big matt

it's funny.

whilst i'm enjoying very much my time here in madrid, there are some
things which catch you unawares and make you realise it's just not
england; that it's all still a little uncomfortable.

today, i was invited by the pe teacher to go to watch football with
him and his dad this evening. this is the same guy who i went on the
school skiing trip with, and spent much time sat in a chairlift
passively absorbing swear words in spanish. whilst conversations are a
real struggle (he don't speaky the english) i find it quite touching
that he is willing to persevere through an afternoon with me at a
football match.

i was touched.

but, the fact there is no word for home in spanish has made me
philosophociphial. home, with all it's connotations, just isn't the
same as house. i am going home tomorrow, but today i will go to my
house.

in spain, quite literally, there is no place like home.

Labels: españa

to say that all the english talk about is the weather, is a fair assessment.

however, banter regarding the weather exists here aswell. as i sat
down for breakfast at work today, i was greeted by weather moans. the
thing is, because my school is 30 mins ouside of madrid, the air is a
little clearer, thus a little colder (i can see the big grey pollution
cloud on the train every moprning) and i never learn.

until now, because yesterday i bought a new hat. it's orange. i'll be
wearing it tomorrow just so that i can retort, 'you may well be cold,
my friends, but i have an orange hat.'

Labels: españa

the end of this month sees the start of a smoking ban in spain.

i'm intrigued. somehow i can't see it working partricularly well. this
is the country where a pack costs 3 euros-ish or under, and are sold
in state owned cigarette shops. this is the country where you can't
smoke in bus stations or on train platforms, but the bins have
ashtrays. this is the country where metro employees smoke in their
ticket offices, where bus drivers smoke on their buses with passengers
on board and where headteachers smoke in classrooms when no-one's
looking.

to be honest, if people ignore no smoking areas at the moment, what's
the hope of making every hotel, restaurant, bar, cafe and bus station
smoke free? i'll tell you; somewhere between zero and portugal.

Labels: españa

the teacher who i normally work with has been ill this week and as a
result i've had very little to do. normally, this is no problem, but
the internet at work is broken. this means i have to find other means
of entertainment and thus, i have concluded...

- i'm fed up with almost all the music on my ipod.

- reading the paper isn't that time consuming.

- reading a different paper about the same stories takes a little longer.

- sudoku is too difficult.

- reading the spanish dictionary is like injecting seawater into your eyeballs.

so yesterday, myself and jane (fellow englisher) took ourselves on a
walk to counteract internet withdrawal symptons (i.e. boredom). after
walking around the forecourts of both the local bmw and seat garages,
we ended up in a supermarket carpark watching trains arriving at the
station and planes landing at the air base; feeling like a right
couple of chavs.

today, things progressed.

we sat at junction 15 of the N-401 between madrid and toledo (you
know, the grassy bit in the middle of the road that curves round when
you pull off the motorway). thats right, we did some listening to will
young.

god, i hope the internet's working tomorrow.

NB click here to see junction 15 of the N-401.

Labels: españa

last night, i arrived home to find the flat in darkness (this is
normal, our hall lights are on a timer - ian, any bypass ideas?!). i
could hear the tv on in the lounge and passed through it on the way to
the kitchen.

sat in darkness, in the lounge, watching telly, was one of my male
french housemates in a face mask.

you couldn't make it up

Labels: españa

in madrid, there are quite a lot of blokes who sell dodgy
cd's/dvd's/perfume, etc illegally. it's all dodgy, sold on sheets of
fabric with string tied in each corner so they can make a quick
getaway when they see the police.

it's obviously illegal. there's tv campaigns saying that it's the
responsibility of the consumer not to buy the stuff. they spend a
fortune promoting the protection of intellectual property.

except the police do nothing. today, in the centre of madrid
(picadilly circus equivalent), maybe twenty blokes all stood selling
black market gear and were doing a roaring trade. the police, stood
the other side of the square, oblivious. it's not that they turn a
blind eye, it's that they don't see it. as i stood there watching,
there was a police van parked twenty metres away, whilst TWO drove
past the pavement where these blokes were selling their stuff, hidden
by the crowds that surrounded them.

these blokes sell their stuff everywhere, on the metro, on the
streets, right under the noses of the police and make the authorities
look like a complete laughing stock.

Labels: españa

went to pacha on friday.

incredible sound. awesome lighting. decent dj. and, i did some dancing
on the podium.

my name was on the guest list (it's who you know) and even though
everyone female in our group got in free, i paid 12 euros along with
my french, male companion. surely pacha madrid isn't sexist?

as a result, i stole as much as i could. so shove that up your arse, pacha.

Labels: españa