Spain

This post is specially for one of my favorite readers, a lady who was telling me this morning she had a cricket running around her apartment. I won't mention her name coz she complains that I have no tact, but she knows who she is, don't you Jillian?

These wonderful creepy crawlies, the Egyptian Grasshopper (Anacridium aegyptium) hang out everywhere here in our part of Spain and make a heck of a mess on the windscreen when they fly across the highway. My other half hates them, she won't move past them and goes into panic lockdown mode whenever one is within a few meters of her.

She claims they're out to get her, like they deliberately fly directly at her, and I can't convince her otherwise. Poor we grasshoppers. Anyway they're quite distinctive don't you think? Lovely striped eyes and a ridge down through the shoulder blades. I don't have a more detailed picture to show the eyes but I'll keep a look out for one in the next few days. Hope you like it Jillian, oh, and thanks for using one of our themes. Check out Jillian Approved

I drink a lot of coffee, it shocks people to hear this but I'm capable of drinking upto, well, do I really want to admit how many, er, about 20-30 cups per day.

I'm sure you'll agree its not the healthiest diet but look at the word, take of the 't' at the end and you get die so I figure its going to happen anyway and I may as well enjoy life before it happens, don't you agree?

Anyway, with a diet like mine I drink a lot of instant, it takes less time to make than a proper coffee, which I still enjoy, but at this volume it makes no difference, heck my tastebuds probably couldn't tell the difference anymore anyway. Ooh, a double 'any', my writing style is slipping. Read More

Last night around 11pm the usual Sunday night calm we've become accustomed to was absolutely shattered by the din from dozens of car horns, people yelling and shouting in the streets, and a lone foghorn blasting away.

Not knowing what was going on and suspecting the apocalypse we sneaked a peek outside the front door and not seeing any reason not to go further we gingerly stepped out a bit further.

Silly us, if only the TV was on the right channel we would have known the reason, but no, we were watching the continuing saga that is Spanish Idol, completely oblivious to the football on the other channel.

If we were a little more observant we would have known that Real Madrid had just clinched the Spanish Championship League Cup beating Osasuna 2-1 with a man down due to penalties.

So now we know how the Spanish celebrate a football win. I am certain several of the locals wouldn't have made it to work this morning, at least not if the noise was any indication of the amount of alcohol (cerveza) consumed.

BTW, the locals whether drunk or sober don't pronounce Madrid they way we would in English. They say something that sounds like 'Maahdrih', the final syllable is short with a rolled 'r', and the final 'd' is almost silent. I have no idea if this is just the local Ronda dialect but its fascinating nevertheless.

The Serrania de Ronda is one of the prettiest parts of Spain, filled with Pueblos Blancos, Natural Parques, and any number of endemic species, some of them only found within a very small area of the Serrania. But this weird looking scooter is the rarest. It is in fact the first one of its kind I've ever seen anywhere on my travels around the world.

I'm sure we've all seen bicycles with small 2-stroke engines attached, and of course we all know what a motorbike is supposed to look like, heck even scooters have a definite shape, but this thing is a cross between all three. It's the shape of a small motorbike, has the ease of use that comes in a scooter, and the pedals of a bicycle.

With the number of cyclists in Spain, many of whom could easily ride between the major cities in a single day, I guess I should have expected to see something like this, but let me tell you how we came across this little beast. Read More