Distinctly odd

My old mate Jaime had his 50th birthday party last Saturday and Maggie and I were invited. The party was in the flat that Jaime shares with his ex girlfriend Pepa in Betera just north of Valencia city.

There were about a dozen people at the party. It started ordinarily enough. People were coming in from all over Spain and most of them had to be picked up from a bus or train station so it took a while before we were all assembled. Most turned up with a bottle in their hand or a gift for Jaime. Plenty of hugs and handshaking. But this is when it started to differ from any party I've ever been to.

Pepa was masterminding the do. She'd sorted the food, the cake, the drinks etc. but, as people settled in they weren't offered a drink, either soft or otherwise. As people stood or sat around chatting there was no music. The food was rolled out and people filled their cardboard plates but the group stayed close to the table - none of that retreating to your favourite perch with a plate stacked high with twiglets and sausage rolls. Wine was poured into our paper cups but when we stopped eating both the food and drink were whisked away. There was no all night nibbling allowed. No more drink was offered and the Spaniards seemed happy to sit there without food, without drink and without music. No thought of dancing, no drunken mates to be helped.

There was a birthday cake, in fact there were two, one from the current girlfriend and one from Pepa. A tense moment. We got a glass of bubbly to lubricate "Happy Birthday" but most of the guests took a swig and then abandoned the rest. That too was tidied away once it had served its purpose. We were offered coffee but not as the signal to find our coats and hats, rather as the customary end to a meal.

Maybe three hours later, after a heated discussion on the abuse of maternity rights and the state of the Nation's youth followed by a quick foot massage the party was suddenly over. Everyone who was going got ready to leave, those of us who were staying began to unpack our jim jams.

Actually by now I wasn't much to do with the party. Unable to keep up with the language I'd been quick enough to down several of those glasses of fake champagne before they disappeared into hyperspace and then I helped myself to a bottle of Scotch and settled into the comfy chair in the corner.

Elections and Information

I'm quite excited by all the electioneering that's going on around me for the local and municipal elections on 27 May. Nonetheless, for one reason or another, I've only got to one public meeting so far.

On Saturday, a friend told me he'd heard the present Mayor was going to hold a meeting, with an English translator, sometime this week.

Whether I agree with this chaps politics or not I was impressed by the initiative and the idea. I thought it would be good to go. To support the idea, to show "we" are interested etc. The problem is finding out where and when it is. No posters, no information in the Town Hall, the Party's office is locked fast (four weeks before polling day!), their phone goes unanswered and they haven't answered my email.

April showers

They had an open day at the castle in Novelda.

We went.

It rained, again.

Divine retribution

I've said before that we have something resembling a medium sized radio telescope in our back garden so we can watch "Castaway Dancing Celebrity Chef" beamed directly from the country with the best TV in the World. We also have a TDT, digital set top box so we can be horrified by Spanish TV and it's diet of Mexican soaps and cheesy game shows.

The TDT box packed up the other day, just like the first one we bought about a year ago. We'd learned from our mistake though and we'd bought the second box from a local shop just in case it needed to be returned.

The man in the shop told me to come back when the bloke from the suppliers had been, any time after 10.30. The bloke didn't show up yesterday or today so the man from the elecrical shop phoned to see where he was. "Oh, its Santa Faz (a public holiday named for a saint) in Alicante so he's taking a long weekend" said the Alicante based supplier.

It's probably something to do with the skirts on Rebelde Way being a bit too short I reckon.

Foul weather

Maggie has just had a well desererved break from school with the Easter holidays. Unfortunately for her the weather has been horrid with day after day of very wet rain which has stopped her doing anything very exciting.

As a bit of a last ditch attempt to have good time she booked us in for a weekend break at a hotel up the coast in Gandia but, as you can see from the picture taken from our 11th floor room, the weather gave no quarter. She'd guessed it might not and booked us in to a place that fed us three times a day and made a big deal out of it's Turkish bath, spa and biothermic shower but, between meals and after we'd had our pores opened we had no choice but to avoid the cold and wet in bar after bar after bar.

Alcoi gets ready

Alcoi has one of the larger Moors and Christians Festivals in the area. It is set around the day of the town's Patron Saint, one Sant Jordi, better known to we Brits as Saint George.

When we passed through today preparations were well in hand even down to a local hat shop being able to supply turbans for each and every one of the Moorish bands.

Easter Sunday in Jumilla

The Easter week weather has been horrid all over Spain. We've had winds and rain all week, yesterday it was hailing on our house in Culebrón. This rather knocked our plans on the head to go somewhere for the long weekend. We did talk about Ceuta or Ibiza but we ended up, at least for today, close to home, in Jumilla.

The Easter processions in Jumilla are supposed to be good so we drove the 40km or so to have a look. The parade was the usual sort of format. Several groups, identified by their robes, parade a heavy and ornate float from one place to another supported by a solemn sounding band. I was surprised that the groups were still wearing the hoods as I seem to remember being told, that as Easter Sunday is a celebration, the capuchas come off.

Nonetheless, it was definitely less solemn than the stuff we'd seen in Pinoso earlier in the week. There was much more chatting between participants and crowd and the handing out of sweets reached epic proportions. Even Maggie and I came home with a good bagful.

The chaps in the photo are just in mid lift of their paso or float and if you look at the photo of the spectators you will see that the children each has a bag, ready to accept their donations of sweets!

Grown men in skirts and tights

Acclaimed by crowds of palm waving citizens a contingent of Roman soldiers, with costumes modelled on the Hollywood epic "The Robe", escorted an odd looking Jesus around Pinoso today.