First of all there was the annoying addition of unwanted advertising (unless you PAY WordPress to have it removed). And now this crap.

Infinite scroll.

Well, I don’t bloody want infinite scrolling and it seems I can’t get rid of it on this theme (that I know and love) and so will have to switch to some other theme that has a footer widget I can disable – Timethief has written this helpful blog post showing us how.  But according to this support forum thread that option will also be removed once all themes have been converted.

Since when did WordPress.com become Facebook, forcing idiotic unwanted changes on its users? Not only is infinite scroll irritating, there is that totally naff pop-up “advertisement” on the bottom, for the theme designer and for WordPress.com, that blocks the blog post.

I want out.

You are very unusual and even a bit eccentric. No one can really figure you out easily.

Because you’re not predictable, people behave irrationally around you. They may feel threatened by your presence, or they may underestimate you completely.

You do best when you’re close to the action. You don’t move quickly, so you need to be near the center of things if you want to make a difference.

You tend to act quickly, and decisively. In fact, you are often the first person to make a move.

Some pics from my first visit to the Feria de Córdoba. Another fair, like the one in Jerez, that is totally different to the Feria de Sevilla and which, in my opinion, is much better. The casetas are larger (with air con) and are open to the public. Depending on what you fancy you can opt for traditional flamenco music (sevillanas), flamenco rock, salsa, disco… the casetas ranged from fairly rough & ready tents to solid structures decorated like country homes with servers dressed in maid’s outfits. You can get some great looking food, watch the crowds or join in, or stroll the streets and enjoy the parade of horses and carriages in the afternoon.

It really felt like being at a country fair – I even went on the ferris wheel! Too bad we were just there for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I found myself wishing that I could stay to see the fairground lit up at night but duty called and we had tickets booked on the 19.30 train (which we almost missed, arriving at the station with about two minutes to spare).

Note: at 2.44 is the horse of the day – a gorgeous beast, my photo doesn’t do him justice.

This week’s Friday Foto Finder challenge is “addiction”.

And for some reason his week’s Friday Foto Finder is on Saturday… ummm, Arch?

But great to see it up and running again.

And well, I know this is going to sound silly, but as soon as we crossed the border and were on Spanish soil I suddenly knew I was home. I can’t explain it. It was like a “phew, I finally made it!” feeling, although that first night in Spain was far from perfect. We had driven into San Sebastián and commenced looking for a pensión to stay the night, preferably one that had a room on the ground floor as we would have to lug all of my wordly belongings into our room. Well, after six hours of driving around that exquisitely beautiful city we decided to try our luck in the next small town we came across. Turned out it was past midnight by the time we reached the next small town and then found out that the only pensión there only had rooms one floor up (no lift) so fuck… we spent a good hour unpacking the car and then finding a place to park it. Once back in our spartan room we lay awake listening to the chucka-chucka-boom of the discoteque next door, and the sound of drunken shouting and bottles breaking in the street below us. Far too soon it was daybreak – had I even slept? – and I staggered over to the window, opened the shutters and… holy crap! It was like the pensión had been airlifted overnight into the quaintest and most tranquil village I had ever seen. The cobblestoned streets looked freshly washed, women were walking together carrying straw shopping baskets, men in berets stood on the corner smoking and waving their arms about in animated conversation. I was in love.

After a quick shower my friend and I hastened to the nearby market for coffee and breakfast. We were immediately charmed by absolutely everything and felt like we had walked into a time warp. But thoughts of how this lovely little village would disappear at sunset got us moving and so we repacked the car and headed south to our destination – Salamanca. Which I had basically chosen because I liked the sound of the name and because it was a university town. As I planned to make a living teaching English I reckoned it would be full of students. Right?

We had a rather hairy ride through the mountains (sometimes literally through them – lots of tunnels!) until we hit less hilly land that eventually flattened out even further. I was struck by the rich colours of the soil and how everything felt so different yet so familiar. When we finally reached our destination and – by sheer stupid luck – found a totally decent and cheap pensión in the centre of town, we unpacked the car for what we hoped would be the last time (for at least a few days) and headed out to get to know our new home.

Remembering all this now I cannot believe I actually did this. I mean, my friend was just going along for the ride and knew she’d be going back to the UK probably sooner than later. But for me this move meant everything.

Anyhow, to celebrate my 20th anniversary I’m planning a few day trips, and also some overnight jaunts (can’t leave Azar for more than one night) to here and there. Starting today! I’m off to Córdoba for the day to check out the Feria, a couple of great tapas bars, the newly renovated Palacio de Viana “Patio Museum” and, well, whatever else takes my fancy.

Hasta mañana!

This is what I saw when I went out this morning.

How about you?

The problem is that all the Mephistos this year are either waaaayy ugly or else the same as last year. In order to have something new and comfy to wear (the shredded insoles on the old ones also shred my feet!) I bought a pair just like these, though they aren’t the best for walking as they don’t have a back strap.

In desperation I started looking online and found a place in the UK that stocks the model shown here, which I think look nice and also look like they’ll be comfortable. It’ll cost me 10€ to have them shipped here, but that’s not my dilemma. What if they don’t fit right? I’ll end up paying shipping charges twice and still have no sandals. Though I’m pretty sure I’ve had this style before, or something similar. Having very hard-to-fit feet is it foolish of me to even consider ordering sandals online?

So c’mon, let’s all go support Archie with re-starting his photo thang by leaving some suggestions. I know these things can take time to get going, but it’ll happen much faster with your help. 

Friday Foto Finder Suggestions

This is so cool!

What a crazy 48 hours it’s been. On Saturday evening I was suddenly not feeling well so I decided to go to bed early. A couple of hours later I woke up feeling awful and spent the next eight hours with violent vomiting and diarrhea and worried that I was going to end up back at hospital having more Surprise Surgery. But as there wasn’t any serious pain involved I just rode it out. Felt somewhat better yesterday morning but obviously couldn’t go out for my Sunday afternoon tapas tour, so Peter took that one (and they wrote back later saying they’d had a great time!). I stayed in bed ALL DAY, which is something I don’t remember doing other than when I was on chemo. Although the vomiting, etc had stopped (guess it sort of had to eventually) I was feeling very weak, feverish and achy. Have to say that Azar has been totally loving all this Extra Bed Time with me. And I finally got to use the bedroom tv that I installed last November. I knew it would come in handy some day.

Today has been a bit better. I actually got up for a few hours, but don’t feel well enough to venture outside. Which is a shame because it’s a gorgeous day out there. But I should be back to normal(ish) by tomorrow and am thinking that this might be a good time to start a diet…

How are you guys doing?