It started a couple of weeks ago. I stepped out onto the terrace to read in the sunlight (for a few minutes before anyone gets any ideas about me actually sunbathing). Seconds later there was a squawk and it came, swooping down from the sky, making that awk awk sound and crapping.

The same thing happened the next time.

And the next...

I had a nemesis.

Nemesis the seagull. He's there now, on the top of the crane opposite. He's a bit protective of his territory, and he's decided, without consulting me, that his territory includes my terrace. As soon as he spots me his neck extends and he gives a warning squawk. If I stand my ground he seems to shrug his birdy shoulders as if to say 'I've told him a million times, but he just won't listen' and drops off his perch. He dive bombs and squawks and craps and doesn't get bored of it.  ¶ 12:35 PM 1 comments

  Anyone who knows me more than a little will know that I read a bit. Okay, that should be a lot. I read a lot. So I just thought I'd share what my current 'on the go' pile looks like. I'm trying to read in Spanish but I don't always stick to the plan.

El circo del Desaliento (The circus of discouragement: the photo is the cover) by David Rubín.
This is the second of his I've read recently, the first was the fantastic 'La tetería del Oso Malayo' (The teahouse of the Malasian bear). He's a Galician whose stories tend to mix pathos, loss, missed opportunities with a bit of hope and optimism somewhere in there (sometimes very far in there). If you see any of his stuff in translation it'll be worth looking at.

Mafalda: Cova lent me a massive tome with all of the Mafalda strips which ran from the mid sixties to the mid seventies in Argentina.

No he venido aquí a hacer amigos (I didn't come here to make friends, misadventures of an IT consultant): I was in the library and trying to avoid anything which looked like literature. This one begins with the protagonist driving north with his dead boss in the passenger seat of his BMW... the Spanish is not too difficult either.

El principito (The Little Prince): this was from leer-e, a Spanish e-book site. It's many many years since I read the original.

The Ungoverned by Vernor Vinge: He's a visionary SF writer, and this is the second in a series based firmly in the extrapolation of certain physics ideas. Mind expanding.

How to play blues ukulele. Pretty self explanatory really, gotta have a hobby.  ¶ 3:29 PM 1 comments

  The results came in last night, but as the radio came on this morning there was the sound of Mariano Rajoy, the leader of the (conservative) People's party claiming victory. The PP won 23 seats, the PSOE (the labourish socialist party) won 21. There were another couple of parties with one or two each but it was basically a showdown between the big guns. Then I heard the turnout, 44% or so. which means that approximately 20% of the voting population had voted for the PP... not quite the stunning blow to the government he was claiming.

Then I turned on radio 4 while I had my breakfast... Nick Griffin! I hang my head in shame at being from the North of England.

Yet again the conservatives and UKIP (UKIP?!! wtf?) trumpeted their 'deathblows' to the government (El Pais says it's Un resultado "terrible" para Brown) and again, 34% turnout which means that less than one in ten people who could have voted actually voted for the winning party... way to engage the electorate there. I think we should expect our politicians to have some idea of basic maths... if one in ten people voted for you, it doesn't really count as a crushing victory. Sigh...

So, to avoid stressful, high blood pressure situations... here's a relaxing picture of some plants. Calm, calm, calm.  ¶ 11:08 AM 0 comments

  Today is martes de campo (country Tuesday), a holiday for those of us who work in Oviedo. It was in early May last year and it was chilly... this year it isn't.

The UV index around midday was 8 (in the UK I thought it only went up to 5... ah well, maybe I've got my data from a different scale). The sun was a little fierce so I kept to the shade as I wandered with my camera. In Parque San Francisco, in the city centre, people began queuing for bollos preñados (bread baked with a chorizo inside) and wine... the traditional picnic fare for today. There was a bigger queue at the Saturn van (Saturn is a big electronics retailer, think Dixons) for their free straw hats.

Bands of pipers marched through the streets, followed by bands of other stripes, cuban, jazz and the like. The sun made a big difference.

I sat on the grass watching the goings on, with a bottle of cider (if I'm going to have a bottle to myself, cider is a better choice than wine), practicing my pouring and munching on chorizo-y bread.

Days off are lovely.  ¶ 5:10 PM 1 comments