weird, no just plain rude and astonishingly oblivious

In the village where I live (not that village-y, but still) we have been lucky this year that an amazing ensemble has been coming to play, there have been four classical music concerts so far, and there is one more to go.  Love it. 

We are a village, so we are a little uncouth, in that there is a tendency for people to applaud when they aren't supposed to, but we make up for it with vast enthusiasm!

There is one thing about it though that is so weird.  There is a group of old ladies who come, and they chat (a bit) during the concert, and this is NOT a big hall, 500 people, but the worst of all is that they eat candies.  They share them.  They bring the candies in a plastic bag that they pass around.  A noisy crinkly plastic bag. The candies themselves are wrapped in crinkly paper, so they pass them back and forth, open them, then they have to crinkle the papers up into a little ball, and frequently THROW THEM ON THE FLOOR!

Please remember, small hall.  They are very close to the musicians.  

It is astonishing.

Today was better than the other times, it was only two of the old biddies, and they only did it once.  They also got fiercely shushed at one point when they started to chat.

But honestly, even if you did grow up under Franco, how, how how, can you think that this behaviour is OK?

Who would make that much noise in the middle of a quiet stretch of a Mozart piano concerto, when you are only about 15 feet from the pianist and then throw the wrapper on the floor after crinkling it into a ball?

Mind-numbing.

Look at this fish!

I went on a gorgeous walk today with a gigantic group of people.  It was great fun, but you have got to see this fish...

There's a big tuna that lives in one of the ports and it is pretty amazing to see.  A very strong muscular animal.  It moves very very fast and looks quite predatory.

Unbeknownst to me my camera lens was filthy, so the other photos came out pretty terrible.  My phone took better photos which is kinda sad.

And while good blog posts are supposed to be about only one topic, meh, I don't care.  So here are some more photos from the day!

I love sea anemones and I love the sea. 

Goodness but I am a lucky person.

Driving class

Our Canadian driver's licenses are not accepted here, so instead of just flipping them over for a Spanish license, we have to go through the entire (expensive) testing process.  Ho freaking Hum

Especially as the theoretical tests is a ridiculous monster, which I am not going to go into as it will raise my blood pressure and I want to go to bed soon, and not lie there grinding my teeth!

However the man did it and he passed on the first try - an accomplishment here!

He had his first in-car driving class today.  I would like to add that he is pushing 60 (from no long distance) and has been driving for over 40 years without an accident and I have known him for 23 or 24 and during that time anyway, he has never gotten a ticket.  He drives, perfectly (not like me!)

So off he went.

The driving instructor told him that if the flow of traffic is over the speed limit (within reasonable limits) he could go that speed - which he would of course have done if he had not had a driving instructor with him!  If he had gone with the flow of traffic, the instructor would have told him to slow down, no doubt.

He also needs to return his hands to the wheel more quickly after changing gears....yadda yadda yadda, if that is all he had to say in a full hour of driving.........

Bring on the exam!!!!

(on another note, Chuck and I did about 30+ K today, lovely out there (the dog is sleeping s.o.l.i.d.l.y!).  He managed to tear a toenail back, but seems to have fixed it himself, so I'll keep an eye on that, but otherwise it seems to be OK.

Bye!

Today was also Sant Antoni, when all the animals are blessed

And a whole bunch of horses go around and around and around the town....

It's good fun.

I went for a walk too....

That's an enormous surprise I imagine...

It was a gorgeous place full of gorges and beautiful waterfalls and a castle!  See....Near Santa Coloma de Farnes,

 Below is a cork tree, well several cork trees, that have been trimmed....

Modern stairs, and very cool ones, up to the top of the tower...

the biffy, it would have had a plank with a hole in it.

Nice, no?

Sooo very very much, and so much to be grateful for.

That sounds gross, but honestly, I am so utterly happy, it¡s hard not to be.  The man has work, both kids seem to be very happy and doing well in their chosen routes, we don't have to worry about money, my workload has diminished to the point that I can enjoy life again, we have friends, beautiful weather, a beautiful place to live.  Life is good.  (and youngest gave me a great haircut yesterday!)

So, now that I have gloated horribly, I'll show some pics, though mostly I am just so happy to be happy.

Youngest has been doing a lot of climbing:

We went to Montserrat, which I LOVE

My sister in law came and youngest and I went off cycling with her and Eldest did the bus version of the route....

We had Christmas with the family, we took more photos of this guy than anyone else.....

 More to follow......