The moving van comes tomorrow, everything’s pretty much packed. As long as it doesn’t rain I reckon it’ll be fairly straightforward. Took a break from the boxing to see what the annual Berkeley Marina Kitefest is all about. Kites mainly. Took a few pix, but it wasn’t the best weather for pix. Good weather for kites in fact.
Last night we went out to a sushi restaurant thinking a change from red meat would do us the power of good. The place we chose however specialised in some kind of deep fried battered sushi / tempura affair which was pretty heavy on the stomach, still we walked home from there and watched a few episodes of the American Office and today´s been quiet so far. Today I´ve been rebuilding my lightbox and retaking the photos since they changed the labels on the tequila bottles and need new pix. Which is pretty therapeutic work to be honest. Later I´m off doing Amour Fou´s tech support and then we´ll have a meal and head of to Chapalita where there´s some kind of mini celebration of the Grito. Last year´s was fairly hectic in the centre so we´re toning it down a tad.
Another spanish word of the week: La Baticueva. Bat cave. Bats of course, are called murcielagos… Here’s the one we saw in Los Colomos park t’other day. We also managed not to molest any of the fauna, which include abandoned house rabbits…
M & D are still casa-less, but they’re on it. We’re off for a meal somewhere and then bowling. It’s been a while, not since Ed was here this time last year. I think I’ve seen The Big Lebowski more times in the last 2 years than actually gone bowling. Anyroad, I’ve put on some nice, clean socks especially and am ready for a few white russians and fluking the occasional chuza (strike) at the bolinche…
I promised to take Sita to the charreria before we left the city, but in the end she couldn’t make it and I went on me own with my trusty camera and zoom lense. I’ve nothing more to add really to my last post about it when I went with Anne and Stu. I took 297 photos in 2 hours and then cherry picked the best 50 which are now over at Flickr… Best entertainment 1 pound 30p can buy you, I reckon.
This photo’s from one of the first events, where the charro has to gallop at full speed then do an emergency stop when the instructor taps his notebook on the dashboard within a chalked area. Then they measure the stopping distance. The shortest wins the charro a round of applause.
I start my photojournalism course today. I’m going to be networking to try and get some kind of press credential too… I might resend that email to the Gazette to another desk there as the sports people are too busy attending skittles and Great Mills League football matches to reply.
Had a nice soirée round Javier’s yesterday too, he lives in one of my favourite areas of Gwod (well, Zapopan technically) called Seattle and met a couple of new peeps. One of whom might want a website for their ecotourism business.
This just in…
Taunton wins the Tesco Cup for Britain South West in Bloom
Bet they don’t have any guava trees though…
2020, eh? I don’t think I’m alone in calling it as not a particularly great one. Here’s hoping the new US administration can rejoin a few global accords to curb the worst effects of global heating, not screw up the vaccination programme, roll back all the anti-environment legislation, and generally make it so I don’t have to watch the news through the gaps between my fingers. Today’s Tribune reported:
Overall, there have been 283,473 counted cases of coronavirus in Utah, meaning about 1 in 11 Utah residents has tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/health/2021/01/03/coronavirus-utah-state/
Which sounds about right given the damn-the-casualties and keep-everything-open policy Utah’s been pursuing since April. We’re really lucky to live somewhere with the wilderness practically on our doorstep, and able to work exclusively from home. Sarita’s sabbatical plans ( e.g. in-person interviews around the country ) were rather ruined but she moved her teaching online with characteristic panache and aplomb.
We survived earthquakes,
Never liked that tile mirror anyway, and it missed the emergency crate of wine #SLCEarthquake pic.twitter.com/qM4zIbr76K
— Gwyn (@gwynf) March 18, 2020
wind storms ( and attendant week without electricity / internet ),
Morning walk was an assault course #utwx pic.twitter.com/OdBzrWBvqa
— Gwyn (@gwynf) September 8, 2020
cancelled holidays, Coatsville Ave’s reconstruction, roof replacement, tooth extraction, crown replacements, root canals, unkempt hair experiments, and levels of political incompetence / malfeasance hitherto unseen. Oh and Utah voted in record numbers for trump and republicans down the rest of the ticket again. Ugh. Plus ça change, innit.
Life goes on though. We moved house, less than a mile down the road. It’s delightful, more so every day, and, once this whole pandemic thing blows over, ready for the mother of all housewarming parties. I no longer have to move my office around according to the seasons. Yesterday’s Welsh cake and empanada cooking was an exercise in ease thanks to having the space for proper mise en place with a kitchen island and everything. And it’s going to be fun seeing what grows in the garden once spring arrives.
This is the Spotify playlist I’ve been adding tracks to over the year, a mixture of new and resurfaced oldies:
No stand out albums this year, Grimes’ Miss Anthropocene was probably the one that grabbed me most. The Beths’ second LP was good but not as packed with bangers as Future me hates me. Likewise, Fiona Apple’s was more admirable than enjoyable. Asking Alexa for Rebecca Black’s Friday every Friday never gets old. Shakira’s collaboration with Black Eyed Peas scrapes new lows. 4ÆM slaps.
Found a lot of fantastic local trails, the whole Logan area for starters, new bits of the Uintas, and all round SLC too. Hell’s Canyon’s a great find, and they’re building miles of new trails for mountain bikes and pedestrians up above the avenues which are perfect for running around.
Started, but didn’t finish, running every street in Sugarhouse from the old house’s front door ( masked or at least 3 metres from any soul ).
Another project continued:
I take this shot looking across City creek from Meridian whenever I pass it. Need more snow and willpower to complete the seasonal set. #probablyart #SLC pic.twitter.com/A1FqbbgUFJ
— Gwyn (@gwynf) November 25, 2020
and today I snapped a snowy one:
Speaking of trails, I wore out several pairs of trainers…
For an historically indoorsy year, it’s been very outdoorsy.
I doubt I’ll ever run further or higher in a year. I did 230K of climb in 2019 and that included the R2R2R Grand Canyon madness. Training from April to Sept was pretty intense, and the dentistry didn’t help. I didn’t always manage the weekly mileage demanded by my wretched spreadsheet overlord, but, dammit, I did alright in The Bear 100 and get to wear a ‘Grizzly Club’ belt buckle if ever the mood takes me.
Telly? Going to make more of an effort to keep track of what I’ve been watching next year but standouts of the last year or so of golden age prestige TV include: Devs, Watchmen, Better Call Saul, Queen’s Gambit, The Flight Attendant, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Succession, Cobra Kai, The Umbrella Academy, Giri / Haji, The Morning Show, & His Dark Materials. And yesterday I binged through Ted Lasso, “US football coach comes to London and transforms lives with his folksy wisdom and absence of cynicism”, bloody loved it and consequently no longer know who I am. Other than Pixar’s Soul, I haven’t seen any standout films for a while, but the slew of quality small screen stuff more than makes up for that.
In 2021: Must. Read. More.
Favourite new ( to me ) podcasts:
Pilot TV Podcast
Grounded with Louis Theroux
The The One Show Show
St. Elwick’s Neighbourhood Association Newsletter Podcast
Films to be Buried With
My most liked instagram of 2020 was a video of an unseasonal blizzard in May up Farmington way, followed by my stock-in-trade Utah scenery. And a video of the bread maker in action.
Max_Pancho_2000’s top pic was himself and DrSita up city creek in late autumn. Truly a dog for all seasons.
A memorable year however you look at it. Interesting times…
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sorry we didn’t bump into you at the kite festival, tho judging from your pic, you were there later than we as there are kites up i don’t recognize from our foray there earlier in the day. hope the packing’s going well and see you tomorrow!
D’oh, didn’t know you were going, T we could’ve met up. That said I was fairly busy in the morning I got there at 2pm ish. Hey ho, hasta mañana!