Home Again

Here's one more picture from Spain, showing a tray of Easter cookies at the bakery down the street from our hotel in Málaga. I went there yesterday morning for a coffee and a pastry before we left for the airport, and snapped this picture. The guys with the hoods look a little scary to our American eyes, but in Spain those pointy hoods are known as capirotes and are traditionally worn in processions during Lent.

We got off to the airport with no problem yesterday morning, simply wandering out to the Plaza de la Merced to pick up one of the dozen or so taxis waiting. Our check-in was smooth and the flight was fine -- there were a few periodically screaming kiddies but nothing like our journey a week ago. Apparently taking small children on vacation to Spain is something that people in the UK commonly do. When I was a little kid we never went anywhere that required an airplane, unless it was to see grandparents -- and even then, we usually drove.

I did have one scary moment in the airport. We were sitting at the gate, waiting to board our plane, when I went to a vending machine to buy a bottle of water. I punched in the number for the water and inserted my bank card in the ATM-like slot, only to realize that the slot was for cash and not for cards -- and the card was pushed so far in that I couldn't grip it to pull it out. Holy crap, I thought, I'm either going to have to leave my card here or miss my flight! I had visions of frantically calling the bank to cancel it before we took off.

Fortunately, I have a very thin leather wallet, and I was able to insert the edge of the wallet into the slot and push the card askew, so that its corner stuck out. I then gingerly grabbed that corner with my fingertips and worked the card out of the machine. Whew!

Back home again, the house and garden were just as we left them. The hyacinths are up and one of them is blooming -- these are the sparkly bulbs we got years ago for Christmas. They just keep coming.

Remember how I trained the garden cam on the bird feeder, to see if any rodents climbed the pole during our week away? Well, I skimmed through the footage last night. I didn't see rodents at all, which is good -- apparently to whatever extent they're around, they're staying on the ground where they belong. But I did get some good footage of birds, including some showing them throwing seed out of the feeder -- which in turn, of course, attracts the rodents.

Maybe I'll post a bird video at some point, but first...

...on our train journey from Gatwick back to West Hampstead, we passed over the Thames bridge at Blackfriars station, which offers a spectacular view of the river and the city beyond. I made a very quick video to show you what that view was like from the Thameslink train.

Oh, and at the airport, we ran into a group of about ten senior students from our school, coming back from a ski week in Austria. They seemed unaccompanied by any adult, though they must be 18 themselves, or close to it. I guess by that age they are capable of traveling on their own, and indeed they all seemed alive and in one piece. Dave and I run into students all the time when we travel, but usually they're with their families.

Today will be all about settling back in, doing laundry, that kind of thing. Gotta get ready for work tomorrow!