Three months , that's 90 odd days, a quarter of a year, 1/280th of a lifetime (perhaps). So why no blogs?? Well, laziness, business, a sprained inspiration muscle... all possible. But lets not point the finger, or dwell on the past. Let us go forward into the bright sunlight of the now and enjoy the blog of today!
It's raining. It's Good Friday and its raining. (See view from my flat- left) Most people that I know have left for their Easter break and its raining. I am waiting to start my own adventure with a trip to Granada on Sunday, but in the meantime I am having a cup of tea and listening to the rain. It seems like a good time to fill you in on what's been happening.
One month ago I was in Australia. No really, I was. Thirteen days off work to travel to the other side of the planet, see my friends Brett and Liv get married and spend some lovely moments with the rest of my good friends back in the Lucky Country.
The first thing that strikes you (well me really) upon landing in Australia is the quality of the light. The sun splits the sky with such gusto you feel it surely must run out. Nature meets the onslaught with its own defiant display of colour and sharp edges that pains the eye of the novice viewer fresh from the softer landscapes of a European winter.
The next thing that strikes you is the size of the coffees.
The coffee culture of Australia is very highly evolved. The sophisticates of Southern Europe imagine Australia to be an inferior location for the gastronomic arts but the reality is quite different. Most Spanish cafes serve just two or three varieties of coffee (con leche, cortado, solo - with milk, with a dash of milk, black)whereas even the most humble cafe in suburban Sydney will offer a flat white, latte, machiatto, long black, short black or even a mocha soy latte(okay I don't know what that last one is..). All of these come in generous portions with enough active ingredient to disqualify a cycling team.
Brisbane airport is no different and half way through my first flat white I began to twitch. I wresteled with the ethics of discarding half a cup of take away coffee in a rubbish bin. It was possible that I would be cursed by the cleaner who would retrive the soggy bin bag but finally my delayed last leg to Sydney was due to leave and I had to act (sorry rubbish collecter person!).
One of my favourite things to do in the whole wide world is to have a boozy lunch with good friends. So it is perhaps fitting that I travelled across that wide world to enjoy such a lunch. And it was worth it. If they thought that booking a lunch at a beautiful harbourside restaurant on a glorious summer's day would steel my resolve to return to Australia then ha ha! - they were very right. I'll let the photos speak for themselves!
One of my other favourite things to do (okay 'in the whole wide world' too), is play football with my football team 'The Hurlers'. A more exquisite bunch of gentlemen you couldn't possible hope to meet (well, you could probably do better picking names randomnly from the phone book) and a more skilled set of footballers have rarely graced the lumpy pitches of suburban Sydney (again not really 100% true...). Nevertheless, they are my footballing brothers and it was just downright ace to squeeze in a game before I returned to Spain. I missed a penalty, we lost 1-0 but we all loved it (maybe they didn't all love the part where I missed the penalty hmmm).
The wedding itself was a wonderful success, the sun shone, the booze flowed, the food was delicious and the speeches touching. The ceremony was on Shark Island (across the bay from the restaurant we ate at a few days earlier) and the harbour put on a show. Sunlight winked at us as the breeze ruffled the water filling the sails of the hundreds of yachts chasing glory in their weekend races. As our ferry took the guests back to town I was awed anew at the beauty of the Sydney skyline as it deferentially provided the backdrop for the huge white sails of the Opera House - itself straining to launch onto the harbour and try its luck in the Saturday regatta.
The rest of the week was a social whirl of catching up and hanging out. It was lovely to see Rach all the way from Adelaide, and great to stay with KB and Jen and Jodie and Andrew. All in all just wonderful to be on holiday but at home - you should try it one day.
I flew back to Europe express. I did not pass go nor collect $200. Less than 12 hours after landing I was back at work. But hey not working too hard so please do not ever be tempted to feel sorry for me.
Back in Spain and life rolls on. My Spanish improves at what feels like a glacial pace but improve it does. I try and keep out of trouble and almost succeed. Next week I'm on holiday again (oh the pain!) heading south to the Spain of the postcards, Andalucia. You be good y'hear!
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