A Dire Straits concert

well, not quite, but nearly so.

And more musical diversions to keep us from getting through our To Do list.

The very next day after Semana Santa was the start of the Semana de la Guitarra and the first performance turned out to be a wonderful surprise. We thought the four musicians, The Ladywriters, would do some sort of variations on Dire Straits themes, but instead it was like being at a life concert of the great Straits themselves. A superb show and they even managed to improve some of the original songs by playing them at an up-beat tempo. 

Another very enjoyable evening was a Flamenco concert by guitar player Piedro Sierra. Not an Andalucian by birth, but even so born with a guitar in his hands. Really amazing how he could make his instrument sound like an orchestra. He was accompanied by two women, a singer and a dancer, both very good as well.

Next there was the Fiesta de Las Cruces de Mayo, the May crosses festival. In the streets there were several large crosses decorated with flowers on altars with a display of pottery, scarfs, food, lamps and so on. One altar we saw had an apple with a pair of scissors stuck in. All probably very symbolic of something. Though it has a religious history, everyone was having a good time eating and drinking in street bars and for the girls it is a great occasion to dress up in traditional flamenco outfits. There were several stages with groups performing Flamenco music, singing and dancing, none of them of a high quality, probably just from the barrio, but the atmosphere was great and lots of people joined in with the dancing of Sevillanas.

 

Our list of spring jobs has been getting shorter and growing at the same time as more jobs seem to just appear.

 

One day we wanted to turn the boat around to do some varnish on the other side: we casted off all lines, motored away from the quay, and then the backward/forward handle stuck and after trying some muscle even broke off altogether. With the help of our New Zealand neighbours we managed to get back to the quay again, with only some minor damage to the rudder paintwork, and even in the position we wanted to end up. And thus a search for where exactly the getting stuck occurred and for a stainless repair shop. And a new item for on the To Do list: get a good thin warping line with a monkey's fist.

 

Another break down was number Two computer which meant several days wasted with various attempts, all to no avail. Pc number One had already collapsed last summer. This means we now have only one computer, but on which we have no C-map because we still haven't found out how to run it under Windows 7. We do have a copy of MaxSea but after reading the 20 page manual we haven't had the courage yet to try it. We do have OpenCPN downloaded and on which we got the GPS Mouse working when we installed it a month ago, but now the GPS Mouse doesn't do anything and we can't remember how to get it working again.

A proof of the more stuff the more worries, but we don't want to do without do we?

 

Re-varnising the floorboards was a special project we'd had planned for some years already. And now they are done! So as to be still able to walk around in the boat we did it in stages and always kept some planks in place to balance on, no mean feat in the dark. It's also wonderful there is a floor again to put down the catfood bowls instead of having them on the kitchen counter for some weeks. My, what a smell, and worse: it means that smell still hangs around all the time. (Usually masked by the bilge though.)

 

But the Now list is really getting shorter, partly because we move things to the On The Move list or the Later list. Yes, I'm a list fanatic.

< previous entry                                                                                                    > next entry