CHEW ON THIS

TWAS a good day - woke up, took a cold shower, immersed 2 de city.

In all of Sala, me only crazy enough for shorts + T-shirt, looks warm but really, no, very cold!

ANTON........the Russian........

Anton is the archetypical Russian: Quiet, menacing, and big. 

What a guy! 

Whenever we go on a tour, as in this picture, Anton breaks away from the group and quietly goes about his business: checking locks, testing hinges, scanning, scoping, being suss. One thing I have always wanted to do is drink vodka with a Russian. Last night I realised this ambition. Anton bailed me up after dinner and said "oi, tussmarniar, you, me, drink voidka..."

We sat opposite each other in the kitchen and smashed two litres of vodka, no mixer, no chaser, just olives and ham. Whole house came to spectate - it was like friday night special - main event - heavyweight bout. 

At some point the aforementioned American girls showed up:

Did a good job of leading us astray, what what.

Went down to my favourite cafe for a coffee, and some Tapas.

The guy here, he looks like Manuel from Fawlty Towers, makes me laugh just looking at him!   "Que?"

You know, if ever you want a friend just walk into a cafe, order some food, watch the soccer on TV and gesticulate wildly. Throw in some "ooooooohs" n what not, and you've got comrades. Every morning I watch the repeats on Manuel's TV (seen above) and on Sundays I watch live, and it's all good - today was a cracker - Real Madrid were having a ball - some very talented players. The paella was pretty good too - there was all sorts of business going on inside that paella: calamari rings, chunks of jamon, chicken, little Almejas (clams), crunchy little shrimps, red pepper, all the goods! There was also some nice Faranito pinchos (Faranito is a regional specialty here - anis spiced sausage)(Pincho means 'on bread') that had fried quail's egg on top. I ate a fair few! Anyway, soccer is the world game, literally. I reckon a giant squid could walk into a bar and make friends just by waving a sucker-studded tentacle at the TV. "GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL"

(squids can't talk)