What Now, What Next, Where To…

As it was my birthday today, She Who Must Be Obeyed decided that we should visit the Museo del Turrón (Turron Museum) in Jijona (also known as Xixona). Turrón is a type of nougat, made with almonds. Originally there was just a hard variety (turrón de Alicante), but a soft sort was developed in the 19th century (turrón de Jijona) and nowadays turrón is used to refer to all sorts of confections sold in slab form, even down to bars of chocolate.

According to the museum's folder, the museum is attached to the factory, which can also be visited until the end of November, when production ceases for the season. It's 6 November today, a long way from the end of November. Nevertheless, the factory was closed (Cerrado por la crisis was given as the reason), so that was disappointing, especially as the museum visit was done with a guide, who had clearly seen everything before and was only interested in getting the visit over as quickly as possible. Pity, as the two display rooms seemed to contain some interesting items and plenty of written explanations, that served nothing, given the rate at which we flew past.

On the way home we decided we would stop in Guardamar for a meal at our favourite Chinese restaurant. But first, we'd go to the Bricolaje to buy some paint. When we got to the Bricolaje, it was closed because of death (Cerrado por defunción), so we had to find another shop that sold the paint we wanted. Then on to the restaurant, but when we got there, it was closed for holidays (Cerrado por vacaciones), so we had to find another restaurant that took our fancy.

Cerrado por la crisis; Cerrado por defunción; Cerrado por vacaciones…

At least the house was still open when we got back home.

I'm Counting On You…

Last night it dawned on me that, not only had I celebrated my 38th wedding anniversary just a few days ago and that I would be 61 years old in just a few days time, but that I had started working with computers over 40 years ago. That's a long time!

When I left school in 1967, I'd had more than enough of organised academia, but for some reason chose to go into the "safe" career of banking. It didn't take me long with bowler-hatted nine-to-fivers for me to realise that I had made a big mistake and so I started thinking about something I had already examined during my time at school: computing. I figured it was something with a future, though was warned by the manager of the National Westminster branch for which I worked (Grosvenor Gardens, I think it was — it overlooked the gardens of Buckingham Palace and was not far from the National Coal Board) that I would become a robot, a machine, and would end up nowhere. Such discouraging words only served to spur me on and soon I became a trainee programmer for what was then Elders and Fyffes and would soon become the Fyffes Group. This was in about September 1968.

Fyffes had an IBM 360 Model 20 computer, housed in a special room, with false floor, air-conditioning and a sort of air-lock entrance. The machine itself had a CPU with 16K central storage (core storage I think it was called, and, yes, you read that correctly — a tad more than 16,000 bytes), three removable hard disks, each of a massive 2.5 megabytes, two magnetic tape decks, a punched-tape reader, an 80-column card-reader, and a stunning 1200 lines-per-minute chain printer (did you get that? 1200 LPM, with each line containing 128 characters). Doing a core-dump really made the paper spew out of that machine!

Fyffes also had some legacy equipment, made up of IBM collators, tabulators, and other -ors I'm sure, which were programmed through plugboards or "control panels" that consisted of a matrix of connectors: using wires, one set up circuits between these connectors in order to achieve the desired result. A sort of hard programming, I suppose. You can see machines of this sort if you got to this page. I made a few programs on these machines whilst learning how to operate the Model 20, but soon moved to the programming department proper, where I learned RPG and Basic Assembler.

The legacy equipment was hardly used, but the Model 20 served to provide all of the sales statistics for the UK, as well as the personnel management and accounting.

Soon Fyffes decided to replace the Model 20 with a Model 30, so a big conversion was required and I also had to learn PL/1, which was a new general-purpose language being touted at the time by IBM (presumably as an alternative, in Fyffes's case, to COBOL). I wrote a few programs in the language, but soon moved, along with several other members of Fyffes DP section, to (take a deep breath) Futcher, Head, Smith and Tucker, a group of accountants in a rather run-down part of London, near Liverpool Street station. It was back to RPG there, working again on an IBM 360 Model 30.

In August 1971 I moved to Belgium. But that's for later.

I Never Promised You A Rose Garden

Stapelia grandiflora originates from the Transvaal in South Africa and is a very common succulent. It is easy to grow and quite interesting, with a big variety of colour in its flowers. However, the flowers are not grown for their beauty, nor for their perfume, which is quite evil smelling and gives rise to the popular name for Stapelia, namely "carrion plant." The idea, of course, is to attract insects and flies that otherwise go to rotting meat, in order for them to pollinate the plant.
I've had a Stapelia for just over three years and it has produced many other plants from cuttings. The "mother plant" is still thriving, though, and has just produced its second flower this year (with several others to come by the look of things). It takes a while for a flower bud to reach its mature size, but then things go quite quickly, especially on a warm day like today. In the course of just a few hours, the flower developed fully, as can be seen in this series of photos.

Chwarae Teg

Not too long ago I had problems getting my UK passport renewed (see UK Passport Service, Passport Control, High Noon). Then, to add insult to injury, my long-awaited, brand-spanking-new passport was stolen on its first outing (see previous post) and I had to go through the passport request procedure all over again (and the procedure to report the loss or theft of a passport). Even worse, I had to pay for the whole thing over again; no less than 156.25 euro (delivery included).
But, chwarae teg, the Passport Service did a good job this time round. I sent the duly completed stack of forms by registered post to the UK Passport Service in Madrid on 8 October, just two weeks ago, and at mid-day today, yes today, the new passport was delivered by DHL, all present and correct (and still looking very much like a bird-watcher's handbook). At least this time I didn't have to phone several times to discover what had happened to my application (later to find that those phone calls cost me over 30 euro!). No, a good job this time, so fair's fair.

(Chwarae teg is a Welsh expression, meaning "fair play" and suchlike.)

Papa's Got A Brand New Bag

Elise and I drove up to Belgium at the end of September. On the way we stopped at Girona, in the north of Spain and Albi, in the south of France. Both places are well worth a visit. The drive up went easily enough and without incident. Coming back, however, was a different story. All went well until we stopped at a motorway service area near the town of Tarragona, in the north of Spain. After filling the car with petrol, I parked at the side of the station's store and stayed in the car, while Elise went inside to make use of the facilities. Hearing someone who was clearly in distress, I looked around and saw a man on a mobile phone, just a few metres from the car, beckoning for me to come. Thinking he needed help, I went straight to him and he babbled questions in Spanish, but spoken with a foreign accent: do you speak German/how far is it to Barcelona/how much time is it to Barcelona…? Suddenly, he seemed to be satisfied and rushed off to a car that was then waiting for him. The car sped off, with him inside it. I went back to my own car, thinking he was a bit strange, but with no thoughts of ill-doings.
Elise soon returned and off we drove. After a few minutes, Elise asked where her bag was. She had left it on the floor of the car, in front of her seat, when she went into the service station's store. It didn't take long for us to realise what had happened: during that brief distraction, someone else must have quickly opened the car door and snatched the bag. A clever distraction, making use of the willingness of another to offer assistance.
As we were travelling back to our home in Spain from Belgium, the bag contained our passports, Elise's ID card, her digital camera, her sugar-level meter, her bank cards, her house keys, her car keys… a whole host of things, none really irreplaceable (other than the bag itself, which she had bought for her sixtieth birthday and was very fond of), but which require a lot of to-ing and fro-ing in order to be replaced. We first blocked the bank cards, then we made a "denuncia" (a statement to the police); on arriving home, we had the house locks changed, the car locks recoded, visited the consulates for Elise's Belgian passport and ID and my UK passport, had new photos taken, filled in and sent off all the necessary forms, visited the insurance company, and so on. All just hassle, really.
Oh, on the insurance front, there seems to be a difference between "theft" and "robbery": theft does not involve violence of any kind (and no violence was reported in the denuncia); robbery involves any level of viiolence, no matter how small -- a push might even be sufficient. Our travel insurance covers only theft, so we are likely only to receive the 200 euro maximum allowed in such a case (the insurance also covers the change of house locks). We estimate the total loss to be something over 1000 euro. Still, we were not hurt and are an experience wiser, so there are positive aspects.
It's just a pity that in future I shall think twice before going to help someone.
(The photo shows Elise in Girona, wearing the stolen bag and using the stolen camera.)

Tower Of Strength

Spain is full of surprises. Unfortunately, it seems that even the Spanish people themselves are largely unaware of the rich variety of their country historically, culturally, naturally and otherwise. Perhaps this is because there is just so much in every aspect that they become flippant. This certainly seems to be the case with the general disrespect of nature, with open spaces sadly filled with rubbish, showing a total disregard for the wonderful countryside. I'm sure that another reason is the dominance of the Catholic church, which has channelled almost all thought to a host of virgins and a never-ending series of processions. Still, that's another matter. Here I want to point out something quite different: the highest structure in the European Union (if it isn't now, it soon will be—in this respect, see my earlier "Looking High, High, High" entry, too.)

Even the local people who live around La Torreta are surprised to hear that it is the tallest building in the EU. "Taller than the Eiffel tower?" is the most frequent response, so here's an illustration to show just how much taller La Torreta is. Incidentally, there are plenty of other radio masts that are taller than the Eiffel tower, though most of these seem to be in Eastern Europe. Still, the Eiffel tower with its 320.75 metres (including its TV mast) is quite a way down the list and is almost 50 metres shorter than the 370 metres high La Torreta de Guardamar.

If you would like to see some photos of La Torreta de Guardamar, please visit my Picasa Web Album.

Let's Have A Party

In the north of Europe we have our Patron Saints, such as Saint David (Dewi Sant) in Wales. Here in Spain the patron tends to be a representation of the Virgin Mary (a term originating from a poor translation from the original Hebrew word 'almah, but that's another story). In El Campo de Guardamar, the patron is the Virgin of Fatima's Rosary and she is honoured in fiestas that take place each year during September. This year, these fiestas stretch from 5 until 20 September.

The programme of events is as follows:

Saturday, 5 September:

13:00 Firing of rockets to announce the start of the fiestas
16:00 Start of domino championship
23:00 Fiesta speech, given by veterinary doctor Julián Huertas Aracil
01:30 Crowning of Fiesta Queens, followed by disco dance, including live group Los Chiquillos

Sunday, 6 September:

10:00 Fiesta bar is open
14:00 Traditional paella cooking competition (Tables can be reserved from 10:00. Firewood and beer provided by fiesta committee.)
17:00 Bingo with plenty of prizes
18:00 Children's fair

Saturday, 12 September:

16:00 Bar opens and domino championship continues
23:00 Game shows, including Tú si que vales (something like The Gong Show). Anyone wishing to take part should contact a member of the Fiesta Committee. Also a surprise performance…
03:00 Traditional hot chocolate and La Mata Monas (a sort of cake)

Sunday, 13 September:

12:00 Open-air mass in Los Limoneros, followed by presentation of flowers in the chapel of El Campo
19:00 Groups accompany the Fiesta Queens and ladies in waiting from the chapel to the start of the carnival
20:00 Colourful carnival parade with three prizes offered to groups of more than 5 people, each of whom will receive a prize. Prizes are offered for:

Biggest group (most participants);
Best costumes;
Best coreography.

22:00 Following the parade, fireworks display.

Saturday, 19 September:

16:00 Bar opens and final of domino championship
22:00 Dinner and dance; bring your own food, but an aperitif and the wine is provided
23:00 Musical revue

.
Sunday, 20 September:

16:00 Bar opens and final of domino championship
10:30 Bikers breakfast: come on a motorbike; each of the first 300 participants will receive a gift bag.
Because of inclement conditions last week (it rained a bit), the Carnival Parade has been postponed to this weekend:
19:00 Groups accompany the Fiesta Queens and ladies in waiting from the chapel to the start of the carnival
20:00 Colourful carnival parade with three prizes offered to groups of more than 5 people, each of whom will receive a prize. Prizes are offered for:

Biggest group (most participants);
Best costumes;
Best coreography.

22:00 Following the parade, fireworks display.