spain in pain vs Ben in heaBen

Some of you may remember that plane on the photograph. It was a sunny early morning of September and Lynne was seating in it, ready to fly to Madrid, while the Ronphens were waiting to board another aircraft like this one heading to Barcelona. Well, those days are over. Today Spanair has closed the shop, which means that thousands of passengers who had bought a ticket with them, won't be flying. And the worst part is that I happen to be one of them.

Adding this unfortunate incident to the level of unemployment in the Spanish Kingdom, which according to the dreadful paper La Coz de Galicia has reached the generous figure of 5.273.600 workers, make Spain a fascinating empire of pain. I'm sure the aztecs were fully aware of that pain a few centuries ago, and now the regular Spaniard knows it, too. As Mr. Kravitz said in one of his early songs, "what goes around, comes around". Viva Españañoña!

These are the frequent occasions when I am really glad I am thousands of miles away from such a depressing and retarded place. And in order to celebrate this crucial reality, we were well prepared: a bottle of Larmandier-Bernier "Tradition" plus another bottle of 2005 Best's pinot meunier were ready for us.

In the early afternoon, while waking on Victoria street, I saw a bunch of lotus which at the time looked like onions, but later on they provided a colourful touch to our dinner celebration.