Eek! A Mouse!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Today is Saturday and it is the day before national elections. It is called a day of reflection and no campaigning of any kind is permitted. It is a foregone conclusion that the Partido Popular, the party of the right, will enjoy a resounding victory. The Partido Socialista is expected to have its worst election results ever. With unemployment hovering at 21% this is not very surprising. The only question is whether a change in regime will bring about any changes in the economic outlook. I hate to be a pessimist, but I doubt it. How do you create jobs when you have sent most of your manufacturing to China and closed down your factories? How do you revive your number one industry, tourism, when other world economies are in trouble and international tourism is the last thing on most people’s lists? I hope I am wrong.

It’s official. Everything has been unpacked and is in its proper place. That includes my magic. We did not leave the house until 12:30 with the goal of finding a mouse for Susan’s computer. On our way to the Corte Inglés we stopped off at The Ginger Loft and said hello to Mike. Santi was not in yet, so we will catch up with him later. Our next stop was at the Banco Popular where we caught up with Carlos Almagro to thank him for the part he played in helping us get our visa. The Subdelegation here kept making requests for certificated from the bank and Carlos was most obliging in getting them to our lawyer so that he could present them to the Subdelegation.

Having fulfilled our social obligations we headed to the Corte Inglés where we found the perfect mouse for Susan. I purchased a copy of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s new book, El prisionero del cielo (Heaven’s Prisoner). Ruiz Zafón is the author of the very successful Shadow of the Wind and his current novel is the last part of the trilogy. It was 2:30 by the time we left the store and we were getting hungry. After a bit of discussion we decided to have lunch at El Molinón.

Quique has taken the afternoon off, but we were warmly greeted by her friend, Vilma, and we chatted for a while. We decided not to go overboard when ordering lunch so we started with an ensalada de tomate y atún, which consisted of sliced tomatoes topped with white tuna in a very tasty vinaigrette. Our second dish was a fabada, a typical Asturian stew made with large beans that are called fabes and a variety of meats. In this case it was chorizo, morcilla, pancetta y jamón. Given the fact that there was a chill in the air, it was the perfect dish to order. We passed on dessert and coffee and headed home.

A little after 5:00 a driver from Valero Movers came by and picked up the cartons we had used to store our stuff. Now all surfaces, including the floor, were clear. I spent an hour organizing my magic and we then headed out to the equivalent of the Dollar Store and picked up a number of items for the house. I picked up several clear boxes so that I could finish organizing my magic. On our way back home it started to rain, but we were only minutes away from home so it was not a problem.

Later that evening we spoke to my brother via Skype and caught up with Rachel via FaceTime. Susan prepared a lovely salad for supper and we sat down around 10:15 to eat it. We puttered around for another half hour or so and we headed for bed.