Now I realise that anyone I've worked with since 1989 will be well aware that I've probably never actually worked a 40-hour week, but that's what I was paid for so....!
The point is, since Monday I've had 3 students (about to become 4), for the grand total of 10 hours a week (will be 12 hours). And I'm knackered!
The students are spread over the day - first at 9.30am, next at 4 then the last at 6.30. Between the first and second students, I'm doing 2-3 hours lesson prep. The first is a half hour walk each way, the second is a 10 minute walk, then a 20 minute bus ride, then a 5 minute walk!!! OK, the third is a 6 minute walk from my flat. But it makes the day very long and drawn-out. Having been used to either starting at 7am and being done by 2, or starting at 1.30pm and finishing at 9, it's quite difficult to adapt to working both ends of the day!!! But it's going a long way to paying the rent and at least some spending money, so I won't be totally depleting my savings!
Anyway, other than teaching, what have I done over the last week? Sat in the park or on the balcony whenever possible, reading and topping up my tan. Watched a disturbing amount of online TV, mostly in the middle of the night, on some dodgy streaming website. Had some late night, deep, meaningful conversations with Eve (my lovely flatmate) about everything under the sun. Went to Lavapies for the first time, to be treated to curry, chat and card games by Dade (and China, who is a sweetheart). Discovered that slamming the phone down on someone on Skype isn't quite as satisfying as the old-fashioned way! Caved in and went clothes shopping today - something I hate doing. Still hate it!
2 friends had very bad news this week - it's not my place to say who, but one knew the family that was found at Beachy Head, and the other had a friend on the Air France plane. Hugs to both.
And so, what's in store? Weekly English speaking group tonight - my grand plan is to not stay too late. Famous last words. Meant to be playing padel (paddleball) tomorrow - should be entertaining! Then a birthday party in the evening. And recovering Sunday, I imagine, before the proper language exchange on Sunday night, at which I am determined to speak more Spanish!!!
The famous roadworks outside the flat are still going on. Now they're building new pavements, kerbs, parking spaces etc. Constant racket of diggers, dumper trucks, skips being delivered and collected. For some reason, the trucks seem determined to go everywhere in reverse, so as well as the noise of the trucks, we get the constant beeping that warns you that they're reversing! And everything, including my throat and nose, is coated with a thin layer of pink powdery dust!!
The weird pipe noise continues to frustrate - it's louder, longer and more frequent some days, then sometimes it barely seems to happen at all. The president of the building came up for a meeting with the owner of the flat and me about it, but he could only say that he thought that the replacement of the water pipes in the street may be trapping air and causing the problem. He felt sure it would stop when the works are over. In October!!!!
God, this is a really negative blog, isn't it?! Which it really shouldn't be because on the whole, I'm loving it here! Now, surely it's time to grill some more asparagus.....
Friday, 5 June 2009
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Peanut shelling for beginners
I brought a bird feeder back from the UK. Random, I know, but I figured that with a 4th floor balcony the chances were we could entice some wildlife over with a bit of avian nosh. Finding said avian nosh not the easiest thing in the world though - or at least not in Madrid.
Having failed to actually find bags of just plain, unsalted peanuts, or any of those bizarre fat ball things, I eventually bought a huge bag of unshelled cacahuetes in the supermarket. Back at the flat, I set to work on the balcony with my bag of nuts and 3 bowls - one for unshelled nuts, one for the shells and one for the resulting peanuts. After half an hour, I had a sad little pile of nuts, the balcony was covered in little bits of shell (as was I) and my fingers were red and sore. I'm sure there's some trick to shelling these bloody things, probably a trick that a 90-year-old from the country could teach me, but I was stuck with sort of squashing them a bit to try to make the seam split, then pulling them apart.
Still, the result appears to have been a success. The nuts went in the bird feeder (along with a small amount of Eve's breakfast cereal for a bit of variety), the feeder was hung off the balcony and we waited. Very slowly, it appears that the local sparrows and those other little black and brown things I've never known the name for (some kind of chaffinch?) are working it out. I've spotted a few hovering around, and the level of nuts has gone down.
Mind you, they may be too busy getting busy to worry about food, if you know what I mean. The other morning, 2 of them landed on the railings of the balcony, one in full flirt mode - wings and tail feathers splayed, head bobbing, hopping about furiously. The other followed her (I'm guessing) around for a while, until in a blur of flapping wings and rustling feathers, I'm pretty sure I witnessed sparrow sex! No post-coital hanging about for these guys though - once it was over, they were off - the apparently satisfied female heading across to the building opposite and disappearing through a tiny hole under the eaves. I'll be keeping an eye on that for the next few weeks in the hopes of spotting signs of new life.
The bird feeder did remind me of a lovely story about my granddad. A good few years ago, he and my grandmother at long last moved out of their 6th floor flat in central London, to a bungalow in Kent. They worked hard on the garden - rosebushes, a pergola, pots of pretty flowers - and a bird table. Initially, just your average wooden, DIY bird feeder from B&Q. However, that wasn't good enough for the birds in their garden. My granddad worked hard on that table - he felted the roof so the little guys and their food stayed dry, he covered the main part of the tabletop with little mosaic tiles (grout and all, I believe) but best of all, he refused to feed them anything but Marks and Spencer Deluxe Muesli. Spoilt or what?! Even after he lived there on his own, and the garden wasn't really being looked after, he had a few practically pet birds - a pair of blackbirds mostly - who were so tame they would hop through the back door into the kitchen and be fed M&S Premium Mature Cheddar from his hand! Unfortunately, he's now gone into care, but I'm betting those birds are missing their sugar daddy!
Having failed to actually find bags of just plain, unsalted peanuts, or any of those bizarre fat ball things, I eventually bought a huge bag of unshelled cacahuetes in the supermarket. Back at the flat, I set to work on the balcony with my bag of nuts and 3 bowls - one for unshelled nuts, one for the shells and one for the resulting peanuts. After half an hour, I had a sad little pile of nuts, the balcony was covered in little bits of shell (as was I) and my fingers were red and sore. I'm sure there's some trick to shelling these bloody things, probably a trick that a 90-year-old from the country could teach me, but I was stuck with sort of squashing them a bit to try to make the seam split, then pulling them apart.
Still, the result appears to have been a success. The nuts went in the bird feeder (along with a small amount of Eve's breakfast cereal for a bit of variety), the feeder was hung off the balcony and we waited. Very slowly, it appears that the local sparrows and those other little black and brown things I've never known the name for (some kind of chaffinch?) are working it out. I've spotted a few hovering around, and the level of nuts has gone down.
Mind you, they may be too busy getting busy to worry about food, if you know what I mean. The other morning, 2 of them landed on the railings of the balcony, one in full flirt mode - wings and tail feathers splayed, head bobbing, hopping about furiously. The other followed her (I'm guessing) around for a while, until in a blur of flapping wings and rustling feathers, I'm pretty sure I witnessed sparrow sex! No post-coital hanging about for these guys though - once it was over, they were off - the apparently satisfied female heading across to the building opposite and disappearing through a tiny hole under the eaves. I'll be keeping an eye on that for the next few weeks in the hopes of spotting signs of new life.
The bird feeder did remind me of a lovely story about my granddad. A good few years ago, he and my grandmother at long last moved out of their 6th floor flat in central London, to a bungalow in Kent. They worked hard on the garden - rosebushes, a pergola, pots of pretty flowers - and a bird table. Initially, just your average wooden, DIY bird feeder from B&Q. However, that wasn't good enough for the birds in their garden. My granddad worked hard on that table - he felted the roof so the little guys and their food stayed dry, he covered the main part of the tabletop with little mosaic tiles (grout and all, I believe) but best of all, he refused to feed them anything but Marks and Spencer Deluxe Muesli. Spoilt or what?! Even after he lived there on his own, and the garden wasn't really being looked after, he had a few practically pet birds - a pair of blackbirds mostly - who were so tame they would hop through the back door into the kitchen and be fed M&S Premium Mature Cheddar from his hand! Unfortunately, he's now gone into care, but I'm betting those birds are missing their sugar daddy!
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Infuriating insomnia!
Once in a while, insomnia hits me. Apparently, it's time!
For the last 3 or 4 nights, I have lain awake in bed til 3 or 4 in the morning for no apparent reason. I'm tired when I go to bed, I'm not thinking about anything in particular that would explain it, but sleep just won't come!
I can blame it, in part at least, on the weird noise that has been coming from the internal walls of the flat over the last 2 weeks. There is something odd going on with the pipes or something. Several times a day but more importantly, during the night, there is a whining, grinding sound which gets louder and louder over the course of 3 or 4 minutes, then peters out. It's infuriating. Initially, we thought it was the people in the next flat every time they ran the hot taps in their kitchen or bathroom, but after writing them a note and having a chat, we've established that's not it. We're stumped. But it's waking us both up at least once if not twice every night - usually around 2.30 am then again around 7.20. You can almost set your watch by it!
So I have a feeling that I'm now going to bed and just expecting to be woken up, so maybe that's why I can't get off to sleep in the first place.
Insomnia in a shared flat is a bit difficult. I don't want to wake Eve up so I'm not going to go and sit in the living room with the TV on and have a cup of tea! Last night, I spent 2 hours watching bits of episodes of ER that I'd downloaded and doing way too many stupid quizzes on Facebook (as some of you will have seen).
Ah well, tonight I'll try vast quantities of beer (any excuse) and a late night at the intercambio and see if that works!
zzzzzzzz
For the last 3 or 4 nights, I have lain awake in bed til 3 or 4 in the morning for no apparent reason. I'm tired when I go to bed, I'm not thinking about anything in particular that would explain it, but sleep just won't come!
I can blame it, in part at least, on the weird noise that has been coming from the internal walls of the flat over the last 2 weeks. There is something odd going on with the pipes or something. Several times a day but more importantly, during the night, there is a whining, grinding sound which gets louder and louder over the course of 3 or 4 minutes, then peters out. It's infuriating. Initially, we thought it was the people in the next flat every time they ran the hot taps in their kitchen or bathroom, but after writing them a note and having a chat, we've established that's not it. We're stumped. But it's waking us both up at least once if not twice every night - usually around 2.30 am then again around 7.20. You can almost set your watch by it!
So I have a feeling that I'm now going to bed and just expecting to be woken up, so maybe that's why I can't get off to sleep in the first place.
Insomnia in a shared flat is a bit difficult. I don't want to wake Eve up so I'm not going to go and sit in the living room with the TV on and have a cup of tea! Last night, I spent 2 hours watching bits of episodes of ER that I'd downloaded and doing way too many stupid quizzes on Facebook (as some of you will have seen).
Ah well, tonight I'll try vast quantities of beer (any excuse) and a late night at the intercambio and see if that works!
zzzzzzzz
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
What's not to like?
I'm having a particularly good day. Not that I generally have a bad day, but just occasionally one of those days comes along that genuinely makes you glad you're alive. This is one of those days.
Why?
The English lesson I gave this morning was good, productive and had the desired outcome for both parties! Even if it overran.
It's hovering around the 30 degree mark in the sun, which is where I've been for most of the day.
It's "Everything for 1 Euro" day at Cerveceria 100 Montaditos, which is where Julie and I had lunch. Even dropping one of my little sandwiches on the floor had a good outcome cos we gave it to a homeless guy!
I won the lottery. OK, I won £1 on an Instant Win game!
I went in the local greengrocers and still can't get over the fact that here, fresh veg actually smells of veg! The whole shop smells like, well, like it should! And you can only get what's in season - unlike the forced, imported, vacuum packed crap in Tesco!
I also went in the local version of Lidl and got: 6 bottles of San Miguel, a huge bar of chocolate, a large jar of lentils, 2 cans of Coke, a unsettlingly large bag of crisps, toothpaste, a tortilla espanola and a freshly baked ciabatta. For 7 Euros.
The hour I chose to sit in the park reading my book and getting a few more freckles also turned out to be........firemen exercise hour. Mmmmmmmmm.
And now? I'm in my sunny lovely flat, with Amy McDonald on, a lentil stew simmering on the hob, asparagus grilling happily, ciabatta waiting to be sliced and a very cold beer in my hand.
As I say, what's not to like?
Why?
The English lesson I gave this morning was good, productive and had the desired outcome for both parties! Even if it overran.
It's hovering around the 30 degree mark in the sun, which is where I've been for most of the day.
It's "Everything for 1 Euro" day at Cerveceria 100 Montaditos, which is where Julie and I had lunch. Even dropping one of my little sandwiches on the floor had a good outcome cos we gave it to a homeless guy!
I won the lottery. OK, I won £1 on an Instant Win game!
I went in the local greengrocers and still can't get over the fact that here, fresh veg actually smells of veg! The whole shop smells like, well, like it should! And you can only get what's in season - unlike the forced, imported, vacuum packed crap in Tesco!
I also went in the local version of Lidl and got: 6 bottles of San Miguel, a huge bar of chocolate, a large jar of lentils, 2 cans of Coke, a unsettlingly large bag of crisps, toothpaste, a tortilla espanola and a freshly baked ciabatta. For 7 Euros.
The hour I chose to sit in the park reading my book and getting a few more freckles also turned out to be........firemen exercise hour. Mmmmmmmmm.
And now? I'm in my sunny lovely flat, with Amy McDonald on, a lentil stew simmering on the hob, asparagus grilling happily, ciabatta waiting to be sliced and a very cold beer in my hand.
As I say, what's not to like?
Damn, Damn and Hurrah!
Damn - Nadal lost the Madrid Open Final.
Damn - my student has cut down her hours from 3 a week to 2, so I just lost a third of my (measly) income.
Hurrah - Neither of my feet are (is?) as swollen as yesterday so I might be able to walk properly and wear nice shoes!
Damn - my student has cut down her hours from 3 a week to 2, so I just lost a third of my (measly) income.
Hurrah - Neither of my feet are (is?) as swollen as yesterday so I might be able to walk properly and wear nice shoes!
Saturday, 16 May 2009
It's getting hot, hot, hot!
Since I've been back from the UK, the weather (yes, I'm going to talk about the weather!) has been picking up nicely. Sunny days, fluffy clouds by the evening and around 25 degrees. The forecast for the next 5 days is for it to head up to 33 degrees.
It's annoying that I'm still somewhat debilitated by my poorly leg. It's still swollen and an alarming shade of purple in places but I believe that's par for the course. It's just a pain that it means I still need to stay in and keep it elevated a lot of the time, instead of going out and having fun in the sun! I did manage to sit in the park for a couple of hours with my leg up on a park bench but I think the heat is making it swell more!
Still, everything else is going nicely. I still have a student, hopefully one more starting soon and I've found 2 other jobs to apply for. I've managed some socialising obviously including gorgeous tea and cake at La Mallorquina with the lovely Richi, went to the weekly language meetup last night and chatted over beers with friendly people, and tonight I'm off to a gathering at Rob's place (if I can find it).
Things seem to be happening to all sorts of people I know, too. Cathy has had another French toilet event (sorry, it's only funny when she tells it), Sid has happy stuff going on I believe, my granddad is being moved out of hospital and into a proper home (again), the lovely, lovely Maggie got back in touch with me, mum and Bev really are going to Rome this time, Dad had good medical checkups, Debbie has a date to come out for her training, and Dade has fab news on a personal front! So I'm being happy for other people which is offsetting my feeling sorry for myself on the leg front!
Being on the sofa with my leg up also meant I missed the famous and huge San Isidro celebrations in Madrid. Pics on a mate's blog look fantastic - not least because it appears there were about a million squishy cakes and things covered in chocolate everywhere!
Nadal is currently giving me heart failure by doing his level best not to win the semi final at the Madrid Open (4-4 in the 3rd set at the time of writing). I should be getting ready for my evening out but I'm not moving til the match is over.
On which note, I'm off to continue biting my nails and shouting "Vamos" a lot.
It's annoying that I'm still somewhat debilitated by my poorly leg. It's still swollen and an alarming shade of purple in places but I believe that's par for the course. It's just a pain that it means I still need to stay in and keep it elevated a lot of the time, instead of going out and having fun in the sun! I did manage to sit in the park for a couple of hours with my leg up on a park bench but I think the heat is making it swell more!
Still, everything else is going nicely. I still have a student, hopefully one more starting soon and I've found 2 other jobs to apply for. I've managed some socialising obviously including gorgeous tea and cake at La Mallorquina with the lovely Richi, went to the weekly language meetup last night and chatted over beers with friendly people, and tonight I'm off to a gathering at Rob's place (if I can find it).
Things seem to be happening to all sorts of people I know, too. Cathy has had another French toilet event (sorry, it's only funny when she tells it), Sid has happy stuff going on I believe, my granddad is being moved out of hospital and into a proper home (again), the lovely, lovely Maggie got back in touch with me, mum and Bev really are going to Rome this time, Dad had good medical checkups, Debbie has a date to come out for her training, and Dade has fab news on a personal front! So I'm being happy for other people which is offsetting my feeling sorry for myself on the leg front!
Being on the sofa with my leg up also meant I missed the famous and huge San Isidro celebrations in Madrid. Pics on a mate's blog look fantastic - not least because it appears there were about a million squishy cakes and things covered in chocolate everywhere!
Nadal is currently giving me heart failure by doing his level best not to win the semi final at the Madrid Open (4-4 in the 3rd set at the time of writing). I should be getting ready for my evening out but I'm not moving til the match is over.
On which note, I'm off to continue biting my nails and shouting "Vamos" a lot.
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Doctors, delays and delight
So it's time for me to own up to my little trip back to the UK! I popped back (or at least that was the idea) from 29th April to 5 May, mainly to do a weekend TEFL course. It didn't leave much time for socialising which was why only a few people knew I was coming back. I didn't want anyone to think I was coming back and purposely not seeing them, but there was no way to fit everything in.
As it turned out, most of my plans were thwarted anyway by a quite spectacular foot infection, origin unknown (though I'm trying not to blame my little accident detailed in "The Retiro Tried To Kill Me). What started off as feeling just a bit rough the night I arrived, had turned itself into a disaster by Sunday night. I spent day 2 of the TEFL completely spaced out - I really can't remember much about that day though it appears I bluffed my way through it OK, did my 15 minute practice lesson and passed the course. By the time I got home I had a temperature of 103 degrees and was having trouble standing up. To my massive disappointment, that meant I had to ditch the Mexican meal with Sid, Cathy, Bex and Tanya that I'd been looking forward ever since I discovered my visit coincided with Bex and her sister being down from Sheffield.
2 days of very high temperatures and the associated shivering, sweat-drenched nights hideousness eventually resulted in me going to my GP the day I was due to fly back to Madrid to tell all, and show him the rather bizarre large, hot red mark on my anklebone. It took him all of 10 seconds to tell me I had a bad infection that needed immediate treatment and even so, he couldn't guarantee it had been caught in time. Being an amusing sort, and having presumably worked out that I wasn't the panicking kind, he asked after my immediate plans then said "Well, you can fly to Madrid tonight on a plane. Then you can fly back in a box!"
Hmmm, not optimistic then! To be fair, he didn't absolutely tell me not to fly but it was clear it wouldn't be a good idea. I was under strict instruction that if I saw any sign of it spreading despite the oral antibiotics he was going to put me on, I had to promise to go straight to hospital. I took the pragmatic approach and decided that if there might be a medical emergency imminent, I'd probably be better off in the UK. I rebooked my flight for the following Sunday and set about trying to feel better. Foot up as much as possible, loads of water, constant temperature-taking and lots of TLC from Andy meant that by about Friday night, I felt a lot better.
It did give me the chance to meet up with people during my unexpected extended holiday but if I'm honest, I'd rather have not been ill and flown back when I was meant to! Lovely though it was to see everyone!
So - here I am back in Madrid with a rather unsightly swollen, red calf and ankle. At least the antibiotics are doing the trick.
Sadly, the roadworks outside the flat are showing no signs of going away - in fact, if anything, they're worse. It's harder and harder to get to the front door. Constant dodging of diggers, pneumatic drills, dust, rubble, sand, men in yellow jackets etc. And today, they knocked down an entire house about 20 yards from our front door! Intriguing to watch but the clouds of dust and the noise have been incredible. The little white car that was parked outside the house next door has all but disappeared under a couple of inches of thick, yellow dust.
But it is very lovely to be back. I can honestly say that coming back to Madrid and to the flat really felt like coming home, and the trip to the UK was a holiday!
Ah, yes, the "delight" part of the title! After weeks of disasters, disappointment and threats of technology-tossing from balconies, my laptop is fixed and happily online. I won't pretend to understand exactly what happened, but with a new hard drive and having installed the recovery disk from Toshiba, all is well. I was so excited when it connected to the net last night that I was obliged to drink several glasses of wine (forcing my flatmate to join me entirely against her will of course!)
As it turned out, most of my plans were thwarted anyway by a quite spectacular foot infection, origin unknown (though I'm trying not to blame my little accident detailed in "The Retiro Tried To Kill Me). What started off as feeling just a bit rough the night I arrived, had turned itself into a disaster by Sunday night. I spent day 2 of the TEFL completely spaced out - I really can't remember much about that day though it appears I bluffed my way through it OK, did my 15 minute practice lesson and passed the course. By the time I got home I had a temperature of 103 degrees and was having trouble standing up. To my massive disappointment, that meant I had to ditch the Mexican meal with Sid, Cathy, Bex and Tanya that I'd been looking forward ever since I discovered my visit coincided with Bex and her sister being down from Sheffield.
2 days of very high temperatures and the associated shivering, sweat-drenched nights hideousness eventually resulted in me going to my GP the day I was due to fly back to Madrid to tell all, and show him the rather bizarre large, hot red mark on my anklebone. It took him all of 10 seconds to tell me I had a bad infection that needed immediate treatment and even so, he couldn't guarantee it had been caught in time. Being an amusing sort, and having presumably worked out that I wasn't the panicking kind, he asked after my immediate plans then said "Well, you can fly to Madrid tonight on a plane. Then you can fly back in a box!"
Hmmm, not optimistic then! To be fair, he didn't absolutely tell me not to fly but it was clear it wouldn't be a good idea. I was under strict instruction that if I saw any sign of it spreading despite the oral antibiotics he was going to put me on, I had to promise to go straight to hospital. I took the pragmatic approach and decided that if there might be a medical emergency imminent, I'd probably be better off in the UK. I rebooked my flight for the following Sunday and set about trying to feel better. Foot up as much as possible, loads of water, constant temperature-taking and lots of TLC from Andy meant that by about Friday night, I felt a lot better.
It did give me the chance to meet up with people during my unexpected extended holiday but if I'm honest, I'd rather have not been ill and flown back when I was meant to! Lovely though it was to see everyone!
So - here I am back in Madrid with a rather unsightly swollen, red calf and ankle. At least the antibiotics are doing the trick.
Sadly, the roadworks outside the flat are showing no signs of going away - in fact, if anything, they're worse. It's harder and harder to get to the front door. Constant dodging of diggers, pneumatic drills, dust, rubble, sand, men in yellow jackets etc. And today, they knocked down an entire house about 20 yards from our front door! Intriguing to watch but the clouds of dust and the noise have been incredible. The little white car that was parked outside the house next door has all but disappeared under a couple of inches of thick, yellow dust.
But it is very lovely to be back. I can honestly say that coming back to Madrid and to the flat really felt like coming home, and the trip to the UK was a holiday!
Ah, yes, the "delight" part of the title! After weeks of disasters, disappointment and threats of technology-tossing from balconies, my laptop is fixed and happily online. I won't pretend to understand exactly what happened, but with a new hard drive and having installed the recovery disk from Toshiba, all is well. I was so excited when it connected to the net last night that I was obliged to drink several glasses of wine (forcing my flatmate to join me entirely against her will of course!)
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Over-sanitising life?
Something occurred to me yesterday after a couple of weeks of watching Spanish TV, especially the news.
It strikes me that in the UK TV broadcasts are hugely sanitised.
For instance, a few days ago three people were killed in a shoot-out between a Turkish rebel and the police. Spanish news showed vivid, close-up images of of the dead rebel, lying in a huge pool of blood, rigor mortis clearly setting in as one of his hands was clawed and his forearm still vertical to the ground. (The other two people killed were a police chief and a 16-year-old bystander - not shown). This was all shown during broadcasts during the day as well as the evening, in a perfectly matter-of-fact way.
In the UK, it probably wouldn't have been shown at all even after the 9pm "watershed", but if it had been, it would have been preceded by the newsreader saying "Some viewers may find the following images disturbing". The nanny state alive and well again. It's the news. It is meant to report real life (and death) - and reality is frequently disturbing. That's the point. Do we really need TV stations to have to apologise in advance for simply broadcasting a news story? Would we actually prefer to just have happy stories about fluffy kittens and rainbows? Of course we wouldn't. But I don't remember anyone pointing out that viewers may find the images of, say, British and American troops invading Iraq, disturbing. I certainly did, but it doesn't mean I didn't want to remain informed.
The Spanish version of the Turkish rebel story was informative and entirely watchable. It would have been enhanced perhaps by saying who the dead were - not so we know who to hate, but to personalise it a bit more. After all, whoever they were, they had families somewhere who were going to be devastated. And as the saying goes, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
The UK news goes even further in swaddling us in cotton wool. Before showing a clip of an awards ceremony, or someone on a red carpet etc, we're warned "This film may contain flash photography"! No sh*t! Nowadays many European laws (civil or otherwise) are being standardised, so presumably a TV station has much the same chance of being sued in Spain as it does in the UK. Does this suggest, then, that the UK has particularly litiginous epileptics? No, it simply confirms that in Spain people seem to be allowed to get on with life using a bit of common sense, without the threat of lawsuits and complaints. Apart from (occasional!) No Smoking and (more common) No Dogs signs, this country does not bombard you with officialdom telling you what you can and can't do.
I'm well aware that the UK is unlikely to move back to a less nanny state - presumably some people think it's progress - but it's refreshing to be here and to be treated like a grown-up!
It strikes me that in the UK TV broadcasts are hugely sanitised.
For instance, a few days ago three people were killed in a shoot-out between a Turkish rebel and the police. Spanish news showed vivid, close-up images of of the dead rebel, lying in a huge pool of blood, rigor mortis clearly setting in as one of his hands was clawed and his forearm still vertical to the ground. (The other two people killed were a police chief and a 16-year-old bystander - not shown). This was all shown during broadcasts during the day as well as the evening, in a perfectly matter-of-fact way.
In the UK, it probably wouldn't have been shown at all even after the 9pm "watershed", but if it had been, it would have been preceded by the newsreader saying "Some viewers may find the following images disturbing". The nanny state alive and well again. It's the news. It is meant to report real life (and death) - and reality is frequently disturbing. That's the point. Do we really need TV stations to have to apologise in advance for simply broadcasting a news story? Would we actually prefer to just have happy stories about fluffy kittens and rainbows? Of course we wouldn't. But I don't remember anyone pointing out that viewers may find the images of, say, British and American troops invading Iraq, disturbing. I certainly did, but it doesn't mean I didn't want to remain informed.
The Spanish version of the Turkish rebel story was informative and entirely watchable. It would have been enhanced perhaps by saying who the dead were - not so we know who to hate, but to personalise it a bit more. After all, whoever they were, they had families somewhere who were going to be devastated. And as the saying goes, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
The UK news goes even further in swaddling us in cotton wool. Before showing a clip of an awards ceremony, or someone on a red carpet etc, we're warned "This film may contain flash photography"! No sh*t! Nowadays many European laws (civil or otherwise) are being standardised, so presumably a TV station has much the same chance of being sued in Spain as it does in the UK. Does this suggest, then, that the UK has particularly litiginous epileptics? No, it simply confirms that in Spain people seem to be allowed to get on with life using a bit of common sense, without the threat of lawsuits and complaints. Apart from (occasional!) No Smoking and (more common) No Dogs signs, this country does not bombard you with officialdom telling you what you can and can't do.
I'm well aware that the UK is unlikely to move back to a less nanny state - presumably some people think it's progress - but it's refreshing to be here and to be treated like a grown-up!
Friday, 24 April 2009
It's official - I hate technology
I knew my excitement at picking my laptop up from repair this morning would be short-lived. Off I trotted as early as I could, collected it with its new hard drive installed, brought it home and went to reinstall Windows XP. Oh no, not that simple. It followed the same routine it had before I admitted it was dead, gave me the same error message (including the suggestion that I remove any recently installed hard drives - yeah, right, I was going to do that!) and wouldn't play.
So 20 minutes later I was back off to the repair centre, clutching the laptop (having decided throwing it out the window may not be the best thing to do), every bit of paperwork that came with it, and the XP disk. The woman behind the desk looked a bit surprised (and somewhat disappointed) to see me back so soon. One of the technicians came down to play with it and after 10 minutes of changing the settings in the boot menu (let's face it, not something I was likely to have been able to do) pronounced it ready for XP to be reinstalled. Not that I didn't believe him - well, maybe just a little - but I insisted on staying there while it was reinstalled. Fine. All done. So back home with it.
Transferred a few things from my external hard drive over to it, sorted out the appearance settings etc, then decided the time had come to flick the switch and try to get online.
Wireless switch flicked. Nothing. No icon for wireless network or anything even similar. Off to Control Panel with me. Searched for my internal modem which I know is in there! Nope. Machine insists I don't have a modem of any kind, internal, external or anything else. Oh yes, I do, I shouted at it, pointlessly.
None of the paperwork that came from the shop with it is of any use at all. I don't have software for the modem, I don't even know what it is so I can't search for any info on the net using Eve's laptop. And even if I could, it's not like I could download the driver etc for it to my laptop because......I can't get on the net.....because apparently I don't have a modem!
I'm going round in circles. At the rate I'm going, I will have to lug it back to the UK, take it back to where I bought it and get them to sort that out. Meaning until my trip, I'll still have to rely on Eve's laptop for all net stuff.
Also, without the net, I can't download any of the programs I need to actually use the thing for anything useful. I want Picasa, various spyware/anti virus stuff, Live Messenger etc etc. I don't have a WP prog of any kind cos I left the Word disk in the UK but I can't download Open Office as a back-up.
Back to a quill pen and a bottle of ink I reckon!
So 20 minutes later I was back off to the repair centre, clutching the laptop (having decided throwing it out the window may not be the best thing to do), every bit of paperwork that came with it, and the XP disk. The woman behind the desk looked a bit surprised (and somewhat disappointed) to see me back so soon. One of the technicians came down to play with it and after 10 minutes of changing the settings in the boot menu (let's face it, not something I was likely to have been able to do) pronounced it ready for XP to be reinstalled. Not that I didn't believe him - well, maybe just a little - but I insisted on staying there while it was reinstalled. Fine. All done. So back home with it.
Transferred a few things from my external hard drive over to it, sorted out the appearance settings etc, then decided the time had come to flick the switch and try to get online.
Wireless switch flicked. Nothing. No icon for wireless network or anything even similar. Off to Control Panel with me. Searched for my internal modem which I know is in there! Nope. Machine insists I don't have a modem of any kind, internal, external or anything else. Oh yes, I do, I shouted at it, pointlessly.
None of the paperwork that came from the shop with it is of any use at all. I don't have software for the modem, I don't even know what it is so I can't search for any info on the net using Eve's laptop. And even if I could, it's not like I could download the driver etc for it to my laptop because......I can't get on the net.....because apparently I don't have a modem!
I'm going round in circles. At the rate I'm going, I will have to lug it back to the UK, take it back to where I bought it and get them to sort that out. Meaning until my trip, I'll still have to rely on Eve's laptop for all net stuff.
Also, without the net, I can't download any of the programs I need to actually use the thing for anything useful. I want Picasa, various spyware/anti virus stuff, Live Messenger etc etc. I don't have a WP prog of any kind cos I left the Word disk in the UK but I can't download Open Office as a back-up.
Back to a quill pen and a bottle of ink I reckon!
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Officially not unemployed now!
Well, OK, that may not be entirely the case as far as the Social Security and tax people here are concerned but....! I "worked" for the first time since February 4th today. I gave a 1hr 30min English lesson to the lovely Begona (really must find a way to add that twiddly thing that goes over the n). The time absolutely flew past. Mind you, I hope all my future students are like her. She came to the lesson clutching a bundle of papers she needs to understand and pronounce for work. She wanted to read them out, one paragraph at a time and then have me correct the pronunciation. No problem. Then she asked if she could alter the paragraphs and try to write them in simpler English. Also no problem. Then.....she came up with her own homework! More of that, I say! But I really enjoyed it - I hope she did. Good 25 minute walk to her office which is good exercise now, but in the height of summer may not be quite so enjoyable!
2 other students are semi panning out. One has decided to postpone until June for reasons I didn't quite understand, but then she wants an hour every day for the whole of June and July! Or at least I'm hoping Monday to Friday. Intensive, but fine by me. And Jose, who was going to recommend me to people at his office, said it would only work out if I can provide invoices with my NIE. Hah! See previous blog.
On that note, however, I do appear to have at last found out the correct (and current) procedure for sorting that out. Not that that makes it any easier of course. It appears I now have to call for an appointment at an office actually quite near here - the appointments currently being dished out are for ........ AUGUST!!!!! Still, it would appear that once I have an appointment, as long as I bring the right completed form, a receipt for an obligatory payment via a bank, and 23 other things, I should get a "Certificate of Residency as an EU National" which will contain the NIE. I'm not holding my breath!
Good news on the technology front too. My laptop is apparently fixed!!! In as much as they removed my old hard drive, sent it back to Toshiba and replaced it with a new one. I have to pick it up tomorrow, then I'll have to reinstall XP and see how it goes. Got stacks of software to reinstall, most of which is back in the UK so it'll be a while til that's all sorted. But I'll still have my laptop back - YAAAY! Let's hope this hard drive lasts longer than the first one. I fully expect to continue to receive helpful messages along the lines of "Should have got a Mac" from several nameless people! ;-)
"Las obras" (public works) continue to follow me round Madrid. Not content with digging up the roads and pavements near my old place the whole time I was there, I was thrilled to discover that they are now replacing the gas pipes in pretty much every street round my new place too! Stacks of pneumatic drills, diggers and large groups of men in hi-vis vests staring into holes in the ground - some things are clearly the same the world over!
Today was La Diada de Sant Jordi, or El Dia de la Rosa, or even El Dia del Libre (St George's Day, Day of the Rose and Day of the Book respectively). It's not just the UK that claims 23 April as its own - St George is one of the patron saints of Catalunya, Aragon and Valencia. Events take place all over Spain, though mainly in Barcelona and other towns in those three regions. The basic idea is that it's a little like our Valentine's Day, except the guys buy the girls a red rose, and the girls buy the guys a book in return. Apparently it all started in 1923 when a bookseller decided to celebrate the allegedly simultaneous deaths of Cervantes and Shakespeare on April 23, 1616. Despite having read that the Parque del Retiro would join in by having some book stalls on what is now also World Book Day, there was no sign of it this afternoon. Instead, I spent a happy hour lolling on the steps by the lake, watching energetic people row their rented boats around, stopping briefly to drench eachother with oar-loads of refreshing (though slightly scummy) lake water.
I'm enjoying exploring my new local area. It's a proper Spanish residential area, with stacks of proper little local businesses in the surrounding streets - bakers, butchers (no candlestick makers yet!) etc. It's nice to wander around and just see the locals out doing what they do! I can see why some of the people I know want to live right in the centre - damn sight easier for going out socialising for a start - but it's so touristy! If I'm going to live here, I want to LIVE here! Still, that means my Spanish needs to improve a lot! I've been pretty good at doing about an hour's study a day recently, but there's nothing to match actually speaking it. I think some kind of proper language exchange is in my future - there are plenty of ads for Spaniards looking to spend half an hour practicing their English in return for listening to foreigners massacring Spanish!
Actually, doing more study might make me turn the TV off. It's been a bit of a novelty having a TV here, having not had one for a month so I've probably wasted more time than I should in front of it. When the weather was rubbish, it didn't seem so bad but now it's sunny and 26 degrees, I really should be out doing stuff. Mind you, the Monte Carlo and Barcelona tennis tournaments have been keeping me occupied, which I don't mind at all. However, the fact that I'm starting to enjoy The OC and Smallville (in Spanish) is a bit worrying! As the old TV theme went, why don't I just turn off the TV and go and do something more interesting instead?
Sid tracked down a company that do really cheap phone calls abroad so she tested it out on me this evening. Had a good hour's chat with her, catching up on news etc. Was nice to have a proper chat instead of emails and texts though obviously the technological methods are much more practical as it doesn't matter who's home and when.
OK, so my vegetable soup is pretty much boiled to death, my frozen baguette has thawed nicely on the balcony in about half an hour, and there are several San Miguels chilling nicely in the fridge, so adios, buenos noches, hasta luego etc!
2 other students are semi panning out. One has decided to postpone until June for reasons I didn't quite understand, but then she wants an hour every day for the whole of June and July! Or at least I'm hoping Monday to Friday. Intensive, but fine by me. And Jose, who was going to recommend me to people at his office, said it would only work out if I can provide invoices with my NIE. Hah! See previous blog.
On that note, however, I do appear to have at last found out the correct (and current) procedure for sorting that out. Not that that makes it any easier of course. It appears I now have to call for an appointment at an office actually quite near here - the appointments currently being dished out are for ........ AUGUST!!!!! Still, it would appear that once I have an appointment, as long as I bring the right completed form, a receipt for an obligatory payment via a bank, and 23 other things, I should get a "Certificate of Residency as an EU National" which will contain the NIE. I'm not holding my breath!
Good news on the technology front too. My laptop is apparently fixed!!! In as much as they removed my old hard drive, sent it back to Toshiba and replaced it with a new one. I have to pick it up tomorrow, then I'll have to reinstall XP and see how it goes. Got stacks of software to reinstall, most of which is back in the UK so it'll be a while til that's all sorted. But I'll still have my laptop back - YAAAY! Let's hope this hard drive lasts longer than the first one. I fully expect to continue to receive helpful messages along the lines of "Should have got a Mac" from several nameless people! ;-)
"Las obras" (public works) continue to follow me round Madrid. Not content with digging up the roads and pavements near my old place the whole time I was there, I was thrilled to discover that they are now replacing the gas pipes in pretty much every street round my new place too! Stacks of pneumatic drills, diggers and large groups of men in hi-vis vests staring into holes in the ground - some things are clearly the same the world over!
Today was La Diada de Sant Jordi, or El Dia de la Rosa, or even El Dia del Libre (St George's Day, Day of the Rose and Day of the Book respectively). It's not just the UK that claims 23 April as its own - St George is one of the patron saints of Catalunya, Aragon and Valencia. Events take place all over Spain, though mainly in Barcelona and other towns in those three regions. The basic idea is that it's a little like our Valentine's Day, except the guys buy the girls a red rose, and the girls buy the guys a book in return. Apparently it all started in 1923 when a bookseller decided to celebrate the allegedly simultaneous deaths of Cervantes and Shakespeare on April 23, 1616. Despite having read that the Parque del Retiro would join in by having some book stalls on what is now also World Book Day, there was no sign of it this afternoon. Instead, I spent a happy hour lolling on the steps by the lake, watching energetic people row their rented boats around, stopping briefly to drench eachother with oar-loads of refreshing (though slightly scummy) lake water.
I'm enjoying exploring my new local area. It's a proper Spanish residential area, with stacks of proper little local businesses in the surrounding streets - bakers, butchers (no candlestick makers yet!) etc. It's nice to wander around and just see the locals out doing what they do! I can see why some of the people I know want to live right in the centre - damn sight easier for going out socialising for a start - but it's so touristy! If I'm going to live here, I want to LIVE here! Still, that means my Spanish needs to improve a lot! I've been pretty good at doing about an hour's study a day recently, but there's nothing to match actually speaking it. I think some kind of proper language exchange is in my future - there are plenty of ads for Spaniards looking to spend half an hour practicing their English in return for listening to foreigners massacring Spanish!
Actually, doing more study might make me turn the TV off. It's been a bit of a novelty having a TV here, having not had one for a month so I've probably wasted more time than I should in front of it. When the weather was rubbish, it didn't seem so bad but now it's sunny and 26 degrees, I really should be out doing stuff. Mind you, the Monte Carlo and Barcelona tennis tournaments have been keeping me occupied, which I don't mind at all. However, the fact that I'm starting to enjoy The OC and Smallville (in Spanish) is a bit worrying! As the old TV theme went, why don't I just turn off the TV and go and do something more interesting instead?
Sid tracked down a company that do really cheap phone calls abroad so she tested it out on me this evening. Had a good hour's chat with her, catching up on news etc. Was nice to have a proper chat instead of emails and texts though obviously the technological methods are much more practical as it doesn't matter who's home and when.
OK, so my vegetable soup is pretty much boiled to death, my frozen baguette has thawed nicely on the balcony in about half an hour, and there are several San Miguels chilling nicely in the fridge, so adios, buenos noches, hasta luego etc!
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