{"id":3763,"date":"2022-10-28T19:03:29","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T18:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=3763"},"modified":"2022-10-28T20:42:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T19:42:30","slug":"week-39-events-at-the-office-mostly","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=3763","title":{"rendered":"Week 39: events at the office, mostly"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the last week of September we hosted a couple of big events in the office, so most of my photos are related to those events–both working-type images and images from after-work activities.<\/p>\n

39_1<\/strong>
\nBut it was not all work. Of course I was out cycling during the weekend at the beginning of the week. And outside the tobacco shop in Agost this cute dog was waiting for his human:
\n\"1020746\"<\/p>\n

39_2<\/strong>
\nOn the way home from Agost, passing the town of San Vicente, I happened on a fiesta–this is the season for the fiestas patronales<\/em> in many towns around here. I hung around for a few minutes, taking pictures of the children having fun:
\n\"1020756\"<\/p>\n

39_3<\/strong>
\n\"1020750\"<\/p>\n

39_4<\/strong>
\n\"1020749\"<\/p>\n

39_5<\/strong>
\nOn Sunday afternoon, I stopped by Playa San Juan to take in the autumn ambience on the beach:
\n\"DSF1753\"<\/p>\n

39_6<\/strong>
\n\"DSF1750\"<\/p>\n

39_7<\/strong>
\nMy Monday morning bike ride provided some nice views of the city from the hills near Aig\u00c3\u00bces:
\n\"1020760\"<\/p>\n

39_8<\/strong>
\nAt the office, we had the final prep meeting for the event we were hosting later in the week (the plenary meeting of our public and private stakeholders), including a test of the equipment in the big meeting room:
\n\"DSF1760\"<\/p>\n

39_9<\/strong>
\nStephanie, looking serious and concentrated:
\n\"DSF1763\"<\/p>\n

39_10<\/strong>
\nTuesday morning, sunrise on our beach:
\n\"1020762\"<\/p>\n

39_11<\/strong>
\nLater in the morning, Eri came to see me about some planned publications. It should be clear from this image that I do not subscribe to the idea of a “clean desk”:
\n\"DSF1766\"<\/p>\n

39_12<\/strong>
\nThe first event of the week was a conference on IP enforcement, in our new auditorium. Blanca (on the left) is moderating a panel with representatives of Eurojust, OLAF (the EU’s anti-fraud office) and Europol:
\n\"DSF1791\"<\/p>\n

39_13<\/strong>
\nBlanca speaks to the Eurojust representative:
\n\"DSF1772\"<\/p>\n

39_14<\/strong>
\nMeanwhile, Kasia manages the technology:
\n\"DSF1776\"<\/p>\n

39_15<\/strong>
\nTuesday evening we had the monthly wine tasting at the office. I took this informal portrait at the representative of the bodega<\/em> whose wares we were tasting:
\n\"DSF1794\"<\/p>\n

39_16<\/strong>
\nWednesday we started our plenary meeting. Lunch was a so-called “cocktail lunch” or “networking lunch”, meaning that you had to eat in the uncomfortable manner of standing and chatting with people while trying to avoid making a mess of yourself:
\n\"R007471\"<\/p>\n

39_17<\/strong>
\nMeanwhile, Eri was working alone in the large meeting room:
\n\"R007483\"<\/p>\n

39_18<\/strong>
\nThe plenary is a two-day meeting; it is the one event each year which brings together all our stakeholders, both public and private. In the evening, we had dinner at a restaurant not too far from my house. It is one of the few places in Alicante that can accommodate 100+ people. We started with drinks and tapas outdoors:
\n\"DSF1797\"<\/p>\n

39_19<\/strong>
\nAlso part of the pre-dinner activities was a short flamenco show. When we were planning the meeting, I was a bit sceptical about this bit (it was the idea of my colleague Stephanie), but it turned out wonderful and everyone loved it. The performer is a local flamenco instructor:
\n\"DSF1801\"<\/p>\n

39_20<\/strong>
\n\"DSF1798\"<\/p>\n

39_21<\/strong>
\n\"DSF1802\"<\/p>\n

39_22<\/strong>
\n\"DSF1803\"<\/p>\n

39_23<\/strong>
\nThen we went inside for dinner, and afterwards I got this portrait of Eri and a lady from Cyprus whose name I did not catch:
\n\"DSF1822\"<\/p>\n

39_24<\/strong>
\nOn Thursday we continued the meeting; during the mid-morning coffee break, I snapped an image of my boss Paul (centre) speaking with Blanca and George, a senior customs official from Malta:
\n\"R007486\"<\/p>\n

39_25<\/strong>
\nAfter the meeting ended and the guests had left, we had an informal get-together in the kitchen to say goodbye to a couple of colleagues who were moving on to other departments. Blanca is giving a brief speech to one of those departing people, Patricia:
\n\"DSF1838\"<\/p>\n

39_26<\/strong>
\nPatricia receives her parting gifts:
\n\"DSF1839\"<\/p>\n

39_27<\/strong>
\n\"DSF1840\"<\/p>\n

39_28<\/strong>
\nAnd then, on Friday, we had our usual last-Friday-of-the-month drink at noon:
\n\"DSF1841\"<\/p>\n

39_29<\/strong>
\nThree of my favourite “victims”, Ana, Carolina and Eri:
\n\"DSF1857\"<\/p>\n

39_30<\/strong>
\nConversation:
\n\"DSF1853\"<\/p>\n

39_31<\/strong>
\nThat Friday was also the last day for my trainee, Kevin, who completed his year-long traineeship with us and was now moving on. So we took him for lunch at Hostal Maruja on the beach:
\n\"DSF1867\"<\/p>\n

39_32<\/strong>
\nThis waiter, part of the family that owns Hostal Maruja, has been there seemingly forever:
\n\"DSF1864\"<\/p>\n

39_33<\/strong>
\nAs usual, we enjoyed the excellent seafood:
\n\"DSF1869\"<\/p>\n

39_34<\/strong>
\n\"DSF1870\"<\/p>\n

39_35<\/strong>
\nA paddle boarder approaches, with the island of Tabarca in the distance:
\n\"DSF1859\"<\/p>\n

39_36<\/strong>
\nComing closer (he actually came ashore and entered the restaurant, it is that kind of place):
\n\"DSF1861\"<\/p>\n

39_37<\/strong>
\nThe steps from the Hostal Maruja terrace to the beach are a popular selfie spot:
\n\"DSF1872\"<\/p>\n

39_38<\/strong>
\nOn Saturday, I was happy to get back on the bike in a serious way, and I climbed the Carrasqueta mountain pass. More than 2 hours of cycling uphill, then a 5 minute rest at the top, enjoy the view and eat a banana, and then back down:
\n\"1020777\"<\/p>\n

39_39<\/strong>
\nThis curve, about 6 km from the pass, is a lot more interesting when descending than when ascending:
\n\"1020780\"<\/p>\n

39_40<\/strong>
\nOn Sunday morning, I did another long ride, more than 80 km, but this time on the flat terrain south of Alicante, passing the beach at Urbanova:
\n\"1020788\"<\/p>\n

39_41<\/strong>
\nIt may be autumn, but it is still very much beach weather:
\n\"1020789\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the last week of September we hosted a couple of big events in the office, so most of my photos are related to those events–both working-type images and images from after-work activities. 39_1 But it was not all work. Of course I was out cycling during the weekend at the beginning of the week. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3513,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3763"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3763"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3771,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3763\/revisions\/3771"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}