Prowling my world, camera in hand

17 August 2016

Week 33: around Alicante with film and digital, Assumpta’s birthday

Filed under: — Administrator @ 10:46

Another summer week with work, but also a lot of walking around the city, cycling, enjoying the landscape, and ending with a nice birthday party. On a photographic note, there are nine film pictures in this week’s blog, six 35mm and three medium format.

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Of course, I continued to walk Cheeta every morning. Recently, our small park has become popular with gypsies and other wandering people, like this guy with his guitar whom I have seen several times recently, always early in the morning. But the numbers are small, so it does not bother us who live in the neighbourhood:
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Morning light:
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Video game in the park; Cheeta did not think much of it:
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At my wife’s command, I have recently taken up golf, and have now progressed to the point where I can actually play 9 holes without making a complete fool of myself. Of course I have a camera with me also when I am out on the golf course. There is a variety of fauna:
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And of course there are the cats. This one made me sad, as he resembles my beloved Taco who died earlier this year:
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These are the ones I feed. It was nice to see them in their usual habitat:
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Sunday night dinner. I have recently become a big fan of buying an entire fresh fish, hake in this case, and putting it on the BBQ:
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The next several pictures are from the centre of Alicante and from the Mercado Central, a mix of digital and film images. The film images were made on the very last roll of Fuji Neopan 1600 in my friedge, several years out of date, with all the attendant grain this implies.

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Fountain in the middle of Plaza de Correos:
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Urban renewal, at least in the planning stages:
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Man with cigar, outside tobacco shop on Plaza de Correos:
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Yellow and blue:
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Garage door near Mercado Central:
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Conversation, Avenida de la Estación:
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Early afternoon at the Mercado Central; business is winding down:
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The first of six Fuji Neopan 1600 images; this is the second time I have photographed these well-dressed fishmongers:
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A butcher:
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Happy Hens egg vendor:
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Taking a break from shopping:
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Lottery vendor near the rear exit of the Mercado. It is unusual to see a young woman in that role. Normally, lottery tickets are sold by older people:
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The wall of the Mercado Central and a plaque commemorating the Fascist bombing of this square on 25 May 1938, which killed more than 300 people. For many years, the local government resisted popular pressure to put up a more substantial memorial. This reluctance was one of the many expressions of the “pacto de olvido”, literally “agreement to forget” that ensued in Spain following Franco’s death and the establishment of the democratic state in the 1970s:
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Finally, in 2013, this larger memorial was unveiled on the square behind the Mercado:
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Police patrol on bicycles in the centre:
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After-work bicycle ride. For once, the sky was not blue, which I enjoyed. Despite these clouds, it stayed dry:
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And the clouds made the sunset over Busot much more dramatic than on a normal day:
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The first of three medium format film pictures from my cycling route (not taken while cycling, of course). These were made with a Fuji GW690 rangefinder (6×9 cm) on Fuji Provia 100 film. This is the coastal plain north of Alicante:
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This is the road on which I cycle almost every day, near Busot:
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A ruin in the fields near Busot, illuminated by the setting sun:
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This is a place I pass every day going to and from work. I live north of Alicante centre; my office is about 11 km to the south. The neighbourhoods south of the centre, including San Gabriel, are decidedly of the low-rent variety, and their neighbourhood beach is across a set of railroad tracks and with a not very attractive view of ALicante harbour:
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On Saturday morning I cycled up to the Puerto de la Carrasqueta. The weather was ideal, and there were lots of people on two wheels of various kinds:
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The rest of the pictures are from our friend Assumpta’s birthday party on Saturday night.

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My wife makes great cheese cake, and as often happens, this was our contribution to the party:
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The party is starting, and various goodies are being set out:
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The party began around 10 pm and ended at 4 am (at least that is when we left). It was nice and relaxed, with good food, good wine and good conversation:
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There were guests of all ages:
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Assumpta’s little dog Chloe was also around:
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Around midnight, the big surprise for Assumpta arrived. Her husband Elio had arranged for a trio to come and play for her. So all of a sudden, a violinist appeared in the doorway:
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Then, Assumpta was presented with her birthday cake:
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And then she could sit down and enjoy the performance that was put on especially for her:
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Assumpta was visibly moved:
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Apparently, Chloe was not equally impressed:
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1 Comment »

  1. Wonderful batch of “slices of life”! I particularly liked 30-13- “Conversation” with leashes! And a birthday celebration with live music is very special.

    Comment by Les Myers — 4 July 2022 @ 22:05

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