Ay, Candela!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

I can’t believe it. It’s Saturday and we have nothing planned. However, I have the sneaking suspicion that we will find something that will fill up our day. We have not been to any museums this time around and today may just be the day.

It was overcast when we woke up yesterday and it even started to drizzle as we headed out to do a number of errands. We stopped off at Miguel’s to pick up a cable box that his assistant, Alex, had used before ONO gave him a new one. It is about six years old. I took it, but I doubt that I will use it. From Miguel’s we went to La Petxina to see if there was any available space in any of the morning Pilates classes, but it turned out there wasn’t. On our way back home we stopped at Mercadona and picked up a few staples. Tomorrow we will head to the Central Market because we are just about out of everything fresh. Also, we will be having company for dinner on Sunday and we need to make sure that we can feed our vegetarian guests.

After we unpacked the groceries, I headed off to the gym to do some cardio and Susan headed out to meet with Zahava for lunch and a movie. They went to see the new Glenn Close film, ‘Albert Nobbs”. On my way home from the gym I stopped off at a computer store called Apps that is just around the corner from our place. I had a chat with the tech/salesman about my router issue and he thought that the simplest solution would be to try a new router. I plunked down my 21 Euros and took the baby home.

Lunch was leftovers that I supplemented with a fresh loaf of bread. As I read over the instructions for installing the router I was dismayed to notice that the accompanying mini-CD that would allow one to install the router painlessly was intended only for Windows machines. I was instructed to turn to Appendix 1 for Mac instructions. The only problem was that Appendix 1 had instructions for Windows Vista and Windows 7. I knew what the solution was since I had to reprogram the router that we now have, but the truth is I did not want to futz around with a brand new one.

After editing a Magic Agora piece I headed back to Apps and explained my problem. The young lady behind the counter now told me that even though I had a Mac the installation would be easy. She started to walk me through the steps and then she said, “You know what? It will be just as easy for me to program it for you than run you through the necessary steps.” And that is just what she did and I headed home knowing that all I have to do now is plug the baby in, attach the connection from the modem and connect my computers via Wi-Fi to the new modem.

On my way back home I discovered that there is a brand new restaurant about to open on Calle Quart. It looks like it will be a very fancy tapas bar that will also serve breakfast. People were busy inside polishing things up and getting chairs and tables in place. It looks like they could open this weekend. This is the second restaurant to open close to us in the last week or so. The other is called London Café and it is close to the Central Market. It boasts having 100 different sandwiches available, as well as a variety of hamburgers. We have yet to visit it, but it might be just the thing after a CIVAC meeting.

Susan returned home a little after 7:00 having enjoyed both the movie and her lunch at a Japanese restaurant near the theater. I have included some photos of her meal. We hopped a cab a little before 9:00 so that we could meet up with Ofelia at La Hamburguesería Mediterranea where we were going to have dinner. Ofelia was already seated at our table when we arrived. In the course of our meal we conversed about a number of topics some related to art, some related to politics and some related to life in general. We started our meal with a shared Caesar Salad followed by some Indian pakoras. Next came the hamburgers. We had all ordered a different gourmet burger and each of us enjoyed our own particular choice. Dessert was not really an option, so Susan and I had a coffee while we continued to chat. Ofelia asked if I had brought any magic along and I performed a new effect that I have put together called Perception Deception. It played very well. We paid our check and left in search of an after dinner drink.

Ofelia had suggested a nearby café, but when we walked past it was jammed. As we continued on our way a young woman, Candela, who was handing out promotional flyers and cards for nearby bars and restaurant, approached us. In our conversation with her we discovered that last night was her birthday and that she was celebrating it by standing out in the cold and misting Valencia evening and handing out promotional material. We asked her where we should go for a drink and she suggested Café 52, which was just across the street.

The bar was not very busy and we easily found a table. We continued our conversation over a drink and took a few pictures to amuse ourselves. When Candela returned from her stint on the street we invited her to our table and, in honor of her birthday, I fashioned for her a napkin rose, a pearl poodle and an origami butterfly. She was genuinely touched by these little tokens and once again reinforces in my mind that magic moments in life do not always have to be accompanied by a deck of cards. We chatted a while longer and a little after midnight we left the bar and walked to the Gran Vía to catch a cab. We did not get to bed until 1:00.