My Mobile, My Bank, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada and Sunday Lunch

I don't use my mobile phone much, in fact I don't even look at it most of the time. Problem is, I can't see it and my fingers are too fat to press just the one button at a time.

The other day our bank sent us a tempting offer. Invest €3500 in a savings account for 5 months and get this bed set designed by Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.

Imagine waking up in that! (the bed set not Agatha.) Just to clarify that offer, the bank wanted us to give them OUR money before we got the bedding.

Anyway, on my way to class the other afternoon I actually saw someone walking up the street - shamelessly, in broad daylight - carrying one of Agatha's bed sets.

I was so shocked that I thought about ringing Jaki immediately, but decided to procrastinate after I also thought about fiddling around in my bag to find my mobile, glasses and prodding stick for the buttons.

If I had looked at it, I may have seen the millions of desperate messages from the Taylors inviting us for lunch on Sunday!

Isn't Ibiza Great

Back down to earth with a mighty bump after our exciting UK holidays.
SYP had no potatoes or cat litter when I went.
Somebody from CAEB (they organise training courses) has just rung to say that a my certificate has arrived for a course I did in 2006.
The day that I start a couple of week's teaching in the afternoon is the day they tear up the main traffic artery into Ibiza town - rush hour is marvellous.
San Jose is a mosquito ridden malaria swamp because of all the rain in September.

It's a Miracle

Another cultural trip round art galleries and museums has once again strengthened my theory that religious miracles stopped happening when cameras were invented.

We were lucky enough to be on a guided tour by an expert of some of the works in the National Gallery in London who told us all about this picture by Titian, the Vendramin Family.

There's lots going on symbolically in this one, but first the miracle. The Vendramins were rich, powerful men down Venice way courtesy of that cross on the right. Years before, that cross which contained a bit of wood from the true cross on which our Lord had been crucified ie. the most important religious relic ever if you're a catholic, was being transported to Venice.

Like you do, you give it to some butter-fingered oaf to carry (no it wasn't Francis Meli) who promptly dropped it from a bridge into the canal.

Luckily this is when the miracle occurred, because it never hit the water, it hovered a foot or two above the canal until one brave soul jumped in to recover it. His name was Vendramin and the family never looked back.

The second miracle concerns me, because on the art expert's tour, the original face of the young man on the left, which had been painted over to give him a more elevated position in the family hierarchy, was now showing through the thinning oil paint.

Could I see it, could I heck. Total strangers in the group kept saying, 'it's there. There,' and gesticulating wildly along with Jaki. Now thanks to the miracle of the Internet and this print I nicked, I can see it. Can you?

Apple i-phone and the Ibiza Siesta

There's a nap for that.


And on a non-connected, unrelated topic, I gazed into my crystal ball yetserday, 11th October 2009, and the words Whittle, Pacha, Bye Bye, September 2012, appeared, though at this moment in time I can't fathom out what they mean.

Britfood

The Spanish are almost xenophobic about their cuisine and generally frown upon foreign food whereas the Brits have enthusiastically embraced food from all over the world.

Over the last 10 days in London and Manchester we've eaten and drunk (wine and beer) from Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Japan, Vietnam, Morocco, Pakistan, Turkey, Spain, China, and Marks and Spencer.

Find of the trip was Akbar's in Manchester which not only was stylish, modern, comfortable, had fantastic food, a great atmosphere, good service AND was only 50 yards from our pad, but also was really well priced!! The price of the wine with our meal started with a number less than 2 and our whole belly busting curry was £44.

Here's me with a vertical garlic nan bread (I'm on the right depending on where you're sitting) which we couldn't finish.

In general, we found the price of food in restaurants only marginally more than in Ibiza but racked up by the high price of wine. In London we'd be paying about £22 for a bottle of what I would consider house wine which costs about €9 here.

The Embassy Club

I'm going to try to be diplomatic now. I developed a theory whilst yomping through Kensington's embassy district that goes like this..........

The more third world (Less developed country) the country, the more lurid the colours and patterns of the flag.

My photo shows the Embassies of Ugavalu, Malitania and Eritronia, ranked 545th, 546th and 547th (ie last) in a list of countries by GDP.

QED!

The misleading title of this blog has no connection with Mr. Bernard Manning's Embassy club in Crumpsall, Manchester, so please feel free to get up to go to the toilet without fear of insult.

Sightseeing in Manchester - View from the Pad

One of the sights of Manchester that was new to me was the Beetham Tower - "Completed in 2006 at a cost of £150 million, the Beetham Tower in Manchester, is the highest building in Manchester, the tallest residential building in Europe and the 7th tallest building in England with over 525,000 square feet of space. The Beetham Tower is 168.87 metres high, has a total of 47 floors and is home to the Manchester Hilton Hotel, 219 luxury apartments and 16 penthouses." - and we had magnifent views of it from our luxury pad

This is what we saw from our living room

Ibiza Flight Information

It's the Statutory Law of Holidays that before I regale anyone with tales of our adventures I have to tell you all about our flight!

Well, we took off 10 minutes late and arrived 30 minutes early thanks to a strong tailwind. There were some screaming kids on the plane and one bloke got up 5 times to go to the toilet.

And now for my mother's benefit, here's that tale again.

Well, we took off 10 minutes late and arrived 30 minutes early thanks to a strong tail wind. There were some screaming kids on the plane and one bloke got up 5 times to go to the toilet.