New Year in Madrid

And so the last day of 2009 rolled on, as last days of a year are wont to do.

Most of the day passed with lots of global online chatting, listening to fireworks being set off pointlessly in broad daylight, and much staring from the balcony at the sheets of torrential rain which obscured the other side of the road, and didn't bode well for a terribly welcoming midnight in Sol.

However, the skies were kind and by the time I left to go to Richi's place for his party (sorry, NOT party, I keep forgetting - little gathering), it was dry. I travelled on a near-deserted Metro down to Atocha where I met Debbie who was still in search of cava for later. Thanks to the convenient opening hours of the Chinos, she was soon to be cavaed up!

And off to Richi's we went. The little gathering was in full swing with a flat full of people I'd never met, but who all turned out to be lovely, friendly and a lot of fun. Of course, I should have realised that - they're Richi's friends, after all! Several hours of chat, drinking and nibbles followed. My beer, which I'd carted halfway across Madrid, didn't even get a look in due to the lethal Cosmopolitans he insisted on plying us all with all evening. Really, Richi? You're absolutely sure you had the recipe right? 2 parts vodka, 1 part Cointreau and a splash of cranberry juice? Not that I'm complaining but I hadn't planned to be quite so smashed by 9.30pm!

11pm arrived and we donned coats, hats, scarves, gloves, grabbed cava, plastic cups and way too many grapes and headed for Sol. The closer we got, the busier the streets became until we finally hit what appeared to be an impassable logjam, just in sight of the square. Undaunted, we formed a human chain and dragged eachother through the crowds, only to find that once we actually made it to Sol, there was plenty of room. Weird. Perfect timing - we arrived at 11.45 and formed a terribly English circle (a la 1980s dancing but without the obligatory handbag in the middle), and set about dishing out the cava and the grapes. Hands duly filled with the requisite comestibles, we waited for the hands of the clock to click over to midnight. I hadn't realised that there aren't actually any chiming bells to time the grape-eating to, so once the big hand had hit 12 we were reduced to simply stuffing 12 grapes into our mouths and washing them down as quickly as possible with the cava. I think Richi and I tied for first place on getting all 12 down! Wish I'd gone for the seedless variety though!

Something approaching a firework display ensued - London and Sydney have nothing to worry about though! There was a lot of clinking of glasses (or whatever noise it is that plastic glasses make), wishing of Feliz Ano Nuevo to all and sundry and more photo taking. I've never been to Trafalgar Square for New Year but I have a feeling that Sol was a damn sight friendlier, with complete strangers hugging and "Salud"-ing all over the place.

Debbie decided she needed someone to kiss, and I was tasked with finding a suitable participant. The first victim was a guy in a group next to us, who was only too happy to be dragged over and worked his way round us all. Victim number 2 I don't really remember, mainly because number 3 was my piéce de resistance! See the final photo to see what I'm talking about! Yum.

So 2009 was officially over, and I'd survived the best part of 9 months in Madrid. And what a 9 months they've been! Fingers crossed, there'll be many more.

So Happy New Year, everyone, and here's to you all getting everything you hope for in 2010.

Here are my photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/emsr2d2/NewYear2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCMv4-djwkozVgwE&feat=directlink

New home, old rain!

My lovely, new, sunny flat is not quite living up to its reputation! It's been raining pretty much ever since I arrived on Tuesday evening. Today it decided to dump a downpour on the washing that was valiantly trying to dry on the balcony.

Thanks to the lovely Nacho (Ignacio) and his Citroen C3, I didn't have to move house on the metro. That would have been interesting, with a huge suitcase, rucksack, laptop bag and 3 bags of food (and beer!) But not only did he help me move my stuff, he carried most of it up the 4 flights of stairs to the flat. Trust me to move to the 4th floor in a building with no lift. When I move out, I think I'll just throw everything off the balcony!

My new flatmate, at least for the next 6 weeks, is a lovely Dublin girl called Eve. She's a happy, bouncy, athletic thing who has a penchant for Spanish men!! ;-) I'll be disappointed when she moves out, her company has been a nice change from my little house on my own before. She's also letting me use her laptop while mine is being repaired/replaced - for this I will be eternally grateful!

Talking of the laptop, I deposited it at the Toshiba repair place near here on Thursday morning and IF I understood the lady correctly, they should call in 2 working days if it's repairable on-site, but if it has to go back to Toshiba then it'll be another 3-5 days on top of that. I'm not holding my breath but it still sounds theoretically quicker than the probably guaranteed minimum of 2-3 weeks it would have taken in the UK. Where I would also have had to post it, insure it etc etc instead of just dropping it off at an authorised repair centre.

The weather hasn't been conducive to doing much over the last couple of days so I've wandered around the new local area, stocked the fridge (though I appear to have run out of beer AGAIN!) and made inroads into getting some work. I emailed every Spaniard I ever met on a Vaughan Town to explain that I'm in Madrid and available to give English classes. Within 12 hours I had one definite request for lessons, plus a potential offer of teaching someone's 2 daughters (ages not yet known - could be interesting!) So things appear to be moving. My American, chirpy, eternally optimistic mate Julie also has a bit of a plan for when she returns in September which I'm hoping to be part of.

It's Friday so it's the English speaking meet-up at Brasserie Locandita tonight, after which I've been invited to a party. Hopefully I won't be paying the price tomorrow! ;-)