#58 Riccitellos - a big thank you!

Carrie was on her way back from Mexico. She arrived by bus in Tucson expecting to fly to Madrid. Continental Airlines lost her booking and she wasn't on the passenger list. Next available flight was in 5 days time :-(

So we called Jimmy Riccitello who lives in Tucson and asked him to look after Carrie for a few days. No Problem! came the reply.

Then Carrie got sick, went to hospital, diagnosed with appendicitis, had to have an operation. Discharged, back to the Riccitello's to wait for next available flight, another week.

So a very big thank you to Traci(21), Jimmy(42), Matthew(4), Madeline(2)

#57 Nit de Jazz

Sally and me and Chelo and Sally's friends, Katrina and Jackie met up at an open air jazz concert. Maite (pic below) served us wine . . . . .























. . . . . . después fuimos al restaurante asturiano La Sidreria, comimos; Patatas al Cabrales, Migas Bacalao y Pimientos de Piquillo. Bebimos sidra y vino blanco. Muy bien.

#56 Our House

*to the sound of Madness

#55 Stronglight

**Non cyclists look away now - boring technical stuff!**

I'm off on an EasyJet flight to Geneva and going to ride back to Spain, visiting lots of mates who happen (by their misfortune) to be on my route. It looks like there will be a few Cols on the way so I have fitted a Stronglight compact 34 x 48 crankset.

34 x 27 gives me . . . (gets out v old Texas Instruments calculator) . . . a 34 inch bottom gear, hurray!

Mind you, I never yet saw a hill I couldn't walk up.

#54 Paradise Island

More triathlon stuff.
I took this picture at the Paradise Island Triathlon in St Croix in 1991. A special prize is on offer (a kilo of Valencian oranges) if you can name all 12 girls.
We have, maybe, 10.

*Someone wrote in and said the last two could be Mike Pigg and Mark Allen . . . . tut tut.

#53 Picasso?

Look at this! I just found, hidden away at the back of a drawer, a 'new' (well, never worn) 1993 Swindon Triathlon T-shirt.

When I designed it I ripped-off Pablo's Three Dancers and made it the Three Triathletes, a swimmer, a runner and a cyclist :-)

I also found two Hawaii Ironman Finisher's shirts - but modesty prevents me from showing them - ha ha.

#52 In an Octopuses Garden by the Sea

Pulpo hanging out to dry at a local restaurant.
(they'd just been for a swim)

#51 Tour de France

I'm planning another ride across France.

This is post #51 and 51 is the lucky number that more winners of the Tour have carried. I'm not entered in the Tour but I will be wearing my yellow jersey. And travelling light with just this handlebar bag.

If you should see me, you could shout out "Allez!"

#50 Fire! Fire!

Every March 19 we have a Fallas Fiesta. This particular fiesta started years ago when local carpenters cleared out their sheds and set fire to the waste. As time went by they became more creative with their bonfires. Now, huge 'Disneyesque' constructions are put up by local clubs. They each have a theme and often make political statements, usually poking fun at local government.

We have eight or so separate Fallas in Denia. They are judged on their artisitic merit and the winner has the honour of being burnt last.

The firemen are on hand, not to put the flames out, but to hose down the buildings that are closest to the conflagration.

I was away in NZ for this year's event, so here are pictures I took earlier :-)

#49 ti-ti-ti-tanium

A couple of years ago we did a mountain bike tour of the Spanish Vias Verdes or Greenways. These Greenways are old railway lines that have been converted to riding and walking tracks. While passing through the Basque Country we stopped in Bilbao to look at the Guggenheim Museum. It's constructed from titanium, just like my mountain bike.

My bike is pretty light, under 10kg - don't know about the museum . . . .

#48 Money, Honey

I was looking under the sofa for some loose change and found these used notes. There were several million thousand Indonesian Rupes (which I couldn't change) so I popped them in an envelope and sent them off to my man Snowy in Bali. I hoped that he could then afford to buy a new pair of socks or a kitchen sponge or maybe even a year's supply of gin. Do you know - the envelope arrived without the dough!

I was then told that I should have wrapped the notes in carbon paper to remain undetected in the post office scanners. Carbon Paper? who has Carbon Paper these days?

Apparently, the boys 'inside' used to get their supplies of class A drugs delivered hidden in the glue of the envelopes they received from loving relatives. I understand this practice was thwarted when the authorities got some very high tec scanners (or maybe nice puppy dogs) to sniff the incoming mail.

Its probably v illegal to reproduce images of money on the internet so could end up in some foreign slammer for showing these bank notes - so when you write - just lick the envelope, OK?

#47 Unique Selling Point?

We saw this sign over a new Indian curry house.
Its Unique Selling Point seems to be that:
The Taste Remains Even After Eating . . . !
Is this good? and btw this sign (in English) is on a restaurant in Spain.

Meanwhile Tom is standing in front of a purple wall.

#46 Gutter Art

. . . . . just did a spring clean on my Mac's HD. Threw away about a gig of out-of-date pictures. But I kept one or two - and this is one of them :-)

#45 The Doors of Perception

Jay and Mascha's front door
(from an occasional series of Other People's Front Doors )

#44

Tom has come down from Barcelona to visit us for a week.
He and Sally are just off for a tour of the Denia orange groves