That was the week...

Well, here we are, another week older and we still haven't solved the world financial crisis, found a cure for cancer or even found a way to persuade our gardener,Sebastian, to turn his hearing aid on before we start the conversation rather than half way through by which time half the neighbourhood is hanging on our every (loud)word. Speaking of which (the neighbourhood), there is a scandal brewing in our "communidad". A few weeks ago we got a round robin letter pushed under our gate signed by assorted names, none of them familiar to us, accusing "el presidente" of taking actions under his own initiative without consultation. "El presidente", whom we have met a couple of times and who seems a pleasant enough chap and not at all dynamic (we are unclear as to what these unilateral actions might be, since nothing happens here), has obviously been hurt by this because today Antonio, the community's "empleado", who sweeps up the pine needles and buzzes round the place on a noisy "moto", came round to give us the first of what we are promised will be regular "noticias informativas" telling us what's been done, what's planned and asking for our suggestions. There is a list of do's and don'ts including do NOT take the rubbish containers into your own gardens and when out walking DO pick up your dog poo-when I told Mike this he inquired as to whether we would be provided with a dog on leaving our compounds...!ho, ho! What it doesn't say is DO stop your dog from waking up your neighbours. With Howie in mind,I might send a suggestion to our new community email address. We are very up to date here!

Not much other news. Still meandering on with Spanish. Getting a bit stuck with my homework last week, I went and asked Sebastian and his two "companeros", who happened to be working in our garden at the time, about one of the questions. They gave me three different answers. No wonder we foreigners find it difficult. We went to a tapas evening at the school on Tuesday and out to Cadiz to a concert on Wednesday. The latter was in the cathedral square-very beautiful-and the music was good (Joan Manuel Sarrat, a Catalan singer-songwriter who upset Franco by refusing to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest when he was refused permission to sing in Catalan)but we still, after all this time, have not got used to things starting at 10..00 at night and on finishing after midnight, even though we seem to have adapted to changed eating hours, second breakfasts and such like. Very sleepy for the rest of the week.

Now here's a turn up for the books. Before the concert we wondered through Cadiz, picking up the tickets and finding somewhere to have some tapas. On our route we passed a sports shop and Mike commented through gritted teeth, as he always does, on the ubiquitous Manchester United shirts prominent display... only to be stopped in full flow at the sight of an enormous Manchester City Banner draped in the middle of the window. Perhaps the future really is blue. Or at least more blue than the past.