Ben's picture of the day.

Day 972 – 21st November 2009

2009-11-21T20:27:00.001Z

A colleague and I went to some caves today, and very interesting it was too. Sadly, we weren’t allowed to take pictures or video, so this is about as good as I could get on the sly. It’s dark underground, so it would have been nice to get a shot from a stable position, but I’m sure you get the idea from this.

Amidst all the stalactites and stalagmites we were sat down in an underground amphitheatre and given a little concert in the caves. The musicians were on little boats in an underground lake, slowly floating by in front of us, carefully lit for dramatic effect. It looked good, it sounded good – but a floating underground serenade in the pitch black does get a little odd after a while…

Day 971 – 20th November 2009

2009-11-20T21:15:00.000Z

On a day like today where I’ve been too busy to really get a proper picture, it dawned on me that I hadn’t ever got a picture from inside the flat. It’s for the record more than anything else really. It’s small, I’m standing by the door, but it’s cosy and it never gets cold, even though the wind whips though the window and the door at night.

This morning there was an accident in my road, so I couldn’t get out. There was no one around – it seems the only two cars on the road managed to hit each other, and in front of me. I wasn’t actually in the car at the time, but the whole kerfuffle made me an hour late.

I won’t go on about the rest of the day, it’ll only get more dull…

Day 970 – 19th November 2009

2009-11-19T20:54:00.001Z

I taught English to beginners today for the first time. People who have no idea what you’re on about really do present a challenge, but I was happy with how it went and I just about managed to get across what I wanted to.

I do have quite a lot of work, so until tomorrow – goodnight.

Day 969 – 18th November 2009

2009-11-18T22:18:00.000Z

This probably ends the food theme that’s been going on over the past week, but what a great one to end on. ‘Es petit bar’ translates to the little bar, and they’re not kidding. From where I’m taking this picture by back is almost up against the wall. The barman gets more room than the customers!

That’s partly why I love this place, it’s got a miniature charm, but also it’s right next door to where I’m training, making it a great place to have coffee in the afternoon. In fact, I come here most mornings for breakfast too, they do a great croissant!

That’s probably enough about the bar for today. It’s been another late night planning tomorrow’s lesson. I’m switching to teaching an elementary class – a radical change from the intermediates I’m used to, so I’ve had to be extra careful in the planning. Hopefully I’ll adjust quickly to teaching them, but at the moment it does feel somewhat like a step into the unknown!

It’s way past my bed time.

Day 968 – 17th November 2009

2009-11-17T21:26:00.001Z

Back to food today – chestnuts roasting on an open fire. You can barely see the chestnuts and you can barely see the fire, but I think you get the idea.

My rule is not to mention Christmas before December, I’ve just broken it, I know, but I have to say that this is such a Christmassy thing. It’s a shame that it’s not cold, you can’t see your breath, even at the dead of night, so hot chestnuts really aren’t quite the order of the day – probably about as much good as mulled wine and mince pies. It’s weird to be thinking about such things when I’ve not even put my coat on yet.

Got stuck in traffic this morning so I was rushing to get my lesson set up, it all went well in the end so this is a bit of a non-story.

Day 967 – 16th November 2009

2009-11-16T22:45:00.001Z

In another slight change of plan from the lunchtime food project, I chose another picture. Actually, I went back to the pizza place from the other day so I thought I should perhaps avoid repetition.

This is opposite the school I’m in, the square is a long way down below – the clock bongs every hour but I’m told it’s not quite the right time. If that’s true, it quickly shifts from being useful to really annoying.

Talking of school – I’ve been planning a lesson all night, so it’s easily my bed time now.

Day 966 – 15th November 2009

2009-11-15T20:15:00.000Z

Once again, the day I decide to do some washing is the one day where it won’t dry. It’s not cold outside, it’s just that the clouds obscured the sun when it came round to my side of the building. It was sunny for the rest of the day, just not those three or so hours I needed it to be.

This happens almost every time, today I’ve had to stick the gas fire on to dry stuff out – I’m keeping an eye on it all just to make sure it doesn’t catch fire, as you can see it’s not the most up to date contraption. Fire or not, it’s getting mighty toasty in here with that heater on – I feel slightly guilty opening the window with it on, but it might just come down to that.

Back to work tomorrow, I think I’m just about ready – early night tonight.

Day 965 – 14th November 2009

2009-11-14T20:24:00.000Z

The food mini series is taking a break for the weekend – there’s not many places you can go for a quick lunch where I live, and I think Burger King has probably featured enough already.

I’ve done very little today, Saturday is my day off and I’m glad of it. I was also pleased to get some mail from people this morning, two letters. Weird they should both come today, as I haven’t received an actual handwritten letter for about three years now. It’s like a massively out of proportion version of the ‘two come at once’ bus joke. Still, I know that one of the senders reads this occasionally, so thank you, you know who you are.

Day 964 – 13th November 2009

2009-11-13T21:46:00.001Z

The third episode in the run of lunchtime food suppliers is all about pizza. This, my friend, is a good place for pizza. Much like pancakes yesterday, it’s difficult to find a decent bit of pizza here so I’m ever grateful when one that makes more than edible food pops up next door to me.

In a strange turn of events, only one person turned up for this morning’s English lesson so it had to be called off. I was lucky not to be teaching myself, so it didn’t affect me much, but basically the morning was cancelled. The superstitious among you will note that it’s Friday 13th, the rest of you will just say it was hard luck.

It was awkward and odd to say the least, we can only hope it doesn’t happen again.

Day 963 – 12th November 2009

2009-11-12T21:29:00.000Z

It’s day two of the lunchtime project, and today the unfortunate soul under scrutiny is the pancake lady. Well, they call them crepes here, but I call them pancakes…

It’s ironic I suppose that you can barely see the pancake in this picture, it’s all bleached out – the contrast between inside her little shop and outside was way to high to be able to get everything looking normal, so I went for the woman behind the pudding, rather then the pudding itself.

I like this place, mainly because, like all of these food pictures I guess, it tastes so good. I find it difficult to get my hands on a satisfactory dessert in these parts, so if you’re reading, Mrs. Pancake (I never did get your name), you have made my days just that tiny bit more bearable!

I stayed up very, very late last night to do some work and teaching this morning after four hours sleep was a struggle. I’m told it went well , but I honestly don’t remember much about it now. Looks like it’s going to be another late night tonight too – roll on the weekend.

Day 962 – 11th November 2009

2009-11-11T22:21:00.000Z

In a new departure for picture of the day, I’ve decided to start a small set of images, a ‘mini series’ if you like, all about food. It’s mainly because that’s just about all I’m going out to see on weekdays at the moment – I thought it’s be nice to get some shots of people who feed me on a daily basis.

So here’s the first one, Wolfgang the wurst guy. It’s basic stuff, but it’s a very good lunch indeed and perhaps a little ironically for a sausage place, I’d recommend one of the burgers. I will add for detail’s sake that despite this being a very German food, Wolfgang is from Austria. So there you have it.

There shall probably be more of these in the coming days, although I won’t hesitate to briefly interrupt this series if something more interesting happens!

It’s Armistice day, something which I make a point of mentioning here every year – this one’s no different. No one wears a poppy here. No one has two minutes silence, but I wore it and I shut up at eleven o’clock (actually twelve on Spanish time).

Day 961 – 10th November 2009

2009-11-10T21:26:00.000Z

With yet another lesson to teach, and some more work to get through, taking pictures wasn’t really on my mind today, so I’m afraid this is all I have to offer.

No lesson tomorrow so I’m only doing reading tonight. I really should do more, but I could use the sleep. I have nothing else to say. Today’s lesson went well – let’s see what happens tomorrow.

Day 960 – 9th November 2009

2009-11-09T22:57:00.000Z

It was a long day today, and I had a lot of work to do when I got home, so I decided to grab a pizza as a quick dinner. I stopped at a place on my way to the car, and when I went in – look what I saw. I felt like I’d walked into Casablanca.

The place was quite nicely done up – the walls are all mirrored giving an impressive illusion of space. The pizza wasn’t so nice, and I probably won’t go back, but I thought it was interesting just as a one off.

I taught today, and I’ll be teaching tomorrow – probably best get off to bed.

Day 959 – 8th November 2009

2009-11-08T20:56:00.000Z

It’s the same hill, taken from the same place at the same time – not at all the same day though. Yesterday we saw the clouds coming in from the left – they still haven’t gone.

It’s been stormy – wind, hail and rain have battered the building all day, and continue to do so. I’ve been cooped up inside all day working, and I’m glad I was!

I’m not feeling too well tonight – I won’t go into details but I’m off to bed early in the hope I can sleep it off. I’m teaching again tomorrow morning so I really do hope I feel a bit better by then…

Day 958 – 7th November 2009

2009-11-07T21:04:00.000Z

I don’t know how many times I’ve got a picture of this hill, but today I think you really can see the storm coming in on the left so I stuck with it.

It’s been a nice day otherwise, it’s only this evening that the wind has started to batter the building, sending patio furniture flying around in all directions.

Saturdays are beginning to look like they might become my regular day off. Nothing to do for tomorrow and a full free day ahead of me to prepare for Monday – it’s the only day where I can sit back and not even think about work without feeling guilty. That’s what I did today, and I liked it.

Day 957 – 6th November 2009

2009-11-06T21:39:00.000Z

It’s the end of the week. I’ve got work to do this weekend though – back to back lessons on Monday and Tuesday to prepare.

I’m liking my time in Palma though, it’s tough, but the colleagues on my course make it more than bearable. It’s a relief that everyone’s getting on so well, it does make life so much easier.

You probably already guessed that I didn’t really get a picture today – this was just on the way home before getting in the car. Still, I’m actually quite pleased with this one, however blurry and slightly dull it may be.

Day 956 – 5th November 2009

2009-11-05T22:06:00.000Z

It’s the 5th of November, but here in Spain there’s not much to remember at all. I found out that they celebrate Guy Fawkes in New Zealand too – seems odd but hey, each to his own.

It’s also day 2 of teacher training – I gave a quick 20 minutes lesson which went pretty well. So far so good on the teaching front.

We saw these guys walk past during lunch. I’m not sure what some of the stuff they are holding is, but it was making a lot of noise – whatever they were doing, they seemed to light up the square in the fifteen seconds they walked through it.

Even better news than all of this, from my perspective anyway, is that as soon as I finish typing this picture shall go straight to the internet. I’ve got a 3G dongle now – and it feels good. It does disprove my theory about the internet being a complex series of tubes though…

Day 955 – 4th November 2009

2009-11-04T22:05:00.000Z

Just look at those buttresses fly.

My first day of teacher training has been and gone, and very nice it was too. My colleagues are all affable and interesting – a good start by all means. I won’t drone on about what we did – mainly because I have so little time.

I’ve got all my work done for the evening, but it’s late and I need to be up in the morning – I’m teaching a 20 minute lesson. All I’m doing is telling an anecdote, but the amount of paperwork involved is stunning for such a simple task.

I’m trying to obtain a pay as you go 3G dongle, tonight’s late visit to Burger King was particularly unwelcome after a long day – although to the credit of the people who work there they were very friendly indeed.

The picture, I should say, is of the cathedral in Palma – as ever far too big to get in the frame.

Day 954 – 3rd November 2009

2009-11-03T21:26:00.000Z

I went down to Palma today to give my workplace for the next month a quick once-over. This is the tree standing right in front of the place.

Palma is probably the only place I haven’t visited in any depth. It’s a nice place, lovely in fact, but I haven’t really fancied plodding around a sweaty Spanish city in the middle of summer. As I’ve probably already mentioned it’s cooler now so I was glad to have a potter around.

As crowded as Palma might be, and as bad as the traffic situation is, at this time of the year the island’s capital is the only place that’s alive on this chunk of land. The town around me has shut down in the space of a week. In contrast, everywhere in Palma was open, it wasn’t busy, but it was at least open. You can get breakfast from somewhere other than the supermarket. That’s a good feeling.

So, my training starts as of tomorrow. It takes a month. Hopefully they have wireless at the school so I might be able to dodge Burger King and sneak the odd picture up from there. Like I said, the building is directly behind me from where I took the picture, so don’t be surprised if there are a couple more pictures of the same tree in the coming four weeks.

Day 953 – 2nd November 2009

2009-11-02T22:00:00.000Z

Two days into November and it’s still hot. Luckily, it’s not so hot at night these days, so this place is starting to become more and more bearable in terms of climate. November, December and January used to be my favourite months, but only because I could whip out the winter coat with all its much loved bulk and pockets.

I don’t know why I like to wrap up in winter, but I do, and I won’t be happy until it gets cold enough to do so on Mallorca. Locals have told me that there might be a week, if not less, where that might happen. No more. I hope they’re wrong – I’m really not ready to launch back into the really hot weather quite just yet.

I’m looking way too far into the future though. It’s been a fairly good day today – I finally picked up my bank card. You have to go to the bank to actually get it off them unlike in the UK where it just gets sent to you. That’s fine by me, it’s far more secure, however you also have to call when you get home to activate the card.

Considering I already showed my ID twice to obtain the card then went to pick it up in person at my branch, I found having to make the call illogical and annoying. You quickly realise the point of it though – once you’ve confirmed your details etc… they then proceed to give a ten minute speech trying to sell you some sort of insurance.

I kept saying no, but I still can’t be sure if I’ve actually ended up with something I don’t want.

Day 952 – 1st November 2009

2009-11-01T22:22:00.000Z

Oh look – a cat on the stairs. I think I got a cat picture the other day, and it’s probably starting to seem like I’m some sort of feline freak but that’s not at all the case – it’s simply a repeat of yesterday… nothing much else happened.

I couldn’t help notice that its eyes were shining like in a cartoon – it’s almost all you can see in the dark!

Day 951 – 31st October 2009

2009-10-31T22:30:00.000Z

It was time for my brother and his friend to go home today, it was quite a late flight though so we had a whole day of doing nothing before I went to drop them off at the airport. They should be up in the skies right now.

This statue is one I saw in the terminal – it’s not that interesting but hey, there wasn’t much else going on!

Day 950 – 30th October 2009

2009-10-30T22:01:00.000Z

We went right down to the very end of the island today – all the way south to the point where you can see Ibiza. I’ve already been here, I like coming back though as it always serves as a nice reminder that there is land beyond Mallorca!

This picture is from a small village we stopped in for lunch – not bad at all, although I forgot to make any effort with the picture so this’ll have to do.

Day 949 – 29th October 2009

2009-10-29T22:12:00.000Z

I’ve actually already got a picture of this lake – but it looks so different here that I’m not even hesitating to use this one. Actually, I like this far more – can’t beat a bit of sun.

I took my brother and his friend for a drive into the mountains today – it took hours but was well worth it. We stopped for a bite to eat in a place perched right on the edge of a cliff – sadly it didn’t taste too good and was quite expensive.

Whilst I’ve not been in, Windows 7 has been installing – I’m now typing this from a brand new operating system. It’s slick, it’s (slightly) faster, and it looks good – I’m fairly pleased with it. I won’t go on for hours, but don’t hesitate to get it if you’ve got vista – if anything for the cool themes they give you, which include unique sounds for each one and rotating wallpapers. Nice.

Day 948 – 28th October 2009

2009-10-28T22:56:00.000Z

After picking up my brother’s friend today, we all headed off out to the lighthouse in the evening. It’s quite far away, but a nice place to go despite the ever imposing total darkness!

It’s a squeeze having three in the flat – turns out the blow up bed is actually a double bed so things are somewhat tighter than we’d anticipated. Having fun so far though so I can’t complain…