Why does the horizon always tilt...?

Salobreña Beach at about 4 o'clock on 4th November; I swam in the sea for about 5 minutes, thinking it should really be warmer than it was! Men were fishing off the beach, but caught nothing... was it the presence in the water of mad British women thinking they could swim in November !!!
I s'pose the benefit of (semi)-retirement is the chance to travel out of school holiday times. The plane going over to Alicante was so empty we had to spread ourselves around the cabin, to give balance for the plane to take off - especially the gaggle of beefy young chaps who had colonised the rear few rows...
It was full coming back on 5th - all us retirees heading home from Malaga after a spot of winter sun, in time to do the Christmas shopping!

the first explosion

armatures aflame

We didn't miss going to Bonfire in Lewes though- we'd already had our fireworks at Orihuela's "Experimental Falla" for Miguel Hernandez... for more info about the poems, read Michael Shade's site There are Nightingales that Sing...

Bombers waterbombing!

Falla for Miguel Hernandez

Happy Birthday to me ...

 Yes, it says 25 degrees Celsius and later the mercury went to 31... from the terrace the Sierra Nevada shows its snowdusted tops, even on the south side... this is what I like on my birthday, blue sky, relaxing heat, blindingly white houses! Gracías, mi compañero del alma...
Thanks everybody else for good wishes via Facebook and texting - O, this Modern World is wonderful!

... and afterwards... Zarzuela por dos at Casa Emilio on Salobreña seafront, cracking open a spider crab, and a lovely bottle of Rioja Reserva Baron de Ley

Random Album Cover 1...

Thanks to Graham B: 
1. Go tohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random. The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2. Then to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album...
3. Follow this with www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days The third picture (no matter what it is) will be your album cover. (This bit didn't work for me at first, but a random photostream from the Swedish Heritage Board came up...)
4. Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.
(then put it in Facebook....)

OK, it really is Autumn now...

Two things that mean Autumn to me are spiders' webs and evening classes!
It rained overnight, so the web hanging from garden shrubs (with pink leaves, notice) was dripping with moisture, pulling the strands into a necklace of tiny scalloped-edged beads. Since the end of August I've had that 'caught' sensation when making my way down the garden in the mornings - spider weavings over the doorframe, from bushes either side of the steps. So, OK now I will admit it is getting chilly!
"Retirement Project 3" chair is now de-webbed, uncovered, foamless and stripped of most of the staples stretching the 1970s cover. From tomorrow  evening I can start building it up again, hessian, springs, horsehair, porridge wadding... oh, the tangy language of upholstery! (Fr: rembourrage, Sp. tapicería)

Skolvan...

Sunday 3 October
A trip to Nieppe, in the Nord département, near the Belgian border, to a Fest Deiz with Skolvan, one of the top Breton dance bands. 
I couldn't resist this picture, as we were driving towards Dover. The sun was hidden behind a huge cotton-wool effect cloud, and the lens of my sunglasses made it look spectacular, so i took the photo through them. 
The rest of the day fulfilled the promise... 22 deg C as we emerged from the boat at Calais, sun all the way. Lunch at Cassel (Porc Terrine au Maroilles) and then to La Cabanne Accordeon's afternoon dance; a bit like finding that the Stones are playing in your local village hall in terms of their longevity, their energy, fantastic tunes and pazzaz. 
Grace à 'Stine and Selwyn for the notice of the session (swinging their partners in the pic on the left). 
It was the full 'gamme' - andro, laridé à six, suite plinn, kost a'r 'hoed, loads of suites de gavottes des montagnes, a four-part Loudeac, a cercle circassienne to which these two intrepid dancers below did a chapelloise à deux, the Breton dance of choice when a band calls 'Cercle!' I find... a gentle hanterdro to finish. Just as well they stopped at 1930, as we had to belt up the A25 for the last useful Calais crossing...
the Quartet is 3/4 of the band as formed in ?1989...  Gilles le Bigot, Youenn le Bihan, Bernard le Dréau, and "young" Regis Huiban on accordeon... even J-F (Jeff) Dantin was there, taking pix... expect to see them on his blog soon!
A short film of the last gavotte is on my Facebook entry for today.

Gilles le Bigot + Bernard le Dréau + dancers