We saw the new year in with the extended faimly. The photo is my son, going mad with what the Spanish call “mother-in-law killers”. They always have fireworks here at New Year. We weren’t very close to any displays, but the house is built on the side of a hill, and we could see lots of displays from a distance: La Polvacera, San António, Zumacal, Santa Cruz, Concepción, Palmasol, and…
No, that’s not a spelling mistake, it’s Spanish. December 28th is Holy Innocents’ Day, when the Catholic church remembers the babies slaughtered by King Herod. There’s a long tradition of pulling people’s legs, much like April Fool’s Day in England. I forgot all about it, until my friend’s kid mentioned it in the evening. So when I went home, I decided to tease my husband, Carlos. He’s 51, but looks…
This is my son, Julio, with two of his Christmas presents, karate clothes (he’s been doing karate for three months) and enormous King Kong gloves. In Spain the big party is Christmas Eve, and we went next-door-but-one to my brother-in-law and family. We had a nice meal and chatted until midnight when we found that Father Christmas had left presents under the tree for us. Julio got a microscope, my…
My goodness, December already. As my brother put it in an email, Christmas is “rushing up like the ground at the end of a parachute jump!” except that in my case I forgot to pull the ripcord. I lost most of the last week to flu, and the rest of it to helping a friend with a particularly traumatic house move (which still isn’t over.) But the overseas cards and…
Why do people say they’ve got the flu? It feels like the flu’s got me – in hard, sharp talons. Mind you, at least my son is ten now. I got flu when he was about two, and he used to come and hit me on the head with a toy car so I’d get up and play with him. Now he gives me hugs and sympathetic little pats. Once…
Yesterday I took my son Julio to the oculist. He’d been complaining of headaches and seeing funny things. I thought it was probably just that he needed new glasses, but we both thought it was best to get it checked out properly. Why do they give people an appointment for 3:45 if they’re not going to see you until 4:30? and then after the briefest look he said that Julio…