Shopoholics Anonymous

Help! I can't stop! I have been hitting the shops and my bank card a little too much over the weekend. Of course shopping is my favourite past time, I only wish I had a bigger bank balance to support my addiction. The most surprising purchase of the week is my new bikini (which looks nothing like this clipart image I hasten to add). I have finally said what the hell to myself and decided that I am going to don a bikini on my next trip to the beach. That is no big deal I hear you cry, but I have not worn a bikini since I was about four years old when flab and beach whale were not in my vocabulary. However, I have found a bikini I am happy with and I think I am at a stage in my life where frankly, I don't give a toss. Go Faye Go Faye!

I also purchased a new skirt and some tops and Jaime and I are about to pop out to Xanadu on another spree.

Staying alive with the Simpsons

Just a quick note to let you know that I am still alive and well. It has been a while since I wrote anything but that is just because I haven't really done anything of interest. I spend most of my days trying to come up with new ways to incorporate the Simpsons into my class of nine year olds, the Simpsons with 'can', the Simpsons sport vocabulary, clothes vocabulary, comparatives etc etc. They go mad for the Simpsons, and it keeps the buggers quiet. Apart from that I have spent a few evenings doing the terraza business and waiting for the month to end so I can go on holiday!!

Home Sweet Home

24 hours after the scheduled departure time my parents finally boarded a Sleazyjet plane to Liverpool. They spent the night in a luxury 4 * hotel and had some fodder before returning to Barajas the next day in the hope that the engineer, who had been flown out from Luton, had managed to fix the problem. They arrived home safe and sound at about 8pm last night.

11-S 11-M 7-J

9 /11, 11-M and now London. I don't know what to say, there aren't words strong enough to express the absolute disgust and hatred I feel towards the sick bastards that carry out these atrocities in the name of Islam, nor do I have the words to express my sympathy for those who have suffered loss at the hands of terrorists all around the world. ¡Basta ya! Enough is Enough.

Homeward Bound

Well at least I think that the family are on their way home. I received a text message from my mother at about 7pm (their flight was supposed to leave at 5pm) saying that the window in the cockpit was broken and EasyJet engineers were trying to locate a part they needed. ETD was 9.15pm so I have no idea where they are now. Hopefully they are in the air and on their way home.

The Hobsons are holidaying in Madrid part II

Here we are with the last installment of the Hobson family holiday tales. After our shopping trip in Xanadu we went to La Vaguada (another shopping centre in Madrid) where my mother bought even more clothes for Adam. She has decided that she has to spend money to save money !? (things that she wouldn't buy in England 'cos they are too expensive she has bought here like a Lacoste shirt for Ads) After our trip to La Vaguada we spent the evening in true Spanish style til 3am on a terraza in a park down the road from our flat.

Sunday was a day of rest and we spent most of the time lazing around. In the evening we went to Ventas to see a bullfight. I have never really wanted to go as I think that it is cruel but my parents were intrigued so I got out my shawl and black fan and we parked out bottoms on some 1€ leather cushions in the ring to watch the thing that many Spaniards class as an 'art form'. Mmm?

After the first 'faena' my mother wanted to throw up, I felt rather disturbed and my brother was looking through Jaime's binoculars in an attempt to get a closer look at the bloodshed. Many foreigners, having seen what all the fuss was about, got up and left after the first bull had been slain. However after a while we got used to the barbaric nature of the corrida and decided to stick it out 'til the end. I was also intrigued to see the female bullfighter, Mari Paz Vega, as that isn't something that is often seen in Ventas. When it was over my dad said 'well, it was interesting'. I suppose that is one way of describing it.

The best part, according to my brother, was when the bull knocked the horse over and the 'picador' who was on the horse got his legs trapped beneath it. He got rushed off the the 'hospital' in the ring. Adam cheered and clapped. I hid.

According to 'experts' (Jaime and strange, angry Spanish man shouting obscenities) the bulls were shit and the fights were mediocre. I wouldn't know and nor do I care. I won't be returning to Ventas to see another bullfight, once in a lifetime is plenty.

The Hobsons are holidaying in Madrid, part I

My parents and younger brother, Adam, arrived on Wednesday afternoon and have been enjoying the sweltering heat of the Spanish capital. The concierge of our building quickly realised that some new guiris (foreigners) had landed at 121 Camino de los Vinateros because Jaime has been going down every morning with a couple of bags full of empty Mahou cans.

On Thursday they strolled around Plaza Oriente and the Retiro whilst Adam tried to perfect his tan and then in the evening I took my parents to meet the bunch from the BLC at Mozar (where they spend almost every evening downing beers or in my case shandy (lightweight). They had a great time and thought that everyone was lovely. Mum's words about Colin were 'oh, what a character!'- Yes, well that is one way of putting it. We said our farewells to Ruth and Dave and all the teachers who are escaping Madrid for the summer and headed off home at midnight, before my mother turned into a pumpkin.

On Friday I took them to the Theme Park in Casa de Campo as a belated birthday treat for my brother who was 16 in May. I really wish I had sent him a CD in the post or something and saved myself from the torture of almost spewing my guts out all over my mother after disembarking from the Tarantula. It is a new ride at the park and I never want to see it again! After going on 4 hideuous rollercoasters I decided that I have grown too old for this sort of thing and I no longer think the rush of adrenalin is 'really cool'. I had to retire to let Adam go it alone. However, he later managed to talk me into going on the Rapids after assuring me that you didn't get that wet. Yes, whatever. I had to spend the journey home on the metro looking like I had either pissed my pants or I suffered froma profuse sweating problem (note to self: don't wear jeans if intending to go on silly water flumes and shit like that!)

Last night Jaime and I took my family out for a meal in Siam , a Thai restaurant near Plaza España. It was Father's Day last month and my dad will be 57 on July 22 so it was a double celebration. We had a lovely dinner and then we went to have some drinks on a terraza nearby. We were fleeced 22 euros for 2 coffees, a beer and 2 G&T's! Outrageous! Thankfully by then it was Mum and Dad's turn to pay.

Today we have been to Xanadu to do some shopping and have a wander about and now we are refuelling for part II ot the Hobsons in Madrid. I will keep you all posted.