aljuk

Here I go again - I haven’t posted for ages. It sounds lame, but mostly I’ve just been way too busy. So what’s been happening? I had a birthday a couple of weeks back - a quiet one. Unfortunately it came in the thick of a deadline crisis with the magazine and I think I worked an all-nighter that day, can’t really remember… Anyway, many thanks for the birthday greetings friends and web-friends.

Summer’s intense, the heat is ridiculous. I spend my days melting in the new office. It gets the sun in the afternoon and it’s fierce - I’m using the one fan I’ve got in there on the computers rather than myself. Tonight the wind’s howling outside, and I’m sure that’s thunder I can hear in the distance (I really hope so, some rain would be so welcome).

I guess at this point I should apologise to those of you in UK who’ve just had a month’s downpour in a day or whatever it was, but right now I’d give anything for a bit of that. It’s less comfortable here than in Doha, even though Qatar was often up to 20° hotter, because the quality of construction here is so poor (hot in summer, cold in winter) and air-conditioning a rarity.

The garden’s doing well. We’ve acquired a family of doves who tease Blackie relentlessly, and we have figs and grapefruits growing.

A brilliant new bar with a dancefloor has opened up on the front. It’s called Poison, and has easily the best views over the Arenal of any of the bars down there. I’ve been a few times and am totally in love with it. It’s so good to finally have somewhere local with just the right balance of class and funk. It reminds me slightly of China White in London, but with a sprinkle of Ibizan flavour, decent house music, and very affordable. It makes most of the other English bars in town seem so pikey by comparison.

Talking of breaking out of Little Britain, the Spanish is coming on ok. I’m still learning with Pimsleur on my ipod, and getting back into it after an unintentional break. I just can’t wait to acquire even a vague semblance of proper communication, it’ll make all the difference, and I’m really keen to make some Spanish friends as soon as I can.

The recent success of the national football team in the European Championship was a huge deal here. The final was televised on big screens and all the local squares, bars and beaches were packed out.

June also saw the Jávea International Festival - 3 days of bands, dancing, food and drink. Glastonbury it ain’t, but it was a lot of fun, and great to see so many locals and South Americans, and everyone getting on with each other no matter the language barrier. Lucy, The Voice’s other half, runs The Stage School, and so lots of her kids were singing and dancing. It was a great success.

Still sick as a dog. I keep waking up to find that I’ve been rubbing my eyes in my sleep and they feel like they’re on fire. Maybe that’s something to do with all the movie files I’m gorging myself on on the laptop. Heroes, Prison Break, Pushing Daisies and Desperate Housewives are my daily companions. Plus the Isle of Man TT is on, so I’ve had some awesome racing viewing to keep myself occupied.

Blackie’s been yowling his head off at 5am all week which is doing everyone’s heads in. The sunshine’s back, so that’s probably why…

I’ve got back on track with the Pimsleur Spanish course (“¿Perdon señor, no hablo Castellano muy bien, entiende Ingles?”) and have also been spending time learning to touch-type with an awesome Mac app called Ten Thumbs. It’s amazing how quickly my fingers are learning to feel for the keys; I guess I’m doing a couple of hours a day at that. I’m accurate (95%), but very slow (15wpm) and have only dealt with 16% of the keyboard so far.

And I’m been mocking up the front end design of the new ListenUp website, which is turning out great, but I can’t sit up for too long before I start feeling sick again. Roll on health, I know you’re around here somewhere!

The garden is full of amazing new growth!