big matt

since xmas, i've been singing mindless songs about ice-cream, zoos and
sharing peas (click for his website, with snippets of the songs). the
point? a concert with dani. today, was that day.

dani had become a bit of a running joke in our school, the fact he
sings the blandest songs with the most annoying american accent.

well, i take it all back.

today he came to our school, and rocked. kids from four years old
going absolutely mental with some important moral lessons in between
the dancing mayhem. plus, after break i got a chance to do some
serious gangsta dancing (yep, one of the songs is a rap) with the
older kids who i don't have classes with. although they're only 10,
they've perfected they're 'what the hell are you doing, dad' look off
to a tee.

who cares. dani, you're a legend.

and i believe some of my dancing is on video camera...stay tuned!!

Labels: españa

so tim, you have lots of friends beginning with the letter 'j'? i feel
i too can compete - here goes...

i live with jen and james. james is going out with jenna, who is the
flatmate of jane (who i work with). jenna has two friends called julia
and julie and jane has a boyfriend called john.

before, i had categorised my madrid friends with an 'e' - for españa
(it seemed cool at the time) - before their name in my mobile
phonebook. one sunday morning, (hopefully a different one to the ipod
scenario) i decided to abandon this system and remove the 'e' before
everyones name.

now i realise, instead of going to 'e' in my phonebook to call anyone,
i go to 'j' - it has saved me no time at all.

jesus...i can't believe i just admitted that to the world...

Labels: españa

have you heard the song 'crazy' by gnarls barkley?

it goes something like 'i think you're CRAAAYAAZZZAAAYY, i think
you're CRAAAYYAAZZZAAAAAY, i think you're CRAAAYAAZZZAAAYY...etc'

no? oh well, you may be able to hear me singing it from spain (i quite like it!)

(thanks dobbo x)

Labels: españa

went skiing on friday, well tried.

caught the bus from madrid to the town at the bottom of the mountains,
no problem. arrived about 11am at a deserted bus station with no sign
of the transfer bus to the resort. apparently it wasn't running.

off we trundle into town to catch a taxi. the only taxi driver in the
village turned up and told us that the ski resort was closed for wind.
dammit. this wouldn't have been too much of a problem, except the next
bus back to madrid didn't leave until 5pm. it was about midday.

but this town had a train station - fantastic! off to the station we
headed. about 3 miles down the road (in the middle of nowhere) we met
two men who told us that yes, indeed we were heading for the station,
but there were no trains. only in spain.

so then we found a bar and got pissed.

Labels: españa

when i was in london at the weekend, i couldn't help but notice a
striking difference in the way that madrid and london have dealt with
the terrorist attacks in their cities.

if you catch the madrid metro in the morning (or at any time of day or
night), you are guaranteed to see at least two security guards at each
metro station. they all have batons, some of them have guns and the
lucky ones have dogs. you get off the train at atocha on one of the
platforms that was targeted, and a security guard will be stood by
every door - trousers tucked into boots.

you catch the underground in london and you see nobody like this; just
the underground workers (not wombles). on the escalators in london
there are posters that say 'it's up to all of us' as well as, of
course (as is the case in most of england) millions of cctv cameras.

so in madrid, you feel safe because there are men with guns and dogs
who have the responsibility of protecting you, whereas in london it's
the responsibility of the people to look out for each other.

which is better? impossible to tell, but unfortunately, it feels much
safer to travel on the madrid metro with the dogs and guns.

Labels: españa

my trip to england was fantastic.

seeing everyone on friday was a blast (plus, seeing so many people at
one time saved me some flight costs!). having a pint of strongbow in
wetherspoons, switching on the tv and NOT feeling like i was in a
listening exam, as well as crumpets, were just some of the other
highlights.

i didn't realise how pleased i was to be back in england. i feel i've
settled in quite comfortably in madrid, and thought it was people that
i missed rather than the homeland. but despite it being freezing all
weekend and costing me a fortune in travel tickets, you've got to love
it.

the fact we have a megatrain. the fact that nobodies have their own tv
shows and supermarkets their own radio stations. the fact we shake
hands. hot cross buns and onion bhajees. the fact we've turned 'deal
or no deal' into something similar to a live autopsy documentary,
instead of the spanish rainbow-coloured-ugly-brigade version. the
amount of time people fanny around trying to say the simplest things;
you couldn't be anywhere else - and why would you want to be...

Labels: españa

arrived at my usual metro stop this morning to be bombarded by about
six different people, each trying to give me their own respective free
newspaper, dressed in corporate-coloured ponchos.

to be honest, i quite like having something to read on the train, but
i don't need six papers that all tell me the same thing. plus, add to
the melee people leaving the metro and unfortunate people (like me)
trying to enter the metro, you end up with a papier maché bundle of
confusion. what a way to wake up in the morning.

however, tonight i fly back to england, where this bombardment of
freebies will definately not occur - mainly because you have to pay
for everything in england. except manners, of course (thanks, mrs
mcleod).

for those of you that remember the disaster of when i arrived back
from madrid for xmas at london luton airport, you
will be amused to hear that once again i shall be flying there
tonight. my flight arrives at 11pm and although london is in the name
of the airport, it's a bus and train ride away.

not only that, by the time i get to london, the underground will have
shut. for a city that has the motto londON, i'm not so convinced when
the underground closes before one in the morning.

ho hum. see y'all tomorrow.

Labels: españa

it's a rainy saturday in madrid.

the traffic jams would be bearable except for the fact that every
driver feels the need to honk. and these aren't just little pips,
these are hold-my-elbow-on-my-horn honks. when you walk past one doing
it, it hurts your head but when the rest of the street starts, you
want to start throwing some bricks through windows. it will make no
difference, you are going nowhere...so stoppit!

added to that, yesterday i saw a man up a ladder fannying around with
some wires. not only had he blocked off the entire pavement with his
ladder, but had rested the feet of it IN the road. wing mirrors were
going by inches from this idiot - i was just waiting for a van to
knock that pillock off his perch.

plus, next thursday when i arrive home at london luton airport (don't
let the london bit fool you - the airport's actually in luton!!) i
have to get a bus then a train to get the city. by that time, the
underground will have closed. i ask you, how can a city with the motto
londON have an underground system that shuts before 1am?

yep, today matt's in a grumpy mood (although i have just seen a man
with an eu umbrella, which has cheered me up no end - respect, my
friend...respect.)

Labels: españa