A week with a lot of activities and so a lot of photography. I went back to the city centre to see the last couple of days of the weeklong Hogueras de San Juan celebrations. While last week I focused mainly on the big installations, on this visit my emphasis was on the people and their celebrations. During the week I also attended a wine tasting at the office, my department held its pre-summer holiday lunch, and finally I attended an outdoor concert of New Orleans jazz. And of course there were the usual activities of cycling and walking the dog.
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On Sunday afternoon I went to the centre. As I said, my focus would be on the people, but there was an interesting hoguera that I had not photographed:
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The theme of this hoguera was dishonesty among politicians, Spanish or otherwise:
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I spent a couple of hours walking around the centre. Many streets were closed to allow for outdoor party spaces called barracas. Many barracas have a fanciful entrance with some theme. In this case, fishery:
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Another barraca entrance:
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This one has a musical theme:
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It was hot:
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In Spanish, “no tener pelos en la lengua” refers to someone who speaks plainly and does not mince words:
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Yet another barraca entrance. Some barracas are only for the members of the relevant neighbourhood association, while others are open to everyone:
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Live music is often part of the fiesta:
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Musicians need a break and perhaps some hydration:
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The party goes on in the barraca:
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There was also partying outside the barracas:
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Security, but really nothing to do:
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Barracas are not the only place where people are eating and drinking. The terraces are full too:
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A somewhat posher place, advertising that their paella and wine are all local:
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I popped in for a beer at my favourite watering hole, Malatesta:
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A rest:
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No smoking inside:
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Some parades were apparently still going on:
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A balcony on Plaza Luceros:
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Heavy load. Again, I have no idea what it was about:
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Window shopping:
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This business took the sensible decision and closed for the period of the hogueras:
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Along one of the main boulevards, chairs were set out for some parade the next day. In the meantime, they served as a useful rest area, especially for older people suffering in the heat:
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All the beer being consumed has an inevitable consequence, which fortunately is provided for:
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A few cycling photos, starting with Aigues. It is a small village with a few artsy residents. The people in this house always have something interesting in front of the house:
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Flower pot:
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I cycled to Villajoyosa one day, stopping at one of my favourite places, Playa Bol Nou. It was early to beat the heat, so not many people on the beach yet:
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Cat on the rocks:
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Agost, another inland small town. Pride flag on the town hall façade:
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On Thursday, I had my periodic lunch with my friend Eri, this time at a Lebanese restaurant in the centre, called Mish Mish:
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Our appetisers were delicious (as were the main dishes). Hummus with beets:
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Babaganoush:
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That evening, we had our monthly wine tasting at the office, presented by two sisters who together run a bodega and also distribute wines made by others. It was a different ambiance from the usual serious slide show presentation with serious analysis of the wines. This was more informal and fun. Here is one of the sisters with a bottle of vermuth that they produce using local grapes:
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Lots of talking and laughing:
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I then turned my attention to some of my co-workers. My Italian colleague Paola talking to some people. She has only been here about 3 years but seems to know many people around the office already:
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MarÃa del Mar, a colleague from my previous department:
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Charo (actually, MarÃa Rosario is her real name) used to work here but is now with the Ministry of Culture in Madrid. However, she still retains a connection to our office:
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On Friday we held our monthly department meeting. I had decided that the “meeting” would take the form of a long lunch at a seaside restaurant to mark the beginning of the lazy summer period. Some people were already on vacation, but 17 of us were there:
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My department was created last year as a merger of two units, so I now have a greater variety of people and backgrounds. Here are some of them, the fellow Polish economist Michał, my Italian assistant Silvia, Kostas from Greece, Belén and Juan (both Spanish):
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Belén and Rodrigo. Belén has been on maternity and parental leave since before I took over in July 2024, but she does come to our social events (and will be back at work in September):
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Juan and Camelia. We have 3 Juans in our department, so we usually distinguish them by using the first letter of their surname. So this is Juan F, and he made an important contribution to our event. He had proposed an elaborate role playing game. A murder has been committed at the office. Each of us has received a sheet describing each person’s background and relationship with the victim and the colleagues. Only Juan F knew who the murderer was. Our job was to ask each other questions, and the winner would be the person who first identified the murderer. It sounds convoluted but was great fun:
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Silvia thinks she has the solution and whispers it to Juan F, carefully covering her face to prevent lip reading. Alas, her solution was not correct:
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On Friday night I went to an outdoors jazz concert just 3 km from my house, in the suburb of San Juan de Alicante. My colleague Carolina who has appeared in my photos over the year has a partner, Carlos Childe, who is a professional jazz musician. He and his band play traditional New Orleans jazz, and he has gone to New Orleans on several occasions to interview the great musicians there and to perform with them. Now one such musician, Will Smith, is touring Spain with Carlos and his band, and on Friday night they played in front of the cultural centre in San Juan. Here is the band in action. Carlos is the guy on banjo with the big curly hair:
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The view of the crowd, many of whom were senior citizens from a nearby nursing home, but there were also a lot of younger people in attendance:
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Carolina has many friends at the office, and several of them had come out for the concert, including Stephanie and her husband who live quite far away:
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Quite a few couples danced to the music:
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T-shirt with a statement:
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I finish with a few photos from the beach and from my walks with Mochi. A phone tableau near 100 Montaditos:
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Pigeons are rats with wings:
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There is a street a couple of hundred meters from my house where 4-5 cats live. When Mochi and I walk by, they assume a safe high position and watch us warily:
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Finally, my mother’s Magic Cactus now gives us flowers on an almost weekly basis. It clearly likes the hot weather:
There is a full gallery from the Will Smith/Carlos Childe concert here.