The Rain in Spain

Heading off to Spain tomorrow, taking a weeks summer holiday with my neighbour Leon. We are heading first to Barcelona, then to Figueres, then to San Sebastian then finally to Madrid (where I’m looking forward to catching up with Sacha).

It has been 7 years since I was in Figueres, with my last visit there being a very memorable one. Scott and I were on a tour through Spain and France and decided we should check out the Salvadore Dali museum, as we are both fans. While there, I of course needed to use the Internet, so we headed into the library. There we found just one computer, and a young Catalan women hogging the access. After a period of time she realised we were waiting, turned, and I guess because of Scotts red hair, asked “Are you English?”. With reflex we responded, “No, we are Australian”, proud that this made us just that little bit more exotic. She replied “Well, since you speak English you can help me with this translation?”, so we did. I learnt a lot about boats while massaging the words into perfectly formed, almost artistic sentences. When complete we were invited out for some drinks with her friends, starting at midnight.

We spent the rest of the day chilling out, before about 11:00pm putting on our party frocks, already we were marveling at the Spanish culture for late nights. We did ask the women for her name, but neither of us could say it, we never imagined letters could be put together in that order. Anyway, upon arrival we were greeted by some cold beers and a collection of other Catalans. We spent the first minutes learning how to pronounce Meritxell, her name, finally getting to a point which all present deemed acceptable. We chatted and drank for an hour or so before Meritxell asked if we were ready to go out. Looking at our watches we could see it was approaching 1:30am, leaving us wondering what we had been, if not out, for the last hour and a half. 

At this point Scotty, who was on the end of 3 months or more of traveling bailed, leaving me alone with the Catalans for a night of clubbing. We drove out to what seemed like a strip of clubs in the middle of nowhere, and proceed to crawl down it. Meritxell seemed to know everyone, and therefore supplied copious amounts of free drink. The last I remember is dancing in this huge bar, and watching Meritxell jump into the swimming pool. Yes, there was a pool in the club.

Anyway, its Meritxells 30th birthday, and this is just one of the great memories I have of her friendship. Its going to be fun to return to the town where we met 7 years ago, and its really amazing that we have kept touch over the years like we have.

During the time I have known her I’ve lived in Melbourne, London and now Amsterdam and she has lived in Barcelona, Paris and London. The great bit was that we had over a year of overlap in London, with a particularly memorable summer of 2005, (which I think was the first her and Thomas lived there).

Well, anyway, Meritxell, cant wait to celebrate your birthday, and thanks for dragging me off the couch as often as you have! <grin>

Sailing Weekend

Went sailing this weekend with Wout, Joost and Cees (Wouts Sailing father and beautiful boat owner).

The weather turned out to be a rare sunny oasis in a desert of clouds and rain. I have actually been reminded of what it is like to get sunburn!

Here is a picture of me at the helm, with Wout ensuring I don’t run us aground.

Vegas

Just got back from Las Vegas, had a fantastic trip, with of course the best news being that Simon and Jessica are now married. They are currently kicking back on their honeymoon.  

CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!

And they weren’t the only ones with Martyn making his feelings clear, obviously overwhelmed by the moment and the chapel!

I also had the chance to catchup with a bunch of people from the UK (Mark, Alison, Mark, Martyn, Richard, Sarah, Graham, Caroline) and an old Kiwi friend Jen (no Graham, not Gin, thats just how Kiwi’s say it!). Also present was Kerry, who amazingly I had not met before. Anyway, we formed the coolest gang in the Flamingo hotel, spending nights at the Poker table, throwing shapes in the clubs and just generally bantering away.

Overall I came back down $55.00 for the week, not bad, though if it wasn’t for one very very unlucky hand I would have been laughing. How unlucky do you have to be to lose (Blackjack) from a quadruple split, a double double up, with the dealer sitting on 14? Dealer manages to get 21 with 5 cards. INSANE!!!!

But really, I’m over it now because….Something I didn’t lose money on was a flight to the Grand Canyon. This is actually the second time I have been there, but only the f irst time I have seen it. You might ask how that is possible given its is the biggest hole in the ground in the world, well, its a long story, but lets just say that I was incredibly surprised to learn that it sometimes snows at the grand canyon, and with it comes Fog!?!?

It went from this…..

To this!

Helicopter ride was great fun, Champagne in the canyon brilliant, and getting to see it unforgettable. Next time I want to take the canoe.

Folks, thanks for making it such a great trip, see you soon!

London next week

I will be heading to London on Saturday, have a flight that gets me into Heathrow at 11:35am. Lots of people to catch up with, thinking I’m just going to park myself in my beloved Notting Hill for the afternoon with the hope that I can catch up with as many people as possible. Suspect the plan will be the same on Sunday, I know, very predictable.

I’m flying out to Las Vegas on Tuesday morning. If you are around, would love to have you buy a poor unemployed beer lover a drink. Give me a call, mail me, or IM me.