#140 Eight Chairs - all done

Finally finished being a re-upholstery man.
Chair number 8 is done. Phew.

#139 Carrie's Door

From a series of Other People's Front Doors - Carrie's door in Barcelona.

#138 Four Squares - numbers 1 & 2

These are the first two bunch of images that are grouped together in fours.

#137 Tom in Barcelona

[Disclaimer - Nothing to do with me]















Night Time Diving
Tom (in white T-shirt) and some of his work mates before jumping into a swimming pool - the same pool that was the venue for the Barcelona Olympic diving events - apparently it was a bit cold!

#136 Gerry Mulligan

Four of us went to El Vergel to hear some Jazz,
a quartet playing Gerry Mulligan scores.













From left to right:
Francisco Blanco - Valencia - Baritone saxophone
Jordí Vilá - Cataluña - Bass
Jeff Jerolamon - New York - Drums
Paul Evans - London - Trumpet

Little girl - El Vergel - Being naughty
Other girl - El Vergel - Glasses
Régine Dagoret de Boisgisson - France - Our neighbour
Chelo Perez Fernandez - Dénia - Conversation partner
Sally Lillie - Sleaford (Lincs) - Everything

#135 Judy's Door

From a series of Other People's Doors.
Sally's sister, Judy, made the stained glass windows for this interior door in her house.

#134 To London

We went to London for a few days. Here we are in Covent Garden; Me, Sally and my Mum. When I was a little boy my mother seemed bigger than me . . . . she must be shrinking.


















Next day, Sally, Jay and I walked along by the river and came upon a sculpture by a friend of ours, Karen Richmond. You can stand/lie on it and reflect on the travails of modern life, if you want.

Then we had a tour of Tate Modern. The entrance hall is fitted with some twirly slides (I didn't go on - might have been a bit too much fun).













Across the wobbly footbridge you can see St Paul's Cathedral and, back inside, one of my favourite pictures, Picasso's Three Dancers. I once made a T shirt for a triathlon using this picture as the logo. It's also on my Purple Square series - check the Flickr link on the right.










I pressed the fire control . . .
and ahead of me rockets blazed through the sky.

















. . . . . and then we looked at a nice Asian lady in Tooting and her shop full of shoes.

#133 Crevé neuf

#132 Rice Ride

We went for a mountain bike ride around the rice fields in the Parc Natural de la Marjal de Pego-Oliva.

You don't immediately think of Spain as being a rice growing country, but our region of Valencia has plenty of rice - that's why they make so much paella!

#131 Soy Cuba

We went to see Soy Cuba.
It's a Russian film, made in Cuba, in 1964.

It's a bit triste but the cinematography is terrific. One long tracking shot starts with a party and a roof top 'beauty parade', then goes down the outside of the building, passes through sunbathers sipping cocktails and finishes underwater in the swimming pool.

In the story the Castro revolution is just beginning and in one scene a sympathiser's home is bombed. You don't actually see the plane, I imagine they didn't have enough in the budget, but it sounded real enough!

The film is rather long at 2:20 - but, if you like, you can find just the party sequence on YouTube.

#130 I want to live like common people

She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge,
She studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College - that's where I caught her eye.
She told me that her Dad was loaded,
I said in that case I'll have a rum and coca-cola,
She said fine (and in thirty seconds time) she said,
"I want to live like common people,
I want to do whatever common people do,
I want to sleep with common people
I want to sleep with common people like you".
Well what else could I do - I said "I'll see what I can do".
















Words by Pulp. Miss Olympia by Claude Monet.

#129 Mirrorman

I'm sorry to have to admit, but we have half of Australia's Great Barrier Reef decorating one of our mirrors.

Like the pony skin chairs, the tigron and kimono-dragon fur shooting jacket and the ivory chopsticks that we might have in our house, we didn't know they were verboten.

Sorry - we're going to put them all back ;-)

#128 Call that Art?

Crevé wheat

#126 Chairs, Chairs and More Chairs.

I'm just starting to recover our Josef Hoffmann dinning chairs. We tracked down some Hoffmann designed material (couldn't get the original design), bought foam rubber, felt, glue, staples, tape and got to work.

On the left is the first one recovered - only seven more to do!

















I'm a bit worried about the condition of our two Le Corbusier Dossier Basculant easy chairs (they were designed in 1928 but ours are a bit newer). I think they are covered in pony skin, which is, apparently, not permitted these days - are ponies an endangered species?

MANYA: (Angry) When I was a little girl in Poland, we all had ponies. My sister had pony, my cousin had pony . . . . . So, what's wrong with that?
JERRY: Nothing. Nothing at all. I was just merely expressing. . . . . .















Our Charles Rennie Mackintosh Hill House chair seems to be all right - that's 'cos no one ever sits on it :-)


















. . . . and finally, some bird - said her name was Venus - came round and said Diego Velázquez sent her, and could she lie on our Hoffmann sofa for a bit and look in the mirror.

#125 Luncheon

We went to lunch with Sally's Dad and Sister to our mate Phil and Hazel's restaurant called Al Gusto. Their lunchtime Menu del Dia is excellent - and just under 10 euros (six english quids, a dozen us dollars).

Pictured here, Phil with his microwave
(which he doesn't use, at all . . . . . )

#124 Riding on the Ramblas

Riding on the Ramblas
Biking in Barcelona
Cycling in Catalunya
. . . more Artful Alliterations?

#123 Crevé, set, go!

In this issue of Crevé 7.

All Change! Mind the gap - extra care when changing wheels.
Clinchers? Its a cinch - we used to call them "high pressures"
Compression Punctures - How to spot that double devil.
Alternative Tyre Levers - *Fork handles - No! don't upset Mother.

*Fork Handles or Four Candles - say it out loud
(if there's no one else in the room)

#122 Arthur

This is a mate of mine, Arturo.
He doesn't always walk round with a stick.

#121 trains & boats & planes

No planes to Dénia, but we do have a narrow gauge trainet that comes all the way from Alicante. The ferry terminal receives boats from the Balearic Islands; Ibiza, Majorca and Formentera. And arriving by car? take the AP7 and exit at junction 62.

#120 Want your car fixed?

Spain still has a lot of small family-run businesses where they prefer to repair broken bits and not fit factory-fresh, boxed replacements. They know their customers by name, they usually do a good job and you won't get ripped off. . . . . . . (ojalá).















Our local garage of choice is run by the Gimen's family; dad, various brothers and sister.

'Sis' doesn't wield a ratchet, as far as I know, but attends to the profit and loss accounts.

So if that clunking noise is really getting on your nerves,
pop round and Gimens'll fix it!

#119 more schoolboy humour

This chinese restaurant is called WanKe Long,
its obviously . . . self-service!

#118 Crevé seas

In this month's Crevé Liz Hurley says "No Thanks" to a spare tyre and we ask why slow punctures should take so bloomin' long!

We also look at anti-puncture claims made by leading manufacturers and ask them why some of their inner tubes seem to come apart at the seams?

#117 Fish for Tea

Our fishing industry has just started after an enforced month long break - for biological reasons!

At about 5 o'clock the fishing boats come in, unload their catch, which they have sorted into trays while still at sea. The trays go on a conveyor belt and the buyers have a dutch auction (they wait as the price goes down).

Here are some 'unsworded' swordfish. You can just about read that they have come off the boat called L'Andrago, the fish is/are identified as Emperador and have been sold to a Benidorm fish merchant.

You can buy the just-landed fish from one of a dozen or so fish mongers next to the auction house. Then the fishermen have a fag, mend their nets, and do it all again the next day.

#116 Norwegian Blue?

Our next door neighbour, Pepe (seen here with his dear old mum), is worried about his little caged bird. It's not doing much. He thinks it's pining for the fjords.

We think it's a deceased bird. In fact, this bird is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff!

Poor old Pepe, he'll have to have pizza again, tonight.

#115 Crevé sank

In Crevé 5 this month:
More Ups than Downs - as luck would have it
top triathletes talk about changing tubes

Pumps - and we don't mean dance shoes
not even those nice shiny patent leather ones

Low Pressure - the soft option?
OK for beach cruisers

Readers Forum - air your views

#114 Addict Clothing

In the UK end of October? Anywhere near Southampton?
If so, you could go to the Addict Clothing Sample and Warehouse sale. You'll need an invite and preferably not be in my age bracket, although I've happily toted one of their dj record case bags around the world (filled with old clothes and not 12 inch vinyl) without being too embarrassed. In fact, you can see the very same bag back in February's posts, item #3.

And I've got a pair of Vans with their logo print (viewable post #71). Oh yes, and a khaki coloured Addict cap I wear when bike riding. However, I think I'm probably a bit too old to wear their trademark camouflage hoodie.

Late News:
Dave at Addict says not to make too much noise if you come - as he's recovering from a hard night - poor chap.

#113 Jay on the cover

Our oldest boy made the front cover of the Sunday Times Magazine.
(October 6th 1968 edition). As you see, he wasn't that old.

Back then you could still buy things with shillings :-)

#112 We've got a Sub Woofer, Baby!

Our new sub woofer loudspeaker enables us to hear those low, low bass notes that previously only the local whales could pick up. We've got Hz so low, you can't even hear them! With this much bass you'd think you were at the Notting Hill Carnival.

Now - where's that Yellowman vinyl LP; going to get plenty of respect from the yardie boys in St Paul's - Yes.

#111 konichiwa koto!

More Kulture. Thursday night we went to a Japanese music concert, Yoshie Sakai played a Koto and Horacio Curti (above right) a Shakuhachi (when he wan't having 40 winks).

A koto (pictured below) is a 13 string sort of zither and a shakuhachi is a bamboo flute. An hour was enough . . . . . . .

#110 we all live in a spanish submarine

My friend Eduardo Pla has just published a book.
Its a photographic guide to whats underwater between where we live (the Marina Alta) and the island of Ibiza. Now we have to be extra careful when we go paddling in the sea.

#109 sea swimming

Its October 2 and not cold at all, at all.























George: "The sea was angry that day, my friends.
Like an old man trying to return soup in a deli."

#108 New pics for old posts

I got some more Bali pics in the post so I've added them to the relevant reports #10 and #11 (March). Here is one with nobody in it, just a load of paddys :-)

Q. How do you confuse an Irish gardener?
A. Offer him two spades and let him take his pick . . . . . . . .

ha ha