Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Being home - but is it home?
I flew back to the UK on Saturday evening, for the first time since May. It's only been 3 months but they've been a very eventful 3 months.
I felt strangely nervous as I headed to the airport (partly cos I'd been very disorganised and thought I was going to be horribly late!) - I was wondering how I'd feel to be back.
Ryanair did their best to change my nerves to anger by being delayed by half an hour, then letting us board the plane but then sitting on the tarmac for nearly another hour. Finally we left and the wheels hit Gatwick at 10pm (after an exciting descent through some great turbulence - yes, I'm one of those odd people that actually enjoys that!)
As we'd landed at a gate somewhere in Scotland as far as I could tell, it was 20 minutes before I found myself heading down the ramp towards the arrivals hall. Having spent so much of my life working at airports, they're not my favourite places anyway, but Gatwick South, particularly, fills me with abject horror these days. It's not improved by the fact that they're removing asbestos from the ceiling so there is now a false ceiling up, barely a couple of feet above our heads. It's very claustrophobic! So I joined the throngs of Brits and queued for immigration, hoping not to see anyone I knew. No such luck - but at least it was someone I liked! I got to giggle at the new uniform but as I left the hall, I realised that I absolutely can't ever imagine going back to the job, no matter where.
The delights of the British public transport system were my next challenge. Having spent nearly £9 on a one-way ticket to Brighton, I then found there wasn't a train for nearly 40 minutes and that was going to be the slow train. A dull wander around the terminal ensued to kill some time - at least it involved an M&S giant vegetable samosa - then off I went back to the station. The next stage of my journey was then thwarted by one of those announcement that you know isn't going to go well when it starts "Ladies and gentlemen, we are sorry to announce......." This time it was that everything was delayed because a train had hit a shopping trolley which had been thrown onto the line from a bridge. So vile British youth were already affecting my trip!
I finally got on a train and spent most of the journey being appalled at how the big group of chavs sitting behind me were massacring the English language. It struck me just how different it sounded to the English I hear in Madrid, from both Anglos and Spaniards (yes Debbie and Louise, of course you both know you speak the most AMAAAAZING English :-) )
At midnight, 3 hours later than expected I fell out of a taxi to my front door. It felt very strange to be back - it's my flat, it's my stuff (well, most of it at least!) but somehow it's not mine. At least Messy (the cat) recognised me this time! Last time I was back she spent 2 days skulking around, looking at me sideways and refusing to sit on my lap. This time, she was all over me in minutes, sniffing, head butting and washing me! Come to think of it, there was a lot of sniffing and washing. Maybe I didn't smell too good! :-)
After my day of travel, I was too awake to go to bed so I stayed up til 4am just faffing on the net and waiting to see if it would feel like home.
It didn't.
I felt strangely nervous as I headed to the airport (partly cos I'd been very disorganised and thought I was going to be horribly late!) - I was wondering how I'd feel to be back.
Ryanair did their best to change my nerves to anger by being delayed by half an hour, then letting us board the plane but then sitting on the tarmac for nearly another hour. Finally we left and the wheels hit Gatwick at 10pm (after an exciting descent through some great turbulence - yes, I'm one of those odd people that actually enjoys that!)
As we'd landed at a gate somewhere in Scotland as far as I could tell, it was 20 minutes before I found myself heading down the ramp towards the arrivals hall. Having spent so much of my life working at airports, they're not my favourite places anyway, but Gatwick South, particularly, fills me with abject horror these days. It's not improved by the fact that they're removing asbestos from the ceiling so there is now a false ceiling up, barely a couple of feet above our heads. It's very claustrophobic! So I joined the throngs of Brits and queued for immigration, hoping not to see anyone I knew. No such luck - but at least it was someone I liked! I got to giggle at the new uniform but as I left the hall, I realised that I absolutely can't ever imagine going back to the job, no matter where.
The delights of the British public transport system were my next challenge. Having spent nearly £9 on a one-way ticket to Brighton, I then found there wasn't a train for nearly 40 minutes and that was going to be the slow train. A dull wander around the terminal ensued to kill some time - at least it involved an M&S giant vegetable samosa - then off I went back to the station. The next stage of my journey was then thwarted by one of those announcement that you know isn't going to go well when it starts "Ladies and gentlemen, we are sorry to announce......." This time it was that everything was delayed because a train had hit a shopping trolley which had been thrown onto the line from a bridge. So vile British youth were already affecting my trip!
I finally got on a train and spent most of the journey being appalled at how the big group of chavs sitting behind me were massacring the English language. It struck me just how different it sounded to the English I hear in Madrid, from both Anglos and Spaniards (yes Debbie and Louise, of course you both know you speak the most AMAAAAZING English :-) )
At midnight, 3 hours later than expected I fell out of a taxi to my front door. It felt very strange to be back - it's my flat, it's my stuff (well, most of it at least!) but somehow it's not mine. At least Messy (the cat) recognised me this time! Last time I was back she spent 2 days skulking around, looking at me sideways and refusing to sit on my lap. This time, she was all over me in minutes, sniffing, head butting and washing me! Come to think of it, there was a lot of sniffing and washing. Maybe I didn't smell too good! :-)
After my day of travel, I was too awake to go to bed so I stayed up til 4am just faffing on the net and waiting to see if it would feel like home.
It didn't.
Sunday, 9 August 2009
What a week!
I could go on for hours and bore you rigid with all the details, but won't. In short (well, relatively short):
My sixth Vaughan Town (my third at beautiful Gredos) turned out to be as close to perfect as I can imagine. With the exception of the crappy veggie food (really, overcooked spaghetti with watered down tomato ketchup 3 times in one week?), which I was expecting anyway, everything else was fantastic.
The Anglos bonded really fast, in some cases within minutes of meeting for the first time at the tapas night (eh, Kim?!).
The Spaniards were an astonishingly lovely group - a pretty good starting level of English which probably helped but really just the best people. As usual, there was a good mix of ages, genders (well, OK, there are only 2 but....!), occupations, interests and talents.
Over the course of the week, I had silly, deep, ridiculous, interesting, moving, honest, educational and indescribable (or at least unrepeatable) conversations.
The group activities and entertainment hours were filled with laughs, audience participation and occasional bafflement. I enjoyed being in my own (tweaked!) murder mystery but the less said about my part in the dead parrot sketch, the better!
Queimada and karaoke night was fun, though as usual by the time karaoke really got going and people were getting enthusiastic, it was nearly time for it to be over! Too much time spent fighting over the 2 songbooks, trying to read them in the dark, deciding who to sing with and supping the requisite amount of Dutch courage!!
Party night rocked. Probably the first time I've known absolutely everyone stay til the end and of course, still not want to stop! The bleary eyes and sheepish looks the next morning indicated that not everyone did stop!
As ever, Friday rolled around far too fast and before we knew it, we were packing up, doing group photos and heading off for the certificate ceremony. Several of us were swallowing back tears before it even started, but by the end (despite the VERY inappropriate interruption of Dade's moving sentiment), open sobbing was the order of the day.
The palpable sense of achievement, accomplishment and friendship in the room is something I've never experienced anywhere else. That, along with the ludicrous amount of fun to be had, is what keeps me coming back. Time to look at dates for my next one, I reckon!
Here are my photos, though they're few and far between as I was generally having far too much fun to think about my camera: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/emsr2d2/GredosAug09?authkey=Gv1sRgCOv-rdqH1d-wHQ&feat=directlink
My sixth Vaughan Town (my third at beautiful Gredos) turned out to be as close to perfect as I can imagine. With the exception of the crappy veggie food (really, overcooked spaghetti with watered down tomato ketchup 3 times in one week?), which I was expecting anyway, everything else was fantastic.
The Anglos bonded really fast, in some cases within minutes of meeting for the first time at the tapas night (eh, Kim?!).
The Spaniards were an astonishingly lovely group - a pretty good starting level of English which probably helped but really just the best people. As usual, there was a good mix of ages, genders (well, OK, there are only 2 but....!), occupations, interests and talents.
Over the course of the week, I had silly, deep, ridiculous, interesting, moving, honest, educational and indescribable (or at least unrepeatable) conversations.
The group activities and entertainment hours were filled with laughs, audience participation and occasional bafflement. I enjoyed being in my own (tweaked!) murder mystery but the less said about my part in the dead parrot sketch, the better!
Queimada and karaoke night was fun, though as usual by the time karaoke really got going and people were getting enthusiastic, it was nearly time for it to be over! Too much time spent fighting over the 2 songbooks, trying to read them in the dark, deciding who to sing with and supping the requisite amount of Dutch courage!!
Party night rocked. Probably the first time I've known absolutely everyone stay til the end and of course, still not want to stop! The bleary eyes and sheepish looks the next morning indicated that not everyone did stop!
As ever, Friday rolled around far too fast and before we knew it, we were packing up, doing group photos and heading off for the certificate ceremony. Several of us were swallowing back tears before it even started, but by the end (despite the VERY inappropriate interruption of Dade's moving sentiment), open sobbing was the order of the day.
The palpable sense of achievement, accomplishment and friendship in the room is something I've never experienced anywhere else. That, along with the ludicrous amount of fun to be had, is what keeps me coming back. Time to look at dates for my next one, I reckon!
Here are my photos, though they're few and far between as I was generally having far too much fun to think about my camera: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/emsr2d2/GredosAug09?authkey=Gv1sRgCOv-rdqH1d-wHQ&feat=directlink
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Unexpected intercambio
Tonight's lesson didn't start well. I turned up at Jaime's garage, as every other Tuesday evening, at 8.30. The look on his face followed by his exclamation of "Mierda" should have been a clue!
Oh yes, he'd forgotten all about our lesson and was just closing up the garage and heading off for drinks with a mate.
Magnanimously (I thought, having walked all the way there in 32 degrees with a heavy bag!) I said never mind, why don't we do it tomorrow evening instead?! Oh no, he said, I can't, I'm going out for dinner with 6 friends. We'd already established that we were cancelling Thursday's lesson, so it was looking like it was all over til September.
Until his mate, who was loitering around, asked why I didn't go with them for drinks! Jaime said yes as long as we had the class at the bar. Though he made me promise to let him speak quietly as he said he'd be embarrassed speaking English in public.
What the hell!
I can't pretend it was a roaring success. We probably did about half an hour of the class, regularly interrupted by the mate, who spoke no English but was very funny. In the end, Jaime gave up and said no more, please!
I let him off (the customer is always right), and we got more beer and more tapas.
Of course, once the class was over it was a free-for-all language-wise. It was pointless for me to keep plugging away in English so I took the opportunity for my first proper Spanish conversation! Went quite well, if you ask me! I understood pretty much everything they said and they were very patient while I looked odd words up in the dictionary. They politely ignored the fact that I can still only do the present tense!
What had started as a bit of a disaster turned into a very entertaining evening, all in all, and a very enjoyable learning curve!
Oh yes, he'd forgotten all about our lesson and was just closing up the garage and heading off for drinks with a mate.
Magnanimously (I thought, having walked all the way there in 32 degrees with a heavy bag!) I said never mind, why don't we do it tomorrow evening instead?! Oh no, he said, I can't, I'm going out for dinner with 6 friends. We'd already established that we were cancelling Thursday's lesson, so it was looking like it was all over til September.
Until his mate, who was loitering around, asked why I didn't go with them for drinks! Jaime said yes as long as we had the class at the bar. Though he made me promise to let him speak quietly as he said he'd be embarrassed speaking English in public.
What the hell!
I can't pretend it was a roaring success. We probably did about half an hour of the class, regularly interrupted by the mate, who spoke no English but was very funny. In the end, Jaime gave up and said no more, please!
I let him off (the customer is always right), and we got more beer and more tapas.
Of course, once the class was over it was a free-for-all language-wise. It was pointless for me to keep plugging away in English so I took the opportunity for my first proper Spanish conversation! Went quite well, if you ask me! I understood pretty much everything they said and they were very patient while I looked odd words up in the dictionary. They politely ignored the fact that I can still only do the present tense!
What had started as a bit of a disaster turned into a very entertaining evening, all in all, and a very enjoyable learning curve!
Monday, 27 July 2009
RIP Little Tree
The bastards finally did it - the gits digging up the roads etc round here finally cut down one of the 5 trees in the little green area in front of the flats.
Eve and I had been keeping a close eye on it since they started, but because they had protected the trunks of all the trees with planks of wood, and had been carefully driving around them all for weeks, we thought they were safe.
Hah! Just as I stepped onto the balcony today, I heard a crash and looked down to see the smallest of the trees tumbling to the ground, then chopped up into bits and taken away in a digger.
So we have gone from (note little tree in the middle in front of the white van):
to this:
:-(
This is officially "Arbol Pequeño - Ground Zero".
Friday, 24 July 2009
Home alone!
Hmm, so now there's just little old me rattling around in my nice 3-bed apartment!
Yesterday morning, far too early, I waved goodbye to Eve as she headed back to Ireland with her many suitcases! Mind you, given that when she got to the airport they pointed out that with Ryanair, it's a total luggage weight of 15kg per person, not per suitcase, I'm surprised she wasn't back here a couple of hours later.
It's weird that she's not coming back, well, not any time soon. Not that I mind living on my own, I've done it plenty and I like it. But it was a really fun few months sharing with her, so now it seems a bit quiet with no prospect of a cheery Hola, or her chuntering on in any one of 3 languages! No-one to laugh at me when I pile through the front door, gasping for air after the 8 flights of stairs which, after 4 months, still kill me! Plus of course I am now the only thing directly in the line of sight of Ugly Naked Guy on the balcony opposite!
Still, I'm only here on my own for another week, then off to Vaughan Town for a week, then straight to the UK for 11 days. By the time I get back to Madrid, I imagine there will be news on the people moving in in September (and the geraniums will probably be dead)!
Meanwhile, I'll continue to do the girly version of a bachelor flat occupant, make some more tea, settle down on the sofa and carry on watching Sneakers! Robert Redford and River Phoenix sharing screen time. Who could ask for more? It certainly gets my vote for recovering from gastric flu, or whatever I've had.
Oh, and Eve, if you're reading this, you clearly didn't take the poltergeist with you. The same white bowl enjoyed more aerial acrobatics across the kitchen this morning! ;-)
Yesterday morning, far too early, I waved goodbye to Eve as she headed back to Ireland with her many suitcases! Mind you, given that when she got to the airport they pointed out that with Ryanair, it's a total luggage weight of 15kg per person, not per suitcase, I'm surprised she wasn't back here a couple of hours later.
It's weird that she's not coming back, well, not any time soon. Not that I mind living on my own, I've done it plenty and I like it. But it was a really fun few months sharing with her, so now it seems a bit quiet with no prospect of a cheery Hola, or her chuntering on in any one of 3 languages! No-one to laugh at me when I pile through the front door, gasping for air after the 8 flights of stairs which, after 4 months, still kill me! Plus of course I am now the only thing directly in the line of sight of Ugly Naked Guy on the balcony opposite!
Still, I'm only here on my own for another week, then off to Vaughan Town for a week, then straight to the UK for 11 days. By the time I get back to Madrid, I imagine there will be news on the people moving in in September (and the geraniums will probably be dead)!
Meanwhile, I'll continue to do the girly version of a bachelor flat occupant, make some more tea, settle down on the sofa and carry on watching Sneakers! Robert Redford and River Phoenix sharing screen time. Who could ask for more? It certainly gets my vote for recovering from gastric flu, or whatever I've had.
Oh, and Eve, if you're reading this, you clearly didn't take the poltergeist with you. The same white bowl enjoyed more aerial acrobatics across the kitchen this morning! ;-)
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Gonna have a moan!
Feel free to shout at me for posting a negative blog, but it can't be all sunshine and flowers all the time. Well, OK, sunshine maybe!
Am feeling distinctly cheated that I'm where I want to be (for now), doing what I came here to do (sort of) yet at the moment, I feel like crap.
I've had a bizarre inexplicable swollen foot for, well, far too long and the only way to keep it down is to wear my trainers from morning til night, done up really tight. Not fun in this heat. And before anyone mentions it, for reasons that are far too boring to go into, I can't go to a doctor here. But I do have very expensive horse chestnut extract from the nice lady at the herbolario.
And to add insult to injury, an unknown git brought a stinking cold to our party on Saturday night and it's knocking me out. I can't breathe, my voice is practically gone, again, and I have a temperature. Which when it's 99 degrees outside, is not fun. My nose would be well suited to Rudolph due to all the blowing, all the eucalyptus oil in the world isn't helping.
Our murder website email server decided to crash and refused to send/lost a very long email I sent to a customer yesterday, so having waited all day for a reply from Tech Support (never came), I eventually had to go back in and compose the entire thing again, once the emails were up and running.
I feel so crap I can't even consider job hunting for September as I'd never make it through an interview at the moment! So I'm going to be trying to find a job in late August at the rate I'm going.
Even the virtual hug I was just sent didn't manage to cheer me up as much as it should! ;-)
Given that most of you have probably stopped reading by now if you've got any sense, I'll stop, though I could go on!!!
5 more lessons to go this week then I'm going to have a bloody long rest (well, apart from blitzing the murder mystery!)
And since I'm in moany mode, why does almost no-one ever comment on my blog?!!!!! Is it that boring?! Someone please tell me, and I'll stop (or at least get a ghost writer!) It's set up so that anyone can comment, you don't have to be a member or anything. So even if all you want to say is "Shut up moaning" then I'll be bloody grateful!
Time for me to go to bed, I reckon!!!
Am feeling distinctly cheated that I'm where I want to be (for now), doing what I came here to do (sort of) yet at the moment, I feel like crap.
I've had a bizarre inexplicable swollen foot for, well, far too long and the only way to keep it down is to wear my trainers from morning til night, done up really tight. Not fun in this heat. And before anyone mentions it, for reasons that are far too boring to go into, I can't go to a doctor here. But I do have very expensive horse chestnut extract from the nice lady at the herbolario.
And to add insult to injury, an unknown git brought a stinking cold to our party on Saturday night and it's knocking me out. I can't breathe, my voice is practically gone, again, and I have a temperature. Which when it's 99 degrees outside, is not fun. My nose would be well suited to Rudolph due to all the blowing, all the eucalyptus oil in the world isn't helping.
Our murder website email server decided to crash and refused to send/lost a very long email I sent to a customer yesterday, so having waited all day for a reply from Tech Support (never came), I eventually had to go back in and compose the entire thing again, once the emails were up and running.
I feel so crap I can't even consider job hunting for September as I'd never make it through an interview at the moment! So I'm going to be trying to find a job in late August at the rate I'm going.
Even the virtual hug I was just sent didn't manage to cheer me up as much as it should! ;-)
Given that most of you have probably stopped reading by now if you've got any sense, I'll stop, though I could go on!!!
5 more lessons to go this week then I'm going to have a bloody long rest (well, apart from blitzing the murder mystery!)
And since I'm in moany mode, why does almost no-one ever comment on my blog?!!!!! Is it that boring?! Someone please tell me, and I'll stop (or at least get a ghost writer!) It's set up so that anyone can comment, you don't have to be a member or anything. So even if all you want to say is "Shut up moaning" then I'll be bloody grateful!
Time for me to go to bed, I reckon!!!
Monday, 20 July 2009
And then Cathy was here....
.....so my life in Madrid attracted another visitor. Cathy came for a lovely long weekend.
Her time here was slightly shortened by Easyjet's inability to get a plane off the ground on time, so she was over 2 hours late arriving.
We had a fun weekend - involving (surprise, surprise) some sitting on the balcony in the late evening sun, huevos y patatas in town, shoe shopping, picnic in the Retiro, dinner at Isla del Tesoro (heavenly veggie food), a wander round the Temple of Debod and just general chilled enjoyment. Because she'd been to Madrid 3 times before, there was no pressure on either of us to rush around the touristy things!
In the middle of all this, of course, was Eve's goodbye party at the flat! But that is for another blog!
Due to a combination of my camera battery unexpectedly running out, forgetting to take it with me, being drunk/hungover or being somewhere that photos aren't really appropriate (the veggie restaurant!), there aren't as many pics as I would have liked. Still, what there are can be seen here:
http://picasaweb.google.es/emsr2d2/CathyVisitJuly09?authkey=Gv1sRgCKPL3aGa_b-C7gE&feat=directlink
It was a lovely weekend so thanks to Cathy for her company (and well done for managing to get up at 4.30 this morning to get to the airport!)
Her time here was slightly shortened by Easyjet's inability to get a plane off the ground on time, so she was over 2 hours late arriving.
We had a fun weekend - involving (surprise, surprise) some sitting on the balcony in the late evening sun, huevos y patatas in town, shoe shopping, picnic in the Retiro, dinner at Isla del Tesoro (heavenly veggie food), a wander round the Temple of Debod and just general chilled enjoyment. Because she'd been to Madrid 3 times before, there was no pressure on either of us to rush around the touristy things!
In the middle of all this, of course, was Eve's goodbye party at the flat! But that is for another blog!
Due to a combination of my camera battery unexpectedly running out, forgetting to take it with me, being drunk/hungover or being somewhere that photos aren't really appropriate (the veggie restaurant!), there aren't as many pics as I would have liked. Still, what there are can be seen here:
http://picasaweb.google.es/emsr2d2/CathyVisitJuly09?authkey=Gv1sRgCKPL3aGa_b-C7gE&feat=directlink
It was a lovely weekend so thanks to Cathy for her company (and well done for managing to get up at 4.30 this morning to get to the airport!)
Monday, 13 July 2009
Similar, yet different
For those who lost the will to live trying to read my previous diatribe on Sid's weekend visit, here's the lowdown on her latest trip, just 2 weekends later:
Thurs: Arrival. Balcony. Park. Picnic. TWIGLETS! Taught. Sid was flat-bitch and made dinner! Yum. Drinks and chat.
Fri: Atocha Renfe - terrapins (tortoises?) Caixa Forum - Islamic Art exhibition, Cambodia exhibition, Architecture stuff, funky purple sofas. Maoz falafels. Wander. Shop. La Mallorquina. Tea. Lots of cream cake. Locandita. Beer. Chat.
Sat: Cacao Sampaka (http://www.cacaosampaka.com/). CAKE! Tea. Dribble. Wander. Retiro. Sun. Dinner on balcony.
Sun: Rastro. Lunch (Isla del Tesoro - best veggie restaurant ever!). Cable car. Casa de Campo. Sun. Drinks. Picnic on balcony. Cards and chat.
Mon: Local park. 44 degrees. Picnic. Sunburn. Sid - airport. :-(
The End.
PS - The photos: http://picasaweb.google.es/emsr2d2/SidSReturnVisit?authkey=Gv1sRgCLy8mdCXxYDVrAE&feat=directlink
Sunday, 5 July 2009
An evening in Segovia.....
Weeks ago, Jorge invited us for an evening in Segovia, the capital of his home province. He comes from a village a few kilometres away, but clearly spent lots of time in Segovia and wanted to share it. We finally got around to it last Thursday evening!
Things didn't quite go to plan immediately - we set off rather later than intended, then had to turn back halfway due to a fire, and find a different route. We arrived in the city at 9.45pm (on a school night!! :-). On the way, we'd been impressed by flashing lights on sharp bend signs (yes, we're easily pleased!), our ears had popped several times and we'd burst Jorge's eardrums singing along with the radio!
As we were driving in, we'd seen some hot air balloons in the distance. Just as we walked from the car, they floated directly overhead!!
We marvelled at the aqueduct, then strolled up to the cathedral which is beautiful at night when it's all lit up, and then further on to the castle. Given that the gates were locked at that time of night, the only way we could get a glimpse of the fairy-tale towers, was by standing up on the city walls. Which are rather high!! Jorge had a bit of a moment, when Eve stood a tad too close to the part with a 200 foot drop on the other side but otherwise we survived the acrobatics!
Obviously by this point, we'd stopped for a couple of drinks, the first in a great old traditional bar, with stacks of stuff hanging all over the place. Very tasty patatas ali oli tapas too. The next was in a surprisingly busy place. Having been walking round all evening, barely seeing another soul, it was a shock to find a street that wouldn't have been out of place in Madrid. Hordes of people in the street, chatting, drinking, spilling out of various bars. It was like being in a different city!
During the evening, Jorge had been really interesting and informative about the city. I'm constantly amazed at how much Spaniards know about their towns, country and history. Now I realise that probably sounds slightly patronising, but find me many Brits who could take you round their town and just know all kind of fascinating facts, figures and dates. I know for a fact that my knowledge of Brighton doesn't run to even knowing when the Royal Pavilion was built!! It makes such a change for someone to be interested in, and knowledgable about their town.
We headed back for the car as various people had work the next morning, but were diverted by the bright lights of TelePizza! Fancying just a slice each turned into ordering 2 big pizzas between the 4 of us. Despite being damned hungry, not helped by the tempting smell from the boxes, we hopped back in the car and found a quiet park (OK, it was more a patch of grass by a convent!) to eat it! Something about it felt quite naughty, a bit like when you were a kid drinking Merrydown Cider in the graveyard. Somehow the conversation turned to the aurora borealis and I said I'd seen them in Iceland. Hannah accused me of name-dropping so I told her I'd meant the freezer shop. Not that funny, I'm sure you'd agree but for some reason this set her off laughing, crying and snorting for an alarmingly long time!
The journey back was much faster, though we had time to stop off and top up our water bottles from a water tap hidden in a pitch-dark layby, wonder at the stars, and play silly games. How is it possible that I Spy can still be entertaining when the combined age of the people in the car is somwhere around 130? It helps when you have Eve guessing "Jorge" when the letter was H. A rather feeble attempt at "I am not Nebuchednezzar but I am......." (or as Hannah called it, I'm not Xaphod Beeblebrox.....) proved that it was amazingly difficult to think of a famous person that all 4 people in the car had heard of.
All in all, it was a lovely evening - Segovia at night is a very different place to the city I saw a couple of weeks ago with Sid. Thanks to Jorge for driving (and of course putting up with alcohol free beer all evening) and to everyone for their company!
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