What might have been......

......had I not taken the plunge, today would have been the beginning of my 21st year as a civil servant. What a horrendous thought!

I celebrated this non-event by going over to Rafa's place (where Louise now lives) for a very lovely lunch (crema de calabacín, home-made bread, cheese and walnut salad, pear and banana yoghurt with maple syrup, carrot cake muffins, wine and tea) and chatting in 2 languages. I got home from lunch at 7pm, relaxed for a bit, then at 9pm I met up finally with the Madrid Vegetarian Group. I've been trying to go to one of their monthly meals since October but the dates don't always work out. Tonight's restaurant (Ecocentro) is only 4 Metro stops from my flat so nice and easy to get to. It's a huge place with a full-service restaurant, a self-service cafeteria and a massive veggie/natural shop and bookstore. I'll be going back. There were 10 of us for the meal, 4 Spaniards, 1 American, 1 Belgian and 4 Brits. A good mix. My only wish is that we had been sitting at a round table, instead of long rectangular one which meant that conversations were limited to the people nearest you. Though that meant I chatted to Amy, Sa, Beatriz and Katherine, all of whom were lovely, interesting people. The food was good if a little more expensive than I'd hoped, but I enjoyed my crema de esparragos, and arroz horneado (cream of asparagus soup, and baked rice with vegetables).

So, given that instead of that I could have been sitting at a desk at Gatwick, dealing with crap files, an equally crap computer system, and probably arguing with several people on the other end of the phone, I know where I'd rather be!

And so career break 2 starts...........