Cambrils 18th August 2010

This is one that got left out; I've just found it on my Netbook, along with all the email addresses that I lost when the laptop's hard drive crashed.

We arrived on Sunday at 13.30. It was warm and quite dull. There were lots of people because it's August and because Monday was a holiday in a number of communities. Today is Wednesday and it's quietened down a bit, although there are still lots of cars and at peak time the beach gets full. And then there are the bicycles.  There's a cycle path which goes from one extreme of Cambrils to the other. It's not an unbroken path but it's quite good for Spain, and it's been full of cyclists of all shapes and forms, from little kids on tiny bikes with stabilisers to big adults in stretch shorts, helmets and fast sports bikes. I've borrowed a bike which my brother-in-law found in a rubbish skip and reclaimed; the one I abandoned in Bognor was better, but this one has taken me to the port and back twice. The brakes work and the pedals, although they are crooked, move it along at my normal, slow speed. You don't want to go much faster, what with scatty pedestrians wandering onto the cycle track, skaters and scooters, not to mention dog-leg bends so sharp that they've got convex mirrors for you to check if anyone's coming the other way-if you see someone coming it's too late. Spain is a good place for champion cyclists-there have been plenty of really good sportsmen; at times the best in the world, but there's not much idea of using a bike to get about, to do the shopping and move from place to place. They are just beginning to have cycle tracks in cities, and rental systems where you can take a bike off a rack, cycle to your destination and leave it on a rack for someone else to use.  

Tomatoes

It's that season again! 

Garden tomatoes in Jaca are the best. They don't look so great, but one bulky, split fruit is enough for a salad for three people, and they are sweet and delicious; just how a tomato should taste. At the moment there are local tomatoes, figs, muscatel grapes and claudia plums. Delicious!

Wolf Hall

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantell
The Tudors are in fashion at the moment, and there are several popular books around about them. Wolf Hall actually won last year´s Booker prize.

It´s about a key actor in the time of Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell. I´ve put in a painting of him because I like it very much; Hans Holbein is a minor character in this book and he´s one of my favourite painters.
Anyway, Cromwell rose from unknown humble beginnings in Putney to the highest non-royal position in the land, finally to be executed (that´s not in this book-she´s on the sequel now)
I enjoyed the book, especially the household scenes of Cromwell´s extended family, and his relationships with Wolsey and later King Henry.

Tomatoes again!

I can buy tomatoes all year round. But only in the summer is it possible to find tomatoes like the ones I bought yesterday; big, fat, irregular-shaped and delicious. They are sweet and juicy and there's nothing else like them. At the same time I bought the first Moscatel grapes, which are really the best there are.

Home!

By Saturday many of the students had gone home, and our office was mostly cleared into boxes. The remaining student groups had gone on a day trip to Oxford. So I was free. I got a ticket to Portsmouth, and spent a nice peaceful day walking around shops. There's a complex down by the old shipyard called Gunwharf Keys, which is a retail outlet and there are lots of restaurants too. When I was hungry I sat on a terrace in the sun in a place (chain) called The Slug and Lettuce. The above is what I ate. I don't know what it was; I was expecting a bit of bread with goat's cheese and peppers. Very nice!
Really, it was good just to mooch about in Portsmouth.
Well, on Sunday I made the long journey home; Bognor to London on the train, nearly two hours, Victoria Coach Station to Stansted, 70 minutes; I like that journey, then the fuss of baggage handover, check-in is done online now. Being first August the airport was really crowded. Waiting, boarding, flying and home!  

Pub music

Friday night Felpham, we went for a drink in a pub in the village next to Bognor and found it was live music night. I didn't see the band; there was such a crush, but I'm sure they were grey-haired, like most of the people dancing. Sort of Mick Jagger age, and enjoying themselves enormously! From the Beatles to Robbie Williams, and all you could see were wiggling bottoms and waving arms.
Then on Sunday Mum took me for lunch in Isfield, to a pub called, for some reason the Laughing Fish. Lovely ploughman's lunches, and a folk society meeting. One of the rooms of the pub, people were taking turns to sing or play. Folk songs, sea shanties. Mostly middle-aged or elderly, ordinary-looking men and women stood up and sang many-versed songs, then sat down and another had a turn. The landlord told us they came there about once a year, and did other pubs in the meantime.

Bognor regis

It's a bit of a dump! However, yesterday I walked back to the campus, first along the beach, paddling in the shallow water. With a cool breeze blowing, the temperature of the shallow water was lovely.

 Here, you can't see the beach, but the jet skier was having a great time. Today is the World Cup final, Spain against Holland. The group of Spanish teachers doing a course here have dressed up in red and yellow and painted their faces. I think they must have found a pub where they can watch it. Of course, I 'll be happy for them if Spain wins!