#239 Two more Movies

Vicky Christina Barcelona - file under Girly.
Film was ok, Penelope Cruz was super.

Slumdog Millionaire - file under Gritty then Bollywood.
Went from sour to sweet. Highly recommended.

From the films I've seen this year, the winner is (see post #223)
. . . . . . . In Bruges . . . . . (clapping). . . . .
and runner-up Pedro Almodóvar's - Hable con Ella. (#208)

#238 Barcelona for Christmas

Bought a Bird in Barça,
50€ in the Market!
To be roasted on Boxing Day,
We'll be having a Banquet :-)















But on Christmas Day we went to restaurant Niu Toc, on Plaça Revolució.

Starting with Amanida amb Formatge (goats cheese salad) then Arrós Negre and Sucos Llamantol. The arrós is a paella, coloured black with squid ink, brim full of mussels, clams and other little bits of black sea food.

Sucos Llamantol is a lobster dish, sloppier than a paella, more of a high class soup. The paella was marginally the better of the two, sorry to say, the photo does not do it justice.

#237 London Calling

We have come to London to visit my mum. On Friday we went out, together with her next door neighbours Ian and Robert, to a gastropub, The Clissold Arms in Muswell Hill.
10/10 for everything and everyone.















Saturday we took the tube from East Finchley and went to see an exhibition of Chinese Modern Art at the Saatchi Gallery which is just off the Kings Road in Chelsea, also 10/10. The striking picture (which is huge) is by Feng Zhengjie.


























Then to Covent Garden to buy stuff. We ended up at the Rouleur Photography Exhibition in Grays Inn Road (next door to Condor Cycles). Only 6/10. In fact their main pic seemed to be out of focus (and not in a good way). I liked this photo - b&w always seems so evocative, don't you agree?















Sunday - not much, it was cold and damp.

Monday by bus and coach to Broadstone to stay with Judy and visit Arthur.
Judy is in the middle of making this mosaic:

#236 Freak Out!

No, it's not a Frank Zappa lp cover. Just that
Carrie's Skype webcam has gone psychedelic.
Peace.

#235 Filming

Some chaps came round filming in our bario. They put some new flowers in our window and asked me to sit on a chair by the front door while they filmed. I had to sit, turn the pages of a book then look at the camera and smile.

Sit - Pretend to read - Turn pages - Look up - Smile . . . phew!
Not easy being a film actor, you know ;-)

#234 Duck!

I'm trying to go Paleo - Duck breast and green beans, or Magret de Canard avec Haricots Verts if you were to be in the subjunctive part of France ;-)

Plus a glass of red wine followed by a square or three of 85% chocolate. I don't think neolithic man had nice re-cycled portugese green glass to serve his wine in, but still.

#233 Jean Paul Gaultier suit for sale

I'm hoping to sell my vintage, circa 1988, Jean Paul Gaultier pour Gibo men's wool suit. A real collectors item but also still very wearable. The shape, the design, even the humour of this suit is in the unmistakable style of the l'enfant terrible of French fashion, Jean Paul Gaultier.

Jacket
Iconic late eighties Gaultier design with big square shoulders.
Very dark blue wool with an interesting lining.
Single breasted jacket cut to be worn open.
Beautifully made (in Italy) and still in excellent condition.

33 inches from collar to bottom, chest about 40 inches.
Two patch pockets at waist, breast pocket and an inside pocket.
Three metallic grey jacket buttons.
Matching cuff buttons which are unbuttonable.
Extra details, lapel buttonhole plus a loop hanger on the back.
Contrasting ornamental art deco style stitching on front and back, lapels and pockets.

Something more to make you smile; the inside lining (rayon?) has been screen printed with a silver and black 'skeleton' motif. The backbone is in the middle and arms at each side, a little Gaultier joke, I suppose.

Trousers
Pleated trousers approx 32 inch waist, 28 inch inside leg.
Could be lengthened by couple of inches.
Button fly. Hidden belt tunnel.
Italian style side pockets. One rear pocket.

I bought this suit at Jones in Floral Street, Covent Garden, London in 1988. I've worn about half a dozen times. Recently dry cleaned.

A Gaultier suit from the same era can be seen in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Mine is much nicer!

#232 Boatwreck

This motor boat must have been sailing along when all of a sudden it decided to jump up onto the rocks . . . . .
If you're American you might say "go figure".

#231 Fixie

Can't find my camera's battery charger - you haven't seen it have you?
In the mean time you can click on http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2008/oct/3/TomLillie.htm to be getting on with - enjoy!

My Hawaii Ironman bike in 1987














and 21 years later - Tom's Barcelona Beater.
Only the frame & front wheel remain.

#230 Roxy Doc.

This made me grin. I watched a tv documentary about Roxy Music.

Do it on the tables,
Quaglino's place - or Mabel's,
Do The Strand!

ha ha

#229 Efil and Hazel

We went to Efil & Hazel's wedding. We ate a lot. We drank a lot. We sat with two Poles, a Croatian, French and Swiss. It was very jolly.

Next day I found somebody had brought a lot of spare wedding cake home . . . . . .

#228 More New Books

The Paleo Diet for Athletes
A Riot Of Our Own: Night and Day with the Clash
Arsene Wenger by Xavier Rivoire
We All Live in a Perry Groves World

#227 Requena - Las Chorreras - Valencia

Friday we buzzed up to the XVIII Feria Requenense Del Vino which is a big wine fair in Requena to taste a few reds, buy some bottles ( I bought Sucesión Reserva 2004), dine out in the street, watch a load of loonies in blood red costumes hurl fireworks all over the road and then back to our friends José Luis y Beatriz's house for what remained of the night.

Saturday morning José Luis took us up to a load of waterfalls called Las Chorreras (near Enguidanos, provincia de Cuenca). I slept off last night's vino in the back of his car and the rest got wet.

Sat. pm. down to Valencia to have a glass with our mate Chus who was guiding and riding a group of mountain bikers on the Ruta del Cid - Valencia was their final stage. (I rode the same Ruta with Chus a few years ago).

Picked up Carrie from the railway station, then back home.

#226 Amsterdam

Jay & Mascha have left London for a barge moored on one of Amsterdam's canals. It looks pretty nice. We had a grand tour inside the boat via Jay's webcam and Skype. Here is a picture of their digs and a 'screen-grab' from our video chat - technical, that's us!

#225 Granada

We went to Cozvijar near Granada to visit Pat & Timothy (and two of their friends) who have rented a house for a couple of weeks holiday. Nice house with a pool, not much to do in Cozvijar but Granada has a mega Carrefour supermarket where you can buy mini striped tomatoes and motor scooters.






































Here is a link to Casa Lucia

#224 Ibrahim Ferrer

Some time ago we went to watch Ibrahim Ferrer (he of the Buena Vista Social Club) playing at the Palau Musica in Barcelona shortly before he died.

Last night, in Denia, we saw a concert "Homage to Ibrahim Ferrer" . Very good, very Cubano - Ibrahim's son and daughter were in the group so it was the real deal.

¡Azucar!

#223 2 Films

The Triplets of Belleville is a full length cartoon, telling the story of how a mother trains her son to ride the Tour de France. However, during the race he is kidnapped and taken to New York to be a slave cyclist in a gambling den. The mother follows him across the Atlantic and with the help of three showbiz sisters . . . . . . . . . It's quite good.

In Bruges is the story of two killers sent to Belgium to cool-off after a botched job. They hole-up in Bruges and meet a lot of bizarre people, most of whom come to a bloody end. It's v good.

#222 We're right in the Gîte

We have moved to Castelnau Montratier in the Lot and are staying in a tiny gite deep in the woods at the end of this little lane. It's very peaceful :-)

#221 Reunion Round-up

Although it's only a regional paper, the Ouest France prints more copies then the French national dailies, like Le Monde or L'Equipe. They devoted a page to reporting the bike race and our reunion (see #216). Titling the report "Same Place, Same Hour - 45 Years Later".

#220 En France

We are back in France after 10 days in England.
































Bought some very nice wine; a strong red Gigondas and a cool clean white Pouilly-Fumé but were asked, not to excrete it here, but to use the public WC. d'accord!















This post is #220 (sounds familiar. . . . . . . )

#219 Ing-Er-Lan

We left France for England having found flights with Ryanair, Nantes - Bournemouth and back for free (but 50€ taxes).

Had a drive around Poole Harbour and then crossed to Studland Beach by chain ferry.

In England there are notices telling you what to may or mayn't do, even when and where to take your clothes off. Fortunately, due to the inclement weather, we avoided having to gaze at unclothed people - can you imagine the shrinkage? . . . . . . . brrrr.

Later, sampled the local speciality, Dorset Cream Tea (tea, scones, strawberry jam and clotted cream).