Hello November!

I feel somewhat sorry for Mr D. Aj spent overnight at the vets for his biopsy and Diesel’s been home alone. We’ve never spent a night of just him and I.I can tell he´s wondering what’s up as I’ve had a subdued little lamb, who’s taken dinner demands down a notch. He’s so used to having his brother around and even though for the most part they tolerate each other, I can tell he misses him. When he’s brothers back today, he’ll be even more confused, but will probably stay close by to him. I know he’s a social cat, I just never knew how much!

If I’ve been MIA recently blame it on my mac. It’s been playing up for a while, battery draining in 1 hour loading photos, doesn’t like doing 2 things at once, fickle with the internet. When P was here, he got it working faster which was great until I uploaded photos, then back to square 1. There was no guarantee adding extra ram bits and a new power lead would work. Then there was having to take in to add the ram if not prepared to do it yourself and they take their sweet time to repair things here. Long story short, I got a new mac! I can’t believe how much faster and smoother it is! The only minor issue, it’s a Spanish keyboard with all the punctuation keys in different places. I kept wondering why the apostrophe didn’t look right even with the language set to British English. Every time I struck it, spell check kicked in, it looked right, but didn’t. It took me a while to think to check out the keyboard properly. There it was, up with the numbers next to 0. Yay, but so awkward to type. Solution, set keyboard to British English and flitter between the 2 keyboards for all the punctuation keys.

Anyways, a quick recap of being MIA. Very exciting, weekends are back to groundhog, though Spectre’s out here next weekend and who doesn’t like a 007 movie?!

Shorter days still catching me out. Walk along la carretera de las Aguas, Parc Collerola with P Thursday. It’s popular even in darkness at 7pm with runners and cyclists. 

Back to working at pace running Friday. It’s a bit more difficult on the sand. Concrete is saved for longer runs! I stopped 1/2 way to explore the sea rocks and was surprised how clear the water was. I usually stop here and listen to the water lap the rocks. If I could have an outdoor office, sunny days here would be perfect!

Zoo Friday afternoon. Shorter days catching me out! Last entry is at 5pm with grounds closing at 5.30pm. It’s more difficult to get there in time, but I have longer shopping time afterwards! Christmas never started arriving in the shops until the 2nd week of December when I moved here 10 years ago. This year, everything started arriving last week, toys, Christmas treats in the supermarkets, gift, secret Santa ideas and early sales in the shops. Zara Home’s filled with Christmas decorations, which is fatal. Zara Home’s always fatal with me anyway. Trips Friday and Saturday, opps. One thing I miss about British Christmases is just being about to browse all the decorations and gift ideas. I don’t have to purchases anything, just being around it all makes me happy! This year, it looks like I’ll be able to!

I swear this guy paused and posed for the camera! 

Zara Home. Walking around doing a Luther, hands in pockets so less likely to touch things’s futile! 

Sunday, 16km up the coast. If possible I’d like to get the Spartan Race Trifecta next year: The Beast 21km+, Super 13km and Sprint 5km all plus obstacles. This year the Beast was more than 21km! I’m working up to 1/2 marathon distance, though if I were to run the Beast, it’ll take way longer than a 1/2 marathon time thanks to the 35+ obstacles and if I run here, mountains trails. I find long runs generally a bit boring which is why the Beast appeals to me. 16km went by kinda quick thanks to a head wind going and tail coming back (can’t say the same for pace!). My kind of windy run!

Zoo again, as I wanted peace and quiet. Friday’s they have an after school kids club with most exploring the grounds with their parents afterwards. I usually go later, but as it’s closing earlier and it was a Friday, it was filled with excited kids. Sunday I though as it’s so windy and the shops open even though it’s holiday (normally shops are closed Sundays, but as Christmas is coming and 2 week day holidays coming up they’re were open) it would be empty. Ha! 

Penguin or Sea Otter?!

Happy November! Who’s your favourite 007? Daniel Craig’s mine with Sean Connery a close 2nd! Have a great week!