Dawn

Dawn

Tuesday, January 01, 2013


In keeping with Spanish yuletide gastronomic tradition, over the last week I've been extremely well fed by friends and neighbours – three meals of roast lamb and one of suckling pig. But the amount of water I've had to down after each one leaves me wondering just how much salt is soaked into the meat between field and plate.

My two meals at Amparo's next door – where we sympathised with each other on the absence of Toni – were very informal and great fun. Ages ranged from 2 to, well, mine and much of the success of such an evening is the young kids acting their age and the older folk reverting to adolescence, if not earlier. Which is why every one of us was dancing gangnam style at 12.15. Well, sort of. Some of us were not too hot on the moves after the crossed-hands jig. Here's someone doing it properly. Whose name we may not recall in 6 months' time.

Anyway, I got home last night at 1am, just in time to see the last 5 minutes of the London fireworks. I've seen a lot of shows elsewhere but I've never seen anything as impressively profligate as this effort over the Thames and the City. Incidentally, looking on You Tube for the display, I came up with last year's and this wasn't bad either. There are worse ways to waste 20 minutes, that's for sure. God knows how they synchronise everything. After all, it must be impossible to rehearse.

Reading over last night's post this morning – which I do every day to find the typos missed despite 3 or more readings the night before – I noticed an ad for USA & UK Prophecies. You're not supposed to click on ads on your own page but, intrigued, I decided the full weight of Google wouldn't come down on me for this minor transgression and decided to take a look. Basically, it's some nutter who has the (enviable) ability to write volumes of stuff based on the belief the Bible contains prophecies for the exact time in which we're living. An upmarket Mayan Calender man, I suppose. Anyway, as it's holiday time and you may have some time on your hands, here's the site. And here's an example of what you can expect to read - An exciting, pulsating, vital third of all the bible is devoted to prophecy, and approximately 90% of all prophecy pertains to our time, now, in this latter half of the twentieth century! . . . To those prejudicially cynical toward the bible, I say: it is now your only hope! Science offers no solutions. The politicians and heads of governments have no answers. In the bible alone you will find the advance news of what is now certain to occur—and occur it will before mankind blasts itself out of existence!

Another institution in the forecasting business is The Guardian newspaper and I leave you with their take on the bleak year ahead for Spain. I wish I could say I disagree with them but I can't. Still, we've got the big feast of Los Reyes('The Kings') – or the Epiphany – on 6 January. But I do hope I don't get invited to another huge meal. This morning I weighed more than I have done for ten years. Not a good start to the year.

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