It was not too bad a shift last night as I spent it in the company of two fully frocked gentlemen vicars who were fund raising for their church youth project. They were very witty and one of them had the gift of the gab (probably an assett in his line of work).
People were very generous and I saw the odd fiver being chucked into their bucket
I was worried about the local yob fraternity when they appeared on cue at 9 pm in search of renewed alcohol supplies, but they were rather sheepish really considering and passed them by with hardly a murmer, just a few sniggers and a backward glance.
"No problem" said one vicar..."we're used to inebriated persons when we perform the Christmas midnight mass"
It did raise a smile when a couple of attractive young women popped in whilst on a boozy night out...their requests for the loan of the vicar's frocks were respectfully turned down

I wasn't too pleased at 7.40 this morning though when customer services phoned/woke me up with:-
"Isadora, we can't find the raffle tickets and the money for the tickled pink appeal raffle, where are they?"
"They are at the desk, two drawers down" I mumbled still half asleep.
This morning's Greeter couldn't find them and the customer service colleague who was supposed to hand them over failed to do so .
As t'old man will tell you, i'm not a happy bod when i'm woken up prematurely so there will be 'WORDS' this afternoon when I return for my second and last shift of the week

Let's lighten up a bit with a few computer jokes.
I don't know how long these have been around so apologies if you've seen them before.

DOOHH!

Do we really know who we're communicating with?

I bet we've all felt like that at times!

This bouquet is for anyone who needs it.

What have I been up to this last week?...

In other news...my ten year passport is due to expire next month so I have hurriedly been organising my renewal. I had some photos taken and was horrified at how much I have appeared to age in the last ten years. From the ages of 30 to 50 I held my age reasonably well but all that seems to have changed now. These photos really show my age as I didn't put much make up on and scraped my hair off my face and didn't smile, in fact it was almost a scowl... even t'old man said it wasn't a true likeness . I decided to use the photos on my new passport anyway 'cos at least it will guarantee the customs officers will recognise me when this next passport runs out..after all I will be nearly 70 then .

I've been spending this last hour looking around Youtube and found a more professional video clip of the 'Pena's pregon de las fiestas'. Some of it was filmed in the same places and at the same time as mine was but the bonus for me was at the end of the video when they captured the Tartan mob actually climbing up the statue and dressing it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VPRcFeaJr4&NR=1

A year and a day ago t'old man was 64, today he is 66. That's right it's his birthday...he never really celebrates it, he just goes down to the pub for a few pints...situation normal then

I did make a bit of a fuss last year though seeing as he was collecting his Old Age Pension that day. I sent him a birthday e-card too

btw, there's more running water over on isasfotos blog

http://castlesandgumtrees.blog.co.uk/

Voles (Topillos)
On 19th of September there was an article in the 'timesonline' about the plague of voles (Topillos) that were rampaging through the castillian countryside this summer.
I mentioned in my blog that the first thing I was made aware of in Spain when I arrived there was that these rodents had invaded the gardens and fields around the 'El Molino countryside'.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2485341.ece

I'm not a person who is too fussed about going swimming in garden swimming pools but while I was sunbathing in the garden I spotted a sight which put me off completely

I'm even shuddering as I post this because rodents are my pet hate!!
The kids had great sport teasing me and pretending they had caught one and would throw it at me

This is not the best photo of a dove (or pigeon, whatever ) that I have seen but I took it myself last week in The Parque Grande.

This emblem was at the beginning of a very long carpet in the street which was created from petals, leaves and coloured sand. It was walked over by hundreds of people in a religious procession.


If you look at one closely you can see where the people had begun to walk on it and had squashed some grapes already.

The longer view of natures carpet

I had a quiet day in today and cooked a nice dinner just for the two of us, the first proper meal i've cooked for about three weeks
I've spent the last couple of hours in my little hide-away (box room that was once a spare bedroom and now houses my computer) still sorting through my holiday pics.
When I wasn't in the city amidst all the noise and commotion there was the more tranquil side to life in Castilla.
Look at the last two posts on my Isasfotos blog if you're interested

A mid-week afternoon Argentinian tango, dance demonstration in a busy street in Valladolid

I was quite pleased at how these pics turned out as I was just a spectator behind the cordoned off area.

I made a couple of videos too but I won't bore you with those, i'll just stick them on my Isadora101 Youtube site.

This is what the two old gents and their wives in the pic in the previous post were about to witness.
This was just the preparations for the official launch and the start of a long night and week ahead.

Tomorrow i'm going to post some more of my holiday vids on my Youtube site starting with the one taken after this one in Plaza Mayor when the partying really started.

Update
Two hours later after processing to Plaza Mayor,
the wetness on the floor was caused by people throwing wine and cocacola all over each other!!.

btw.. I suggest you turn your volume down

Series 2

The 16th-century Plaza Mayor, presided over by a statue of Count Ansúrez. but when one of the marauding penas decided to make the Count an honorary member of their group by climbing up and dressing him thus, did the authorities raise their arms aghast? not a bit they plastered it all over the local newspaper and left him attired thus 'til the end of the fiesta celebrations

The first day I was out in the streets the tartan 'Pena' were also out in force, they along with hundreds of other Penas were out to party.
I like to take pics from the back view and chose a couple of specimens to snap...so take your pick...the male of the species

or the female

cheeky but I couldn't resist!lol

Well, you know you're gonna get it...don't you?...My holiday snaps that is!

Coming soon in series 2...The tartan brigade...and...the photos I promised Seany

I left 'EL Molino' by car exactly on time at 9.15 a.m to drop the kids off at school.
From there I was then dropped off at the airport with exactly two hours to go to flight take off.
The 12 o'clock flight from Villanubla, Valladolid,Spain left bang on time, it arrived at Stanstead ten minutes early.
The 14.25 train from Stanstead airport to Birmingham left right on cue and arrived at Peterborough five mins early.
I had to wait half an hour for a connexion and had to let an earlier train go as I had an advanced fixed ticket...but no hardship as the sun came out so I sat on the station platform quite happily (and no flamin' mozzies).
The connecting 16.26 train from Kings cross to Leeds arrived at Peterborough one minute early and kept good time all the way home.
The taxi I caught at approx. 6 pm took ages to get me home and crept along the roads at a snail's pace whilst the meter kept spinning round greedily.
Ah well, i'm home now, t'old man seems pleased to see me and made me a welcome cuppa....ahh...t'was only a dream

The spanish kids returned to school yesterday after a three month break. How smart they looked in their new school uniform...reminded me of all those years ago when my kids were small
I found myself inviting the family to spend time with us next year and to come when Warwick folk festival will be on
Don´t know what tóld man will think about that...the unsociable so and so that he is...but tough....it´s my party and ........

Home on Thursday...hope the weather is still good then and that the bank has still got my money safe and sound
Whatever is going on

Have you ever seen where a rainstorm ends?
On one side of the road it is absolutely wet through whereas on the other it is bone dry.

The daily maid arrived this morning and was surprised to hear about the thunder storm. She lives in the village about a mile away and swore they didn´t get a drop of rain there, nor fortunately in the town three miles further along...lucky eh!? as it was the last night of their fiesta and the closing fireworks display was spectacular I heard.

I´ve still got six days left here, so catch you later.

Hi everybody, I hope you are enjoying the lovely weather back home as I hear it is almost as good as it is here.
I´ve come into Valladolid city again and while my friends have been working in the shop I have spent an enjoyable hour in the Parque Grande sat amongst the ducks, red squirrels and the beautiful peacocks. I have seen an albino peacock for the first time ever(apart from pics) but he fled when I tried to snap him..i´ll try to seek him out again.
While I was sitting in the sun minding my own business I received a text message from Lulu who is holidaying in Tenby this week.
The message went like this:-
"Can you believe that we had dinner in an indian rest. with prince William last night! We couldn´t believe it when we saw him sat there with his matesin Tenby. Best thing was that I asked to be moved away from his party not realising who he was. The waiter couldn´t believe that I didn´t want to sit next to the prince There´s only me that would snub the future king.
When we left people had begun to congregate outside and asked if he really was in there".

Ever heard of David Bisbal(he sang a song that goes like this...Ole, ole, oleoleole)? No, me neither but I am assured that he is huge in Spain and The Americas
Well, I have just walked past the Plaza de Toros in Valladolid and there are about a hundred young people sat on the pavement in groups, queueing to bag their seat at his concert there tonight. Julio Iglesias is performing there tomorrow but I can´t see that his audience will be queueing in quite the same fashion.
All in the cause of the build up to the Gran Fiesta de Valladolid!LOl
I´m in an internet cafe which is conveniently next door to my host´s florist shop...have to go now as they close for lunch and we are going back to EL MOlina )the MILL)for lunch...adios

I couldn´t check in yesterday as I stayed at the Holiday Inn, Stanstead and there were no public internet facilities.
Through the bedroom window on a little hill below my window were dozens of wild rabbits s´pose it compensated a bit.
On arriving in Valladolid I was collected from the airport by Juan carlos and driven through the countryside to see that the sight of a massive field of sunflowers which last year stood proud..all had their heads boughed.
Surely it wasn´t the sun that caused this?..apparently not.. for there is a plague of moles in the countryside who have eaten all the roots of the plants.

Fiesta starts Friday....i´m gearing up for it

I'm just about to say goodbye to t'old man but first I would like show you the little room that is next to my bedroom when I reach my destination in Spain

It's the private 17th century chapel of the 'family'. When they restored the old mill 15 years ago, they built in the many 'heirlooms' from their ancestors, their family being from a very old castillian lineage.

bye for now, may check in from Stanstead Xx

Can't stay on here for long...still got too much to do
not least that I have to make my hair a lovely brown colour..I can't have the spanish boy saying "su pelo tiene una línea del blanco" ...
or as we know it 'Your roots are showing love'! lol