remember it as being.
Cheese and sausage and scrambled eggs
Lovely coffee and 
Peace and quiet.
A Spanish version of Roberta Flack’s Killing Me Softly is playing on the radio and The famous Church of Bartomeu and Santa Tecla has rung out the quarter to nine chimes
This pleases me 

We are all talking last night of the significance of having a regular family holiday at the same resort in the same hotel when there are too many new places in the world to visit, and I would agree with that sentiment .
From this post covid year I intend to visit new places and make new experiences 
But for a few days in a blistering August, it’s still lovely to be catching up with the familiar and with family. 
To touch base over coffee and drinks 
To remember and to celebrate.

And With the swift’s screaming in their fish shoal circles around the Town’s Church tower, it’s easy to realise that most things don’t change too much.

35 comments:

  1. A regular get together sounds perfect. My family only seems to gather now at funerals. xx

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  2. Anne Brew8:40 am

    The swifts have not been screaming in fish shoal circles around Nether Edge this year and I miss them.

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  3. A regular get together is a good idea wherever you hold it.

    At least the food is still ok!!

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  4. Love the get togethers... I would love to do more of it...these days it's just us and our kids. Being away from family in the UK is very difficult sometimes. Me and my sister the only ones left of our family. Amazing.

    Jo in Auckland

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    1. It’s been difficult jiggling work and dogs but it’s been worth the effort

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  5. We don’t have immediate family we enjoy as much as the extended family we'll be spending time with up and down Norway. So nurturing. I'm glad you're getting to enjoy your family.

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  6. John, my daughter just spent a week at Colwyn Bay. I told her to keep her eyes open for a man walking a bulldog and welsh terrier but, alas, she didn't see you.

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  7. If you are looking for new places to visit may I suggest Withernsea on the east coast of Yorkshire. You will fit in well there - especially if you rent a mobility scooter for the week. You could also take the dogs.

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  8. Anonymous10:13 am

    It is nice that you are having a pleasant time. Even if staff aren't what they once were, the food seems good.
    We are post Covid? Why wasn't I told that I don't have to be careful anymore?

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    1. Who says We don’t have to be careful ?

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  9. Paragliding may not be what you had in mind John - but you may be lucky to be strapped to a hunky instructor on the ride for safety x

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  10. I've had that experience of going back to a familiar and much-loved hotel and finding it's "under new management" and has lost its soul somewhere along the way. It's hugely disappointing. And yes, we should keep on trying new places and new hotels.

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  11. I kind of miss going back to the same place a couple of times a year, yet there are new horizons to explore.

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  12. Anonymous1:26 pm

    Swifts. It swallows sorry

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  13. Enjoy the coffee and the peace and quiet!

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  14. Barbara Anne2:43 pm

    Dh's family always met for a pot luck picnic in a Memphis park where the perrineal 1st arrival hung Great-Grandma's red apron from a near-by tree branch. The old stories and old jokes are good to hear again. Enjoy!

    Hugs!

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  15. I think it's lovely (and downright enviable) that you all gather at the same place every year.

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  16. Enjoy your family time and all the fond memories and new experiences shared. The fact that you can all agree to get together in one place is impressive. You are lucky to have a strong family unit.

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  17. Anonymous3:58 pm

    If you have such a close family, why are you eating alone?

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. It wasn't me. with the anonymous comment. I meant the anonymous comment was rude.

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  18. Now that my parents have passed on we don't go back to Cape Cod every August---we'd be leaving today, actually. Sadly the family home was sold. It was always so special despite the crowds and hot humid days.

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  19. Enjoy your time...looks as if you are.
    We all have such short lives overall, making others happy and yourself is all you need do. ENJOY!

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  20. What's left of my British family met with us in June when we were able to get back to Devon again at last. It was lovely in so many ways, sad in others - I always think how it could be the last time at our advanced ages!
    Your place in the morning sun still looks lovely John.

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  21. So glad you have had a fine time and good weather. You've given me an ear worm. Not a bad one, but definitely an ear worm. Ranee (MN) USA

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  22. It all sounds lovely. I just returned from a gathering of my siblings and their spouses. I loved every minute of it. I think you cherish family time even more as you age particularly when you're blessed with wonderful siblings.

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  23. We had regular family vacations when I was a kid, often in the same places, until I went away to college. We haven't had them since.

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  24. Do you ever wear those go tinty glasses John?I do like a man in mysterious tinted glasses x

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    1. Please excuse me-Wrong page x

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