Burns Night Mk II

Last Friday Irene and I attended the T.O.P.S. (?)  Burns´Night Supper at the Restuarante Carolina in Alhaurin el Grande.  I addressed the haggis. As the group is an amatuer dramatics/musical society this involved two reheearsals. At the first I addressed the haggis in the traditional manner reciting Burn´s poetry as writ. The organiser stunned me by asking me to anglicise it! At first I was ready to decline in a fit of pique but I decided to sleep on it. I had various ideas about reciting the orginal abnd then a translation, or simply having the translation on the menu card. Then I found an official translation and I though what the hell I will learn it. Of course this proved harder to do than I imagined as  kept lapsing into the original!! Anyway with help from Irebne I committed it to memory. We arrived at the restaurant to find a crowd already there including soem friends. We were seated at the top table an I had volunteered to be a go-between to the kitchen as I speaka de Spanish. We had a welcome drink and then the soup a cock a leekie without the chicken was served. Chicken arrived a litrtle later to be added! I guess this was both a veg and non veg dish! Then I retired to the kitchen to grab the chef and we entered with the haggis sadly without piper but with appropriate music. I then set about my business and by all accounts I did a great job. The haggis was the main course. Trifle followed .. not bad. Then we launched into speeches, some better than others. To round the evening off we were entertained by the musicians and some poetry recitals. This was rater good for an amatuer group with scarceley a Scotsman among them. Unfortunately there was a table near us which continued to engage in loud conversation, showing no respect and spoiling it for others.

This is the translation I rendered:

Fair is your honest happy face Great chieftain of the pudding race Above them all you take your place Stomach, tripe or guts Well are you worthy of a grace As long as my arm

The groaning platter there you fill Your buttocks like a distant hill Your skewer would help to repair a mill In time of need While through your pores the juices emerge Like amber beads

His knife having seen hard labour wipes And cuts you up with great skill Digging into your gushing insides bright Like any ditch And then oh what a glorious sight Warm steaming, rich

Then spoon for spoon They stretch and strive Devil take the last man, on they drive Until all their well swollen bellies Are bent like drums Then, the old gent most likely to rift (burp) Be thanked, mumbles

Is there that over his French Ragout Or olio that would sicken a pig Or fricassee would make her vomit With perfect disgust Looks down with a sneering scornful opinion On such a dinner

Poor devil, see him over his trash As week as a withered rush (reed) His spindle-shank a good whiplash His clenched fist.the size of a nut. Through a bloody flood and battle field to dash Oh how unfit

But take note of the strong haggis fed Scot The trembling earth resounds his tread Clasped in his large fist a blade He’ll make it whistle And legs and arms and heads he will cut off Like the tops of thistles

You powers who make mankind your care And dish them out their meals Old Scotland wants no watery food That splashes in dishes But if you wish her grateful prayer Give her a haggis!

 

Burns Nights

I have been roped into addressing the haggis at the TOPS (local theatrical/choral group) Burns´ Night on 27th and, much to my surprise, was invited to attend a rehearsal last night. In fact it ws fairly low key but I have been asked to anglicise my rendition! I am not sure I want to do so. I don´t mind distributing a translation but I refer to recite the original. Here is a link to a side by side. http://www.worldburnsclub.com/poems/translations/address_to_a_haggis.htm  We shall see! I also signed up to go to the Madrid Supper a week earlier with Gerald Chishick (last done c2006 I think).  I am hoping we will take the “bullet” train as this would be a first for me.  Madrid can be very cold at this time of year.

To do list getting thin

I have organised the garage which included sorting through tins and jam jars of mixed screws, nuts & bolts and 1001 other items I have hung on to over the years thinking that they might ultimately come in handy. Some of these items might indeed have been useful in the past had I known where to find them. Ironically, now that they are sorted and catalogued I will probably no longer have any need for them. I have enough to start my own hardware store. It was nevertheless a satisfying task. I also sorted through the garden, car and sports cupboards. The garage is now a haven of peace and organisation. There is a great deal more space too!  I donated a lot of stuff to a chap called Aubrey Irving who supports (single handedly) a school in Kenya. He is an inspiration. He also hashes.

Internet No More

Wow,  we woke up this morning to discover we had no internet connection at home and not only that no data connection on either of our iPhones which run on different networks.  I called Telefonica who confirmed a general outage in the area but were surprised that it extended to mobile networks too. I had an email pending for a few hours in my iPhone outbasket and about 10 minutes ago I heard the tell tale sound of it being sent and looked at the router which simultaneously switch from a red to a green light! What more proof is needed!  I always assumed that the mobile networks were independent of the Telefonica system but I have just been proven wrong.

GLC

The Gentlemen’s Lunch Club returned to the Santa Fe Restaurant on 20 October and 15 pax enjoyed excellent fare on the outside terrace. The standard of the jokes equalled that of the food.  A great afternoon was enjoyed by one and all. I resisted the free flowing brandy!

Modern Spanish History

The U3A term has started and I signed up for Modern Spanish History. This is the successor to last year’s Spanish Civil War course and is led by Muriel Pilkington. Muriel is a lively lady probably in her late 60s and is something of an authority on Spanish politics and history and writes a column for the local English language paper – The News.  I had missed the first lecture cum discussion a fortnight ago as I was attending the Shell Reunion. The meeting place is the Alhaurin Golf Hotel. We focussed on the roots of the civil war which can probably be traced to the loss of the Spanish Empire, which was the largest in history.  This promises to be a good course. I borrowed and finished a book – Soldiers of Samalis by Javier Cercas - while on holiday in Hinojares.

Where has the summer gone?

Those few of you who follow my blog may have noticed that I have been absent for a while!  I suppose I could claim that I have been too busy. In some respects I have been but that is a feeble excuse for not keeping you informed.

We have had many distractions over the summer months involving the Alfa, the hash, the family invasion and the Shell reunion!

The weather has been glorious and the pool has seen good use. 

We are well settled here now and consider Spain to be our home.

 

 

Wasps

If it is not ants it is wasps. Most years they penetrate the keyholes in the quincho and jam the locks with waxy stuff in which they must I assume lay their eggs. Recently I have spotted them over by the whirligig and lo and behold they have found some holes in the top and were entering it presumably with the same intent. Unfortunately they spotted me and one of them stung me on my thumb! This is probably only the third or fourth time in my life I have been stung! Irene swung into action and hatched a plan to invert the whirligig and immerse it in a bucket of water. This seems to have confused them. We will reassess the situation tomorrow.

Kittens Galore

The one-eyed Tom has sired another litter of feral kittens in  Las Delicias and they have taken up residence in No 93, which is Arthur´s old villa, sadly now abandoned, adjacent to Los Olivos. We had counted 5 or 6 kittens in the street outside from  time to time.  The neighbour´s grandson immediately below No 93 kicked a ball into No 93 and reported to the Community Association that two kittens were dead.  The President asked me to investigate and sadly this was the case so I disposed of them. The same day a black kitten appeared in our garden, clearly hungry, so much to Nami´s disust we put some food out. The next day two turned up and tha day after three and finally a fourth (the runt) put in an appearance.  The feeding has become a nightly ritual as they appear at the window. nami is now putting her paw down and is marking her territory with sprays of urine. So we are now taking food next door to try to retrain them. Our idea is to give them a start in life after which they can fend for themselves. We may try to catch them later and have them neutered.  I could not figure out how they were getting in to our garden but it turns out that they are so tiny they can literally crawl through the spaces in the wire netting fence.  We have not named them yet!!

London Calling

Irene and I signed up for the Delhi Durbar some time ago.  We attend alternate years as we like to also partake of the bi-annual Colombia (BBGL) Reunion. We flew over to London Gatwick on Aer Lingus (which was like first class compared to Ryanair!) on Thursday morning and after the Gatwick Express and taxi we were in our hotel – a Spanish one – The Melia White House. We were too early for our 1500hrs check in so we headed out for a coffee and found a nice eatery a few blocks away. Our room was small but well appointed. We chilled out and then found a nearby Spanish restaurant – the Iberica for a pre theatre tapas dinner. We then took a  taxi across town to the theatre where we enjoyed Lend me a Tenor. It was then straight off to bed and the following morning we tucked into a full breakfast after which we made our way to the Berkeley Hotel and met up with Phil Turberville, an ex Shell colleague whom I hired as my assistant in 1974 and found myself working for him within 3 years. He rose to dizzy heights in Shell, one level below the Board, before being edged out. He then ran eastern Generation, Rak petroleum and probably a few other outfits before going into semi retirement and moving between homes in Monaco, London and New York! We had coffee and a glass on wine. we then wandered round the corner to the Caledonian Club  where the Delhi Durbar was again being held. The usual culprits were there, some 25 or so,  and we enjoyed catching up on the stories. We had some pre lunch drinks and then a nice buffet. In spite of my best efforts my wine and port consumption was more than it should have been.  We made our way back to the hotel late afternoon and then teetered across the road to the Pizza Express  for more sustenance. The next day we took a stroll to Oxford Street and Selfridges taking in coffee, juice and croissants en route and then the promised rain started and we had to take cover under a recently purchased umbrella! We chilled out  (and dried out) at the hotel thinking check out was 1400hrs  but on checking discovered it was 12 noon! We decided to head to Gatwick and lunch leisurely before catching flight home … which was 30 mins late!  We had a great, expensive couple of days!