Jamie put hers on to keep him company in the photos. This is her new tracksuit
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Peter
I only found out this morning that my friend Peter Capell lost his battle with cancer on 8 November. I knew Peter from my days at Heidebeek, and he was possibly the sweetest natured person I have ever had the privilege of knowing. The world is a much poorer place without him.
This is an extract from an email written by Peter's sister in-law, Becky Capell:
Hasmig sang him into Heaven tonight and their little daughter, Keziah Miracle Capell (born on the 2nd or 3rd November), slept peacefully on the bed next to Peter's. Many people have wondered if he registered that he had a daughter and we believe he did because for days after her birth, he would mention the baby and ask about her. The name Keziah comes from the book of Job. She was one of his daughters and interestingly, in Armenian, although Hasmig and Peter didn't know this when they chose her name, it means "a miracle for you".
This is an extract from an email written by Peter's sister in-law, Becky Capell:
Hasmig sang him into Heaven tonight and their little daughter, Keziah Miracle Capell (born on the 2nd or 3rd November), slept peacefully on the bed next to Peter's. Many people have wondered if he registered that he had a daughter and we believe he did because for days after her birth, he would mention the baby and ask about her. The name Keziah comes from the book of Job. She was one of his daughters and interestingly, in Armenian, although Hasmig and Peter didn't know this when they chose her name, it means "a miracle for you".
Monday, November 22, 2004
Back up and running
Saturday daytime was quiet, we briefly wandered around the market then headed to the Manantial for coffee, then in the afternoon Carmen and Anja went for a walk while Jamie did her homework and Daniel had his nap. Jamie's forging ahead at the moment in reading and writing. We bought her a book at her teacher's recommendation, it's actually one that they'll be using next year, but she spent a lot of time at the weekend reading through it and practicing the words she'd learned. She's now learned various letters, AEIOU of course, and L, G, T, M, S, Z , so she can write 'el gatito', 'el tomate', 'la lata' and lots more, all joined up.
When C&A got back I went off for a jog. It was good to get out in the daylight for a change, although at 17.50 it was already getting dark. (I'd been out for a bike ride on Friday, but only managed to get as far as Rosana and Guido's place. We hadn't seen each other for so long that my 2 minute stop to drop off old car magazines turned into a cosy hour and a half of red wine and coffee...). I got to the beach in the twilight, and decided to keep going along the beach. The tide was right out and the last few walkers were heading for the car park. I turned around at Meron, the next car park along where the nice beach restaurant is, and came home.
On Saturday evening Carmen and I went round to Magdalena and Rodolfo's for supper and football - Barcelona against Real Madrid, the 'clasico'. Anja kindly babysat for us. Supper was very nice, tapa-style. Gambas (king prawns); pate; surimi, egg & jalapeno pepper on baguette slices (wonderful!) and tortilla, accompanied by a very nice wine that we'd brought that Brenda had bought while she was here, Los Molinos Reserva 1999 (Valdepenas).
We enjoyed the football, at least what we managed to follow of it! M&R were for Madrid, while we follow Barca, but as Barca were 2-0 up at half time, our hosts didn't have a great deal of interest in the second half, so of course we were good guests and chatted to them. 3-0 was a fair result, Barca were far and away the better team. Madrid looked as rudderless and unthreatening as England had against Spain on Wednesday, with Beckham performing almost identically in both games.
On Sunday afternoon we took Jamie and Daniel to the birthday party of Alegria, a friend of Dani's from creche. Her parents, Toby and Jackie, are from the UK, over here for a year, Jackie is actually half-Spanish, hence Alegria's first name and why they are here. The kids had a wonderful time, ate a lovely multicultural party meal (chorizo followed by jelly and ice cream, anyone?) and played pass-the-parcel and musical chairs until they were fit to drop.
It was quite a restful weekend after probably my busiest week ever - I translated well over 20,000 words last week. In fact the past three weeks have been extremely hectic. My job numbering system is year-month-job number, and I'm already way over the record number of jobs in a single month since I switched to the system 5 years ago, and there's still 8 days to go in November. I spent a lot of time messing around with my hobby - downloading! I've been a happy KaZaa user up to now, but recently most of my downloads keep freezing up. If I were a conspiracy theorist I'd say the recording industry and movie industry have planted millions of dodgy files on the web to clog up these file sharing systems. Who knows, in any case I only manage to download about 25% of files I click on. So I was pleased this weekend to find a new alternative - Bit Torrent. I've already used it to download the elusive last episode of a series I managed to download on KaZaa - SPACED (if anyone wants copies, let me know).
It's currently busily downloading a Spanish-language copy of the new Pixar movie, the Incredibles.
Right I'm off to watch Bad Santa, another recent download!
When C&A got back I went off for a jog. It was good to get out in the daylight for a change, although at 17.50 it was already getting dark. (I'd been out for a bike ride on Friday, but only managed to get as far as Rosana and Guido's place. We hadn't seen each other for so long that my 2 minute stop to drop off old car magazines turned into a cosy hour and a half of red wine and coffee...). I got to the beach in the twilight, and decided to keep going along the beach. The tide was right out and the last few walkers were heading for the car park. I turned around at Meron, the next car park along where the nice beach restaurant is, and came home.
On Saturday evening Carmen and I went round to Magdalena and Rodolfo's for supper and football - Barcelona against Real Madrid, the 'clasico'. Anja kindly babysat for us. Supper was very nice, tapa-style. Gambas (king prawns); pate; surimi, egg & jalapeno pepper on baguette slices (wonderful!) and tortilla, accompanied by a very nice wine that we'd brought that Brenda had bought while she was here, Los Molinos Reserva 1999 (Valdepenas).
We enjoyed the football, at least what we managed to follow of it! M&R were for Madrid, while we follow Barca, but as Barca were 2-0 up at half time, our hosts didn't have a great deal of interest in the second half, so of course we were good guests and chatted to them. 3-0 was a fair result, Barca were far and away the better team. Madrid looked as rudderless and unthreatening as England had against Spain on Wednesday, with Beckham performing almost identically in both games.
On Sunday afternoon we took Jamie and Daniel to the birthday party of Alegria, a friend of Dani's from creche. Her parents, Toby and Jackie, are from the UK, over here for a year, Jackie is actually half-Spanish, hence Alegria's first name and why they are here. The kids had a wonderful time, ate a lovely multicultural party meal (chorizo followed by jelly and ice cream, anyone?) and played pass-the-parcel and musical chairs until they were fit to drop.
It was quite a restful weekend after probably my busiest week ever - I translated well over 20,000 words last week. In fact the past three weeks have been extremely hectic. My job numbering system is year-month-job number, and I'm already way over the record number of jobs in a single month since I switched to the system 5 years ago, and there's still 8 days to go in November. I spent a lot of time messing around with my hobby - downloading! I've been a happy KaZaa user up to now, but recently most of my downloads keep freezing up. If I were a conspiracy theorist I'd say the recording industry and movie industry have planted millions of dodgy files on the web to clog up these file sharing systems. Who knows, in any case I only manage to download about 25% of files I click on. So I was pleased this weekend to find a new alternative - Bit Torrent. I've already used it to download the elusive last episode of a series I managed to download on KaZaa - SPACED (if anyone wants copies, let me know).
It's currently busily downloading a Spanish-language copy of the new Pixar movie, the Incredibles.
Right I'm off to watch Bad Santa, another recent download!
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Doings
Quick update time - the weather continues to be either heavy cloud or rain, which meant we didn't do a great deal at the weekend. A gap in the cloud on Sunday morning got us all excited and we were all togged up for a walk when the first drops of rain started falling :((( Daniel discovered the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and watched it about 6 times during the weekend.
On Saturday evening Carmen and Anja stayed in watching Cold Mountain from the DVD shop while I went round to Siobhan's for an ex-pat supper. Vivion and Marian were there, and it was a very pleasant evening - I baked pancakes served with choccy ice cream which went down a treat.
On Monday and Tuesday I knuckled down to get a big job finished. Just as I was wrapping it up yesterday evening I discovered a bunch of tables which I hadn't seen earlier (graphic files embedded in the text) which also needed translating - an unexpected extra 1000 words. All in all, in 2 days, I managed the 10,000 words of this job, a test translation of 400 words, proofreading a 1600-word job I'd farmed out, and I went out for coffee with a translator (Anjo Sterringa) who was passing through SVB. Phew. I should have a morning off really, but the next deadlines await.
On Saturday evening Carmen and Anja stayed in watching Cold Mountain from the DVD shop while I went round to Siobhan's for an ex-pat supper. Vivion and Marian were there, and it was a very pleasant evening - I baked pancakes served with choccy ice cream which went down a treat.
On Monday and Tuesday I knuckled down to get a big job finished. Just as I was wrapping it up yesterday evening I discovered a bunch of tables which I hadn't seen earlier (graphic files embedded in the text) which also needed translating - an unexpected extra 1000 words. All in all, in 2 days, I managed the 10,000 words of this job, a test translation of 400 words, proofreading a 1600-word job I'd farmed out, and I went out for coffee with a translator (Anjo Sterringa) who was passing through SVB. Phew. I should have a morning off really, but the next deadlines await.
Monday, November 15, 2004
Prez ideas for kids
It's always hard to know what will grab their attention, but the general rule tends to be the more expensive a present, the less it gets played with. The most
successful toy this year has been a generic magic drawing board that cost
6.99 euros. Both our kids played with it continually, and Nick and Timothy played with it non-stop in the summer. It finally broke in the autumn, so when it reappeared on Dia's shelves recently, price hiked ridiculously to 8.99 this year
(including extra mini board though) we bought THREE of them - one each for the kids and one spare. Any variation on this theme (such as Etch-a-Sketch, for example) is guaranteed to be a hit.
Daniel still loves cars, trucks, JCBs, fire engines, etc., the less complicated the better, although flashing lights and sirens always go down well, especially if they have a volume control ;o). One thing he doesn't have yet which he would probably love is a click-together road or rail track system.
Jamie likes drawing, colouring, activity books and crafts. She's got plenty of plasticene and always makes too much mess with it, and enough crayons and felt tips to colour the Forth Bridge. She likes colouring books, dot-to-dots, colour by numbers and that kind of activity book, especially featuring her favourite TV / film
characters: Dora the Explorer, Fairly Odd Parents, Totally Spies, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Pooh/Tigger, Miffy and all the Disney 'princesses'.
successful toy this year has been a generic magic drawing board that cost
6.99 euros. Both our kids played with it continually, and Nick and Timothy played with it non-stop in the summer. It finally broke in the autumn, so when it reappeared on Dia's shelves recently, price hiked ridiculously to 8.99 this year
(including extra mini board though) we bought THREE of them - one each for the kids and one spare. Any variation on this theme (such as Etch-a-Sketch, for example) is guaranteed to be a hit.
Daniel still loves cars, trucks, JCBs, fire engines, etc., the less complicated the better, although flashing lights and sirens always go down well, especially if they have a volume control ;o). One thing he doesn't have yet which he would probably love is a click-together road or rail track system.
Jamie likes drawing, colouring, activity books and crafts. She's got plenty of plasticene and always makes too much mess with it, and enough crayons and felt tips to colour the Forth Bridge. She likes colouring books, dot-to-dots, colour by numbers and that kind of activity book, especially featuring her favourite TV / film
characters: Dora the Explorer, Fairly Odd Parents, Totally Spies, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Pooh/Tigger, Miffy and all the Disney 'princesses'.
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Christmas lists
Right, for Christmas, who wants a goat and who wants a brood of chickens?
Click here and tell me what you think. Needless to say I think it's an excellent idea, also for prezzie(s) for me. Turning the consumerist feeding frenzy on its head and giving someone who needs it a helping hand at the same time.
I can imagine this is not everyone's cup of tea, so feel free to send us your prezzie lists - if you don't, I'll take it as tacit approval of the above! (This only applies to the adults, of course). I've also recently updated our Amazon Wish List, if anyone needs more traditional gift inspiration from us. Accompanied by the usual caveat about shopping around - play.com is often cheaper for DVDs.
Carmen has just mentioned that she wants socks!
Click here and tell me what you think. Needless to say I think it's an excellent idea, also for prezzie(s) for me. Turning the consumerist feeding frenzy on its head and giving someone who needs it a helping hand at the same time.
I can imagine this is not everyone's cup of tea, so feel free to send us your prezzie lists - if you don't, I'll take it as tacit approval of the above! (This only applies to the adults, of course). I've also recently updated our Amazon Wish List, if anyone needs more traditional gift inspiration from us. Accompanied by the usual caveat about shopping around - play.com is often cheaper for DVDs.
Carmen has just mentioned that she wants socks!
Friday, November 12, 2004
Article "Israel's death festival"
Read the full text here
Israel's death festival
Such unabashed glee is disrespectful and dangerous
Daphna Baram
Friday November 12, 2004
The Guardian
On November 5 1995, I went as usual to my office in East Jerusalem [...]. I worked for the human rights advocate, Lea Tzemel. Lea and myself, two Jewish Israeli women working in a Palestinian neighbourhood, were already a familiar part of the street's scene. But this morning was different. When I went into the corner shop to buy cigarettes, the owner, Izzat Fraytah, greeted me with a grave face. "My condolences," he said. It took me a few seconds to realise he was conveying his sympathy for the death of the prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, who had been assassinated the night before by a rightwing radical.
Izzat was a sympathiser of the Islamist opposition organisations, and an opponent of the Oslo accords signed two years earlier by Rabin and Yasser Arafat, but his feelings were genuine. "It's a sad day for you," he said, "and for us." [...]
I was overwhelmed by their decency, and embarrassed. I knew what a bitter enemy Rabin had been to the Palestinian people. [...]
All these memories came back to me as Yasser Arafat lay on his deathbed, unaware of the glee expressed by most Israelis. [...] Inbal Gavrieli, member of the Knesset, shouted at Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Knesset, that Arafat was "a dog". Many Israeli politicians followed suit with insults directed at the dying Palestinian leader. [...] A festive atmosphere has taken over the country.
"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth," says the Old Testament, but too many Israelis are blinded by hatred and self-righteousness to remember these beautiful words. The consequences of Arafat's death festival will haunt us for years. And for this cruel folly Israelis and Palestinians are likely to pay in the currency of innocent blood.
Israel's death festival
Such unabashed glee is disrespectful and dangerous
Daphna Baram
Friday November 12, 2004
The Guardian
On November 5 1995, I went as usual to my office in East Jerusalem [...]. I worked for the human rights advocate, Lea Tzemel. Lea and myself, two Jewish Israeli women working in a Palestinian neighbourhood, were already a familiar part of the street's scene. But this morning was different. When I went into the corner shop to buy cigarettes, the owner, Izzat Fraytah, greeted me with a grave face. "My condolences," he said. It took me a few seconds to realise he was conveying his sympathy for the death of the prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, who had been assassinated the night before by a rightwing radical.
Izzat was a sympathiser of the Islamist opposition organisations, and an opponent of the Oslo accords signed two years earlier by Rabin and Yasser Arafat, but his feelings were genuine. "It's a sad day for you," he said, "and for us." [...]
I was overwhelmed by their decency, and embarrassed. I knew what a bitter enemy Rabin had been to the Palestinian people. [...]
All these memories came back to me as Yasser Arafat lay on his deathbed, unaware of the glee expressed by most Israelis. [...] Inbal Gavrieli, member of the Knesset, shouted at Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Knesset, that Arafat was "a dog". Many Israeli politicians followed suit with insults directed at the dying Palestinian leader. [...] A festive atmosphere has taken over the country.
"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth," says the Old Testament, but too many Israelis are blinded by hatred and self-righteousness to remember these beautiful words. The consequences of Arafat's death festival will haunt us for years. And for this cruel folly Israelis and Palestinians are likely to pay in the currency of innocent blood.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Shoulder
The pain in my shoulder and arm is still there, it doesn't seem to have got any less in the past week. At least I now know that it is not my heart - both the ECG and blood and urine tests showed no signs of anything amiss there. I've also stopped 'feeling' my heart when it beats. The doctor did a full range of tests and everything looks normal. The pain now starts as a tense ache in my left shoulder and goes along my triceps down to my left elbow. Most of the time it's a dull ache, but two or three times a day it flares up and is agony. There's no obvious trigger, it can happen while I'm standing up, walking, sitting down, working, lying in bed. The doc's latest diagnosis in tendonitis, and he prescribed an injection of something or other and anti-inflammatories. The latter don't seem to be making any obvious difference. Apparently the injection will have a progressive effect in the coming days.
I've been starting to think that RSI might be playing a role, although the irony is that I started using speech recognition 6 weeks ago and am now typing a lot less than I used to. Who knows, maybe it's this change (posture, mouse use, etc.) that has triggered or contributed to the problem. I am scheduled for an x-ray (or possibly a scan, not quite sure) in Torrelavega next Thursday. Hopefully the pain will have gone by then and I can cancel.
I've been wanting to start doing some gentle jogging or cycling again, to see if I can 'run it off', but the weather has been atrocious this week and it's been impossible to get out. Poor Anja only has 3 weeks here this time, and so far it's only been lashing rain and gale force winds.
Daniel also went to the doctor this morning. We've noticed what look like little blisters on the palms of his hands and soles of his feet, and thought we'd better get it checked out. It turns out it's not the dreaded lurgy, as we feared, but a kind of dermatitis. We're supposed to put Vaseline on them and wait a few days and see what happens. They don't seem to bother him at all, except when we look at them, and then he starts shouting out 'pain, pain' and whimpering ;o)
Work-wise it was fairly quiet last week, and I decided at the weekend to start aggressively looking for more work, and to get the maximum out of the speech recognition and thereby increase my productivity. This has worked very well so far, my productivity is up by 40-50% and up to now I've been getting enough work in to keep up with the pace.
Speaking of which, I'd better get on …
I've been starting to think that RSI might be playing a role, although the irony is that I started using speech recognition 6 weeks ago and am now typing a lot less than I used to. Who knows, maybe it's this change (posture, mouse use, etc.) that has triggered or contributed to the problem. I am scheduled for an x-ray (or possibly a scan, not quite sure) in Torrelavega next Thursday. Hopefully the pain will have gone by then and I can cancel.
I've been wanting to start doing some gentle jogging or cycling again, to see if I can 'run it off', but the weather has been atrocious this week and it's been impossible to get out. Poor Anja only has 3 weeks here this time, and so far it's only been lashing rain and gale force winds.
Daniel also went to the doctor this morning. We've noticed what look like little blisters on the palms of his hands and soles of his feet, and thought we'd better get it checked out. It turns out it's not the dreaded lurgy, as we feared, but a kind of dermatitis. We're supposed to put Vaseline on them and wait a few days and see what happens. They don't seem to bother him at all, except when we look at them, and then he starts shouting out 'pain, pain' and whimpering ;o)
Work-wise it was fairly quiet last week, and I decided at the weekend to start aggressively looking for more work, and to get the maximum out of the speech recognition and thereby increase my productivity. This has worked very well so far, my productivity is up by 40-50% and up to now I've been getting enough work in to keep up with the pace.
Speaking of which, I'd better get on …
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Knotted without a hitch
Well the wedding weekend is over, and we are all back home safe and sound. Daniel surprised us all by having a wonderful time being babysat by Nuria, doing exactly what he was told without a fuss and eating everything was put in front of him (including something very garlicky this lunchtime! His breath this afternoon had us all leaping out of the way…), taking his nap yesterday afternoon and sleeping through the night and generally being brilliant.
We started out on Saturday morning after Jamie, Anja and Carmen got back from having their hair done. They all looked fabulous, and Jamie couldn't wait to show off her party hairdo that evening. On the way to Palencia, we detoured into a village to get some petrol and bumped into Luis and Christina, an amazing coincidence, especially as we'd arranged to have lunch with them. Now we could follow them to the restaurant (in a totally different village) and not worry about getting lost. The restaurant, in a place called Amusco
, was in a converted mediaeval synagogue, and it was quite something - both in terms of the setting and the food. (click on 'Lugares' to see photos of the church next door to the synagogue). I recommend it to anyone who happens to be in the area of Palencia.
We got to the hotel at 5, and the coaches to take us to the cathedral were due to leave at 6.15, so there was a mad scramble for us all to get ready for showtime. The hotel was full of wedding guests, so the roar of a hundred hair dryers reached a crescendo at about 5.45. Jamie was a beautiful little princess in the black dress and bag that she got from Brenda, and Carmen looked very sexy in her cocktail dress and stilettos. As we waited for the coaches in the lobby, we noticed a poster showing the seating arrangements, and were disappointed to discover that we would not be sitting with any of our close family. The coaches then turned up, all three of them, and we drove into the centre of town. Being on the Spanish plain, Palencia was a lot colder than it is here on the coast, and a vicious wind was whipping around us, making it very chilly indeed. The cathedral is beautiful, and well worth a visit. (More photos here and here). Music was provided by a full choir accompanied by the cathedral organ, and the wedding went off without a hitch.
It was warm enough inside during the service, but after it finished they opened the huge double doors, and we guests froze while waiting for all the photos to be taken. Then it was back into the coaches and back to the hotel for the dinner and party. The banqueting hall was huge, with all the guests sat at round tables set at quite a distance apart. So even though we were sat at the next table to Luis, Christina and most of the rest of our Spanish family, we weren't close enough to talk to them during dinner unfortunately. Dinner was worth waiting for -- 'bogavante' to start (somewhere between a lobster and a crayfish), then a mouthwatering hake 'en croute', a lemon sorbet cocktail in between (weird but very tasty), fourth course melt-in-the-mouth solomillo (steak) and then a slice of very nice mocca cream cake and a sort of frozen milk ice cream. The first two courses accompanied by a very pleasant, fairly sweet white wine, and the steak accompanied by a very typically heavy rioja. Finally coffee and liqueurs, and a cigar if you wanted one (I didn't).
After we'd finished eating, Roberto, the groom, came and asked Jamie if she would like to hand out thank-you-for-coming presents to all the ladies (the men's present being the cigar), and of course she jumped at the chance. And skipped. Carmen was roped in to carry the basket, which weighed a ton - the presents were miniature bottles of very good perfume. Of course Jamie charmed everyone's socks off, she loves a stage like that.
Then just as they finished, the music started and the highlight of Jamie's evening arrived - dancing. By this time it was already 12.20, i.e. 4 hours past her normal bedtime, but off she went, first dancing with me for 20 minutes, then with Roberto, Dioni (the groom's mother), various other people and on her own. By 1.30 she'd completely used up her last reserves of energy. Meanwhile Roberto had introduced me to a Scottish woman and a Dutch man, both friends of the bride, and I had a nice natter with both of them. The Scots woman had a similar background to mine, having spent most of her adult life outside the UK in various countries, to the extent that she'd even been a professional translator at one point, so we had a lot to talk about.
The party was really swinging by now, but Jamie was ready for bed and we used that as an excuse to head upstairs (we old farts can't party like we used to!). Just as we were moving towards the door the band started playing the Birdie song (as they do at Spanish weddings…) and suddenly we'd lost Jamie - finally found her in the middle of the dance floor, showing everyone how to flap their wings and waggle their tails.
We got Jamie to bed, but her thoughts were still racing and she was chattering away 20 to the dozen. I told her to think about all the nice things she'd done that day and went into the bathroom to help Carmen take out the pins from her elaborate hairdo. When we came out 3 minutes later Jamie was fast asleep.
This morning we were all a bit subdued, but we managed to get down for the buffet breakfast, which was very pleasant, and were on the road home by about 11.30. We stopped for coffee in Reinosa and got home at about 2. Danny had just finished lunch at Tori's flat (Nuria's mum, two storeys below our flat) and was delighted to see us at the door. We were very surprised to hear how good he'd been, we had half expected problems at some point, especially waking up after his nap or in the morning.
I took the digital camera along but the batteries in the flash were empty unfortunately, so you'll have to wait until I get the film from the film camera developed to see how we all looked in our finery.
We started out on Saturday morning after Jamie, Anja and Carmen got back from having their hair done. They all looked fabulous, and Jamie couldn't wait to show off her party hairdo that evening. On the way to Palencia, we detoured into a village to get some petrol and bumped into Luis and Christina, an amazing coincidence, especially as we'd arranged to have lunch with them. Now we could follow them to the restaurant (in a totally different village) and not worry about getting lost. The restaurant, in a place called Amusco
, was in a converted mediaeval synagogue, and it was quite something - both in terms of the setting and the food. (click on 'Lugares' to see photos of the church next door to the synagogue). I recommend it to anyone who happens to be in the area of Palencia.
We got to the hotel at 5, and the coaches to take us to the cathedral were due to leave at 6.15, so there was a mad scramble for us all to get ready for showtime. The hotel was full of wedding guests, so the roar of a hundred hair dryers reached a crescendo at about 5.45. Jamie was a beautiful little princess in the black dress and bag that she got from Brenda, and Carmen looked very sexy in her cocktail dress and stilettos. As we waited for the coaches in the lobby, we noticed a poster showing the seating arrangements, and were disappointed to discover that we would not be sitting with any of our close family. The coaches then turned up, all three of them, and we drove into the centre of town. Being on the Spanish plain, Palencia was a lot colder than it is here on the coast, and a vicious wind was whipping around us, making it very chilly indeed. The cathedral is beautiful, and well worth a visit. (More photos here and here). Music was provided by a full choir accompanied by the cathedral organ, and the wedding went off without a hitch.
It was warm enough inside during the service, but after it finished they opened the huge double doors, and we guests froze while waiting for all the photos to be taken. Then it was back into the coaches and back to the hotel for the dinner and party. The banqueting hall was huge, with all the guests sat at round tables set at quite a distance apart. So even though we were sat at the next table to Luis, Christina and most of the rest of our Spanish family, we weren't close enough to talk to them during dinner unfortunately. Dinner was worth waiting for -- 'bogavante' to start (somewhere between a lobster and a crayfish), then a mouthwatering hake 'en croute', a lemon sorbet cocktail in between (weird but very tasty), fourth course melt-in-the-mouth solomillo (steak) and then a slice of very nice mocca cream cake and a sort of frozen milk ice cream. The first two courses accompanied by a very pleasant, fairly sweet white wine, and the steak accompanied by a very typically heavy rioja. Finally coffee and liqueurs, and a cigar if you wanted one (I didn't).
After we'd finished eating, Roberto, the groom, came and asked Jamie if she would like to hand out thank-you-for-coming presents to all the ladies (the men's present being the cigar), and of course she jumped at the chance. And skipped. Carmen was roped in to carry the basket, which weighed a ton - the presents were miniature bottles of very good perfume. Of course Jamie charmed everyone's socks off, she loves a stage like that.
Then just as they finished, the music started and the highlight of Jamie's evening arrived - dancing. By this time it was already 12.20, i.e. 4 hours past her normal bedtime, but off she went, first dancing with me for 20 minutes, then with Roberto, Dioni (the groom's mother), various other people and on her own. By 1.30 she'd completely used up her last reserves of energy. Meanwhile Roberto had introduced me to a Scottish woman and a Dutch man, both friends of the bride, and I had a nice natter with both of them. The Scots woman had a similar background to mine, having spent most of her adult life outside the UK in various countries, to the extent that she'd even been a professional translator at one point, so we had a lot to talk about.
The party was really swinging by now, but Jamie was ready for bed and we used that as an excuse to head upstairs (we old farts can't party like we used to!). Just as we were moving towards the door the band started playing the Birdie song (as they do at Spanish weddings…) and suddenly we'd lost Jamie - finally found her in the middle of the dance floor, showing everyone how to flap their wings and waggle their tails.
We got Jamie to bed, but her thoughts were still racing and she was chattering away 20 to the dozen. I told her to think about all the nice things she'd done that day and went into the bathroom to help Carmen take out the pins from her elaborate hairdo. When we came out 3 minutes later Jamie was fast asleep.
This morning we were all a bit subdued, but we managed to get down for the buffet breakfast, which was very pleasant, and were on the road home by about 11.30. We stopped for coffee in Reinosa and got home at about 2. Danny had just finished lunch at Tori's flat (Nuria's mum, two storeys below our flat) and was delighted to see us at the door. We were very surprised to hear how good he'd been, we had half expected problems at some point, especially waking up after his nap or in the morning.
I took the digital camera along but the batteries in the flash were empty unfortunately, so you'll have to wait until I get the film from the film camera developed to see how we all looked in our finery.
Friday, November 05, 2004
Divided States
Excellent thought-provoking article by Simon Schama in today's Guardian:
In the wee small hours of November 3 2004, a new country appeared on the map of the modern world: the DSA, the Divided States of America. Oh yes, I know, the obligatory pieties about "healing" have begun; not least from the lips of the noble Loser. This is music to the ears of the Victor of course, who wants nothing better than for us all to Come Together, a position otherwise known as unconditional surrender. Please, fellow curmudgeons and last ditchers, can someone on the losing side just for once not roll over and fall into a warm bath of patriotic platitudes at such moments, but toot the flute of battle instead; yell and holler and snarl just a wee bit? I don't want to heal the wound, I want to scratch the damned thing until it hurts and bleeds...
Read the full text
here
In the wee small hours of November 3 2004, a new country appeared on the map of the modern world: the DSA, the Divided States of America. Oh yes, I know, the obligatory pieties about "healing" have begun; not least from the lips of the noble Loser. This is music to the ears of the Victor of course, who wants nothing better than for us all to Come Together, a position otherwise known as unconditional surrender. Please, fellow curmudgeons and last ditchers, can someone on the losing side just for once not roll over and fall into a warm bath of patriotic platitudes at such moments, but toot the flute of battle instead; yell and holler and snarl just a wee bit? I don't want to heal the wound, I want to scratch the damned thing until it hurts and bleeds...
Read the full text
here
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Jog blog
I went for a jog on Sunday evening, not as long as the previous one, just to the beach and back and then up to the castle and back home. It was still quite cold and windy after the stormy weather in the afternoon, but by the time I got to the beach I was getting pretty hot so I took off my sweatshirt and jogged in my T-shirt with my sweatshirt around my waist. When I got home my chest was very tight, so I was immediately concerned about my heart. And as the evening went on, pain spread through my chest and upper left-arm -- also not a good sign. It felt more like the pain I get if I sleep in a draft, but at the same time I could feel my heart beating very clearly and something didn't feel quite right.
To cut a long story short, the pain's been there all week up to now. I guessed at a certain point that it must be a rheumatic type pain from jogging in the T-shirt in the cold, and that that was either affecting my heart, or that the sensitive heartbeat was something separate. Painkillers, painkilling balm and a mini electric blanket have only provided a limited amount of relief, so I went to the doctor this morning. He also thought it was rheumatic and said I needed to do a much longer and more intense warming up before jogging. Just to be sure about the heart, I have an appointment for an ECG in half an hour, and they are going to do some blood tests next week.
The kids have had a good week. Anya, their Gran, arrived on Monday, so that was very exciting, although their barely concealed preference for Anya's presents rather than her presence was rather embarrassing. I blame the parents!
We are off to Palencia on Saturday for a wedding, Jamie is coming with us and Nuria will be looking after Danny here. Fingers crossed that that goes okay, it'll be his first night without us there. The original plan was that he would spend some time on his own with Nuria this week, but that has not happened so far. The best laid plans...
To cut a long story short, the pain's been there all week up to now. I guessed at a certain point that it must be a rheumatic type pain from jogging in the T-shirt in the cold, and that that was either affecting my heart, or that the sensitive heartbeat was something separate. Painkillers, painkilling balm and a mini electric blanket have only provided a limited amount of relief, so I went to the doctor this morning. He also thought it was rheumatic and said I needed to do a much longer and more intense warming up before jogging. Just to be sure about the heart, I have an appointment for an ECG in half an hour, and they are going to do some blood tests next week.
The kids have had a good week. Anya, their Gran, arrived on Monday, so that was very exciting, although their barely concealed preference for Anya's presents rather than her presence was rather embarrassing. I blame the parents!
We are off to Palencia on Saturday for a wedding, Jamie is coming with us and Nuria will be looking after Danny here. Fingers crossed that that goes okay, it'll be his first night without us there. The original plan was that he would spend some time on his own with Nuria this week, but that has not happened so far. The best laid plans...
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