{"id":869,"date":"2012-12-24T07:44:09","date_gmt":"2012-12-24T06:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=869"},"modified":"2012-12-24T07:49:08","modified_gmt":"2012-12-24T06:49:08","slug":"week-51-end-of-the-world-not","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=869","title":{"rendered":"Week 51: end of the world (not)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This was the last working week of the year (our office is closed between Christmas and New Year). Despite what one might expect, it was a very busy week. But it was also the week when our children came back from the UK to spend the holidays with us.<\/p>\n<p><strong>51_1<\/strong><br \/>\nSunday December 16th. The children are flying in the following day, on the same flight from Bristol, and my wife puts the finishing touches on the Christmas decorations:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2012\/51_1.jpg\" alt=\"DSF1083\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>51_2<\/strong><br \/>\nOranges we picked in Almorad\u00c3\u00ad the preceding week. There are so many that we have to store them in the window sill, although we are making good progress eating our way through the stash:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2012\/51_2.jpg\" alt=\"DSF1082\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>51_3<\/strong><br \/>\nThe children came home as planned, and my son has spent the week studying and relaxing:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2012\/51_3.jpg\" alt=\"DSF1103\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>51_4<\/strong><br \/>\nThen arrived the 21st, the day of that silly Mayan prophecy, or rather the day smart Mexican tourist officials used as a good opportunity to make money. Nonetheless, I got into the spirit of things and photographed this alien spaceship over our neighbourhood while walking Cheeta in the morning:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2012\/51_4.jpg\" alt=\"DSF1088\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>51_5<\/strong><br \/>\nOnce at work, the initial ship was joined by a larger fleet:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2012\/51_5.jpg\" alt=\"DSF1101\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>51_6<\/strong><br \/>\nUndeterred, I ventured into the streets of Alicante during lunchtime. Here is Calle Alemania with one of the painted recycling bins:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2012\/51_6.jpg\" alt=\"DSF1095\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>51_7<\/strong><br \/>\nPeople eating outside on the shortest day of the year:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2012\/51_7.jpg\" alt=\"DSF1096\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>51_8<\/strong><br \/>\nBakery on Calle Alemania:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2012\/51_8.jpg\" alt=\"DSF1097\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>51_9<\/strong><br \/>\nThe entrance to the Corte Ingl\u00c3\u00a9s department store. I was struck by a poster advertising the arrival of Father Frost (the Russian version of Santa Claus) on December 27th. There are large numbers of well-off Russians in this part of Spain, and so the local businesses are beginning to cater to them:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2012\/51_9.jpg\" alt=\"DSF1098\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On Saturday I went on a long bike ride south of Alicante. According to my Garmin, the temperature during the ride ranged between 18C and 25C. There is no denying that we live in a pleasant climate here on Spain&#8217;s south-eastern coast.<\/p>\n<p><strong>51_10<\/strong><br \/>\nWhile cycling on these country roads, I have begun to photograph the many &#8220;puticlubs&#8221;, i.e. not-quite-bordellos, but establishments of very dubious virtue where clients and prostitutes are brought together. These places tend to be in the middle of nowhere, in discreet locations and with parking hidden from view, like this one (if anyone wants to visit, it sits on the intersection of CV851 and CV865 not far from Santa Pola):<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2012\/51_10.jpg\" alt=\"_1000538\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>51_11<\/strong><br \/>\nThe final break of ride, 15 km from home, on Playa Urbanova. Alicante is visible in the background:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2012\/51_11.jpg\" alt=\"_1000540\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This was the last working week of the year (our office is closed between Christmas and New Year). Despite what one might expect, it was a very busy week. But it was also the week when our children came back from the UK to spend the holidays with us. 51_1 Sunday December 16th. The children [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":671,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/869"}],"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=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/869\/revisions\/871"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}