The Landlady has Cuban communication issues
I seem to be spending an awful lot of time in Cuba these days, so much so that I can’t now actually remember how many times I’ve been there, but it’s definitely more than eight. I also now have a new Cuban boyfriend, who has just about everything going for him that one could possibly wish for in a man, and more. Furthermore, he loves the Queen (that is HRH Queen Elizabeth II) and speaks perfect English. He’ll say things like, “it’s rather overcast today,” and, “you really are my cup of tea,” which is enough to make me almost faint with excitement. I speak to him in Spanish (he corrects me) and he speaks to me in English (I just gawp in amazement). Most of my friends have been understandably cynical about my new ‘amor’, as they know me of old and treat me rather like ‘the girl who cries wolf’, so I’d like to prove everyone wrong.
The only problem is that it is nigh-on impossible to maintain any normal sort of contact. He doesn’t even have a telephone. While we spoilt 21st century dwellers sit on our backsides in bed with a cup of tea and ‘Skype’ our mates in foreign countries, the average Cuban has to stand in a queue for several hours in order to spend half a day’s salary for an hour of internet time. And the keyboards on the computers are so worn that there are no letters there anymore, so anyone who doesn’t touch-type would struggle to bang out even a rudimentary message.
“I am trying not to moon around the house like a lovesick juvenile”
In previous relationships, I’ve been paranoid when a guy doesn’t respond to one of my texts within three minutes. With Cubans, you’re lucky to get a reply within three weeks, if at all. But I’m sort of getting my head round it now and have resolved to behave like a simpering Victorian lady awaiting the arrival of the horse and carriage courier. I am trying not to moon around the house like a lovesick juvenile, as my house already has its quota of those and another one would tip us over the edge.
Even before I’d met the New Boyfriend, I’d been thinking about buying a place in Havana.
I’d previously been considering buying a property in Spain, but now don’t think I’d use it as much as I’d thought, as I’m always in Havana. Besides, Cuban property costs a quarter the price of Spanish property and the fact that it has only recently become possible for Cubans to buy and sell houses would make it a very good investment. I already have a couple of people looking out for a property for me, the main criteria being that it is not about to tumble into the street, which often happens in Havana. Oh, and by the way, the New Boyfriend’s a builder.
