I could not resist this - I know I used it for the Communty Care Plan in 2000 but is has more personal relevance at the moment as I am on the other side of the desk now. I finished physio today after 15 sessions, but am only slightly worse. Next up is a specialist in July and then, if no further treatment is available, or if he can't understand my Spanish we may have to consider the Rizzla papers after all!  (Jokes!)

Ballet or Flamenco? Both!

 

We had seen Flamenco before in Seville, and we saw it last week from the balcony as some locals got frisky singing and clapping well into the night. This show was different. Quite cheap, like many of Madrid's subsidised arts programmes, but beauitifully staged by the Ballet Flamenco of Andalucia. We accidentaly ended up in the front row so could see every foot tap and even the guitar chords were visible. The dresses were fantastic and the energy was high.

We were struck this time how much the Moorish/Arabic singing style revealed the roots of the south in the gyspy heritage.It is also a bit curious that this show was praised by the great and the good who often have no time for the modern gyspy community.

A load of bull...

You get the impression that going to see the bullfight is no longer fashionable. While it is true that many Spaniards hate the idea and indeed have never been to the Corrida, there are also many diehard fans as we saw when went along with Angus and Karen to see a bullfight.  We felt it was something we should do once to witness this key part of Spanish culture, however none of us is tempted to go back. (Well maybe with a free ticket...) It was gory and cruel and all rigged against the poor bull who did not want to be there and certainly did not want to fight. "Send him to the grill!" shouted the crowd. Horses were also injured though sadly not the toreros (bull fighters)  The highlight for us was when the audience lost patience with the bullfighter and stood up and threw their seat cushions at his head, thankfully three cushions hit him before he was led off!  If you are of a strong disposition you might want to see what happened to one of the guys we saw this year but in a previous fight (below).

200th Post - celebration!

Celebrating our 200th post with a facebook video link - we have so little bandwidth some days it is impossible to load anything - however I hope you enjoy these fireworks in the Retiro Park, these Spaniards sure know how to light the touch paper!

Barcelona (Home of Manuel!)

 

Barcelona - home of Manuel, famous waiter from Fawlty Towers. Arguably his rare Siberian hamster is more famous but there you go. We spent the holiday weekend there and came back with stiff necks - there is just such a lot to look up at, every corner has something else to see and especially famous is the Gaudi Cathedral. Having already been to Disneyland it wasn't as stunning as it might have been but is certainly something different. The beach was a bit full of Brits but we shouldn't complain being from that airt ourselves. Plenty to see and three more destinations ticked from '1000 places to see before you die' - hmm brings that day closer I suppose!

Metro Gnome

On the way to Language School today I had no books as I was due an exam and we are not allowed to take in text books or dictionaries. Instead of reading grammar I read nationalities.. here are my observations..

Brrrrrrooke Fraser

Amid the freezing and barren lands of Madrid we heard a kiwi sing... a very sweet sounding kiwi - Brooke Fraser. We just found out about her concert that day and were delighted to find the venue and get tickets at the door. It was her first gig in Spain and she was excellent. We first heard her CDs in the Basque Country in the flat of Kiwis Duncan & Ainsley Sinclair then got to know her worship music in New Zealand. She opened with the song Sailing (her husband is a Kiwi sailor) and it kept getting better. Donald and I enjoyed a wee bop, met some friends and came home very happy after a great Sunday.