The days, and especially the nights are
punctuated by explosions as we work our way towards the day of bacchanalian
revelries that characterizes the Day of Saint John. This is the day of fireworks and it is
traditional to spend the night on the beach around a fire and (gasp!)
drinking! Drinking more than one glass
of beer or wine! Catalans! But it is true, as I have seen it with my own
eyes. The beach the morning after looks
like a bomb site with bottles, rubbish and bodies laying around in all sorts of
attitudes of drunken stupor.
Lighting Fires On The Beach has, of course
been banned, but that does not stop intrepid revellers from disobeying the
rules and providing employment for the officers of the law and the beach
cleaners.
This is the last week of contact with the
kids for me. Five more days and that
part of my life is over. A further week
with my colleagues probably going from pointless meeting to pointless meeting
in one of those managerial spasms that assumes that a teacher without classes to
go to is up to mischief and must be kept on the educational straight and narrow
by continuing membership of ad hoc committees!
For me next year extends itself into the future and September will have
no horrors for me.
Yesterday, or perhaps the day before yesterday, at the end of school I went up
(dutifully following Frank) to the tunnel way to Terrassa. This was remarkably quick and probably
remarkably expensive, as my little device in the car clicked up another fee to
travel on the roads.
It was a rapid visit and as soon as we hit
Castelldefels we went out on the tapa trail in the centre of the town. The first of the two that we had was in a
place that had been closed the last time we attempted to visit it. This time it was open and the tapa was cod
wrapped in humus coated with sesame seeds resting on a bed of red pepper mousse
with garnish of pickled baby tomatoes with a sprig of greenery. Spectacular and tasty!
The second was in a bar we have frequented
before and this time we were treated to a quite substantial tapa of minced meat
wrapped in cabbage leaves and served with a vicious chilli. There was a blob of yogurt to make up for the
chilli – which turned out to be necessary!
Full marks for the quantity but I fear that the quality was a little
lacking. The meat was relatively tasteless
and the whole things were far too salty for my taste. The yogurt was nice.
So far we have been impressed with the
invention shown in the tapas this year and we are looking forward to completing
the first twenty-one of the tapas as our first entry in the competition for gourmet
meals for two in the prize draw of the completed “passports” for those who have
completed the regulation 50% of the locales printed on the entry form.
I intend to sample all of the tapas and
therefore gain two entries to the prize draw – as well, of course as gaining a
wider appreciation of the culinary quality of my town. Any visitors will be dragged into this
enterprise as well as we will have a “visitors’ passport” for them to use which
we will also enter for the prize draw too!
We have, I am glad to aver, no shame!
I have now been marking, for what seems to
have been most of my life which also seems to have been concentrated into the
temporal paradox which has been the last few days. I have now, however, completed the majority
of the horrendous marking and there is only the “light” marking of odd papers
which come my way.
The true horror now starts when I try and
put these marks into the computer for the day-long meeting on Tuesday of next
week – which is an authentic horror in itself!
The days are ticking down and freedom is
getting ever nearer. Well, freedom of a
sort, who knows what the future AS (After September) will bring! But I look forward to the New Life and all
other thoughts that can be capitalized!
Other teachers are now getting their final
examinations and are looking browbeaten in their desperation as they ply the
red biros with ever growing fury on an undiminishing pile of papers.
I am trying to remember all the haunts
where I might have secreted useful teaching material in an attempt to erase all
traces of my past activity before the last week of term. In theory that Last
Week (more capitalization!) will be a time during which I will have masses of
free time because I do not (surely!) need to attend all those interminable
meetings giving helpful advice about the following term. Which in my case I will not experience. It is during at least one of these meetings I
will be able to get started on all those petty tasks that usually lurk until
the beginning of the term and then jump out to irritate and waste time which is
suddenly more precious than gold!
At some point, well, the 27th of
June, I have to go to the tax office and make a play to try and get some form
of rebate – just like everyone else I know: apart form my good self. I am truly the only person I have heard of
who does not get a sum of money (no matter how small) back from the tax office
at the end of the year! I think this may
say something about the general organization of the finances of this country
and the parlous financial state that it is now in!
Meanwhile the sun shines, time ticks on and
I am generally happy!
No comments:
Post a Comment