Well, it has been ‘a while’ since I wrote updates the last time, so instead of trying to make this a chronological blog post about what has happened in my life over the last 1,5 years or so, I decided to sort it by topics. That way you can scroll to what does interest you and skip easily over what doesn’t interest you 😉
Until Easter 2024
The Camino Compagnons left their flat on the 1st floor in October 2023 and I looked after it, like I did the winter before, until their return shortly after Easter 2024. Not a big task, just checking and opening/closing the windows to air it on dry days and running the dehumidifier when needed.
Pilgrim House closed in December 2023 and re-opened in March 2024, during that time my contact info was displayed in their window in case of a pilgrim emergency. Thankfully there was no pilgrim emergency!
I continued with my neighbourhood pantry in the usual rhythm of restocking the shelves Monday-Wednesdays and the typical ‘pick-up’ days for groceries etc. being , well, pretty much any day of the week 😉 The re-stocking was made easy by an extremely generous donation I had received earlier in 2023.
The Never Ending Water Story
End of 2023 I discovered that some of my neighbours don’t have access to safe drinking water in their homes and have to go with containers to a public fountain to get safe water. The reason is ‘some technical problem’ inside the structure of the house. Apparently that means that neither social services nor our water company is responsible for that, it’s the landlord’s responsibility – and he doesn’t seem able to do anything about it.
So I did a ‘mini fundraiser’, bought one water filter and installed it beginning of 2024 in one flat to see how it works out.
Sadly, the family returned the filter after one week, reasons given were ‘too complicated’ (which it wasn’t, it had just a switch to, ehm, switch, between filtered and unfiltered water) and ‘somebody told us these filters don’t work’ (I had selected a filter with a 99% filtration rate for germs, metals, chemicals and other nasties so I knew that it was highly effective). So, that filter is now sitting on my shelf until the next family needs it and the remaining donation money was converted in groceries for the pantry. There has been talk of a meeting with all the affected neighbours and I said that I would like to attend. This still needs a follow up by me as in May 2023 I was ‘hit’ by
Covid and Long Covid 2023/2024
Covid itself wasn’t too bad, I simply stayed in bed for a few days with the usual symptoms (fever, sore throat, cough, diminished smell/taste etc.) and one more unusually one – extremely swollen ankles. After being out of bed and finally testing negative I left my flat for a short walk and noticed one more symptom that would accompany me for many months to come – extreme fatigue.
I managed reasonably well during the summer and early autumn but I noticed that I was much more prone to infections, mainly stomach bugs, than before I had Covid. As autumn and winter came around I seemed also catch any respiratory bug available in my neighbourhood (cold, influenza, you name it, I had it). And so a cycle began: catch bug, into bed, up again, increased fatigue, feeling better, catch next bug … rinse and repeat for many, many months. And yes, I was fully vaccinated and boostered when I caught Covid, I don’t dare to imagine how bad things could have been for me otherwise … Still, this continuous up and down was annoying, frustrating, debilitating and absolutely exhausting. In short it wasn’t the best winter/spring of my life 😉 and I had to learn to manage my days very carefully, planning in frequent rest etc. to get through it.
At the time of writing this I seem to be finally better, catching less infections and having much more energy. Please send prayers/good thoughts/vibes that it continues like this!
Allotment and indoor gardening
In spring I was offered the opportunity to share an allotment with a group of my friends, but as it was nearly 2km away and my health continued to be ‘dodgy’ I didn’t feel that I could make that kind of commitment, so I grew once again, some vegetables, mainly cherry tomatoes and peppers, in my kitchen. I also continue to grow plants, vegetables in spring, now more houseplants and herbs, for the neighbourhood and put them out in a ‘freebie box’ before the house.
Neighbourhood Pantry
As mentioned before thanks to a very generous donation, the costs of re-stocking the pantry regularly were covered well into 2024. But Long Covid made it increasingly difficult for me to find the energy to crawl out of bed and attend to deliveries and pick-ups. Thankfully the lovely team of Apotheca not only donates since April this year the weekly fruit&vegetable box but also delivers it directly to one family who then shares it around with the others.
I myself rarely found the energy to sort the supermarket deliveries and put the whole load into the shelves as I had done previously, but I made sure that some extra groceries ‘jumped’ into my own shopping bag and ended up on the shelves. I didn’t keep receipts because of fatigue and brain fog so the accountability page on this blog doesn’t reflect the donations received and spend on pantry groceries accurately. Sorry, I found it more important to keep the pantry running at least at the bare minimum than to spend energy on number crunching … BUT as I finally feel better, I will keep the accountability page more up to date, I promise!
Depression and antidepressants
As there is now more daylight and I feel generally better, me and my doctor decided some months ago together that summer is a good time to see if I would do well with a lower dose of antidepressant and I am very happy to say that I do! I am now down from 15mg to 5mg of Lexopro and have much more energy. Before anybody gets worried, if it doesn’t work out and/or my depression gets worse as the daylight hours decrease again, I and my doctor are absolutely prepared to up the dose again.
Fundraiser
And last, but certainly not least!, a fundraiser: Like everywhere else in the world, prices for groceries continue to rise which obviously also affects my neighbourhood pantry, here a few price examples from July 2023 and July 2024:
- 1l Olive Oil 3,85 Euros (2023) to 4,71 Euros (2024)
- 500g Pasta 0,76 Euros (2023) to 0,79 Euros (2024)
- 5kg Potatos 5,49 Euros (2023) to 5,99 Euros (2024)
- 1kg Sugar 1,35 Euros (2023) to 1,45 Euros (2024)
- 250g Cafe 1,65 Euros (2023) to 1,99 Euros (2024)
That might not seem much, but it adds up over time! So if you want to help me to keep the shelves stocked you can donate either directly via Paypal by using this link https://www.paypal.me/EgeriaHouseSantiago or any of the donation buttons in the top right corner of this website (please put ‘food pantry’ in the Paypal comment field!) or by donating via GoFundMe using this link: https://gofund.me/38781f42
I have set the fundraising goal on GoFundme to 500 Euro which is the minimum amount needed to keep the shelves stocked for one month. Even the smallest donation helps to do this but it really would give me peace of mind if I could raise a substantial amount to keep the pantry shelves re-stocked without having to worry about next weeks’/months’ pantry groceries. My neighbours say Muchas Gracias in advance!
Thank you fo reading to the end and if you have any questions, please leave them in a comment.
SY
