DONE UP LIKE A KIPPER TIE

If I have understood correctly, our mayor will be replaced by someone else up to and for the job and people are already suggesting someone from The CHA, the Chunta Aragonesa Party. I don't know how this works as the mayor is with the PSOE, the Socialist Party. I agree with a lot of what The CHA say but I am not Aragonese and I get the feeling you have to be from round 'ere to feel more than welcome. I might be wrong and perhaps they could adopt me as one of them.

There are only a matter of weeks to go before I end my stint at San Viator School and I am thinking of doing a mini 'Huesca You've Got Talent' which is something I feel I have been threatening to do for a while. Next week is Aragon Week and there will be some mention of Saint George who is the patron saint of Aragon and Catalunya as well as England, Ethiopia and others. The children have managed to get to a level where they won't starve to death if they ever find themselves in a foreign land where Spanish isn't spoken but English probably will be. There is a term here called 'Huesketa' or something like that which kind of means people vow they will never leave Huesca and are devoted to this town and all it represents and nothing else matters and nothing else is worth mentioning. There is still a sense that the war zone that is the big wide world beyond isn't and need not be of any importance to people who live here. Sometimes I envy them their loyalty and love for their little village but then I remind myself you can feel like this towards the whole universe.

On the theme of Hicksville, a 'they do it on purpose' event happened on the way back from the Big Eroski. A car waited for us to pass even though there was plenty of time for the driver to pull out as is de riguer here and we were cruising along at a snail pace. He then pulled out and followed us for about three seconds and I mentioned to Henderson that this was odd behaviour and perhaps he would now have to overtake. As soon as I said this he did. It's that kind of unpredictable yet predictable behaviour here that does my head in. A few seconds later a pedestrian who was waiting to cross the road and was miles away from colliding with us decided to put on an act and feign hysterics by deciding not to cross the road until we passed. The whole of the short journey is littered with hazards almost as if they had placed there to test your mettle.

Henderson rang Mercedes and said he was about to ring the police as enough was enough after four or five years of listening to that bloody dog. I rang the police and five minutes later Mercedes was running up the road shouting up at our balcony 'que verguenza' which I suppose means 'you should be ashamed of yourselves' when in the rest of the universe this would mean 'I am ashamed of myself and my bloody dog, please forgive me as I am so embarrassed' but alas by ringing the police I or we are now the baddies. The police came about three minutes later and Anselmo her husband was by now coming up the road as they obviously realised I meant business this time. The police had a good old chat with Anselmo and I began to get worried that they might be related and I would be even more of a bad guy. Eventually, after about twenty minutos, the police came to my door and asked what the problem was. I told them 'look, I don't want to fight with an OAP, but her dog is driving me round the bend and and no one wants to do it, you know, tell her to get it to shut up, but this can't go on, and could you please at least have a word with her or I will call again and you will have to fine her'. They did this and even downstairs I could hear her defending herself and telling them that only we had a problem with the dog and how she never left it more than five minutes anyway, and the rest. Unbelievable really and I hate the way that if you call the police or complain or simply ask someone to pipe down you suddenly become evil and colluding with the proper authorities. That's not how I see it. If I had known better I would have called the police five years ago but I realise you can be two things here. A dickhead or a complete bastard. As long as the dog shuts the fuck up I don't care if they are my 'friends' or not.

I forgot to mention I managed to get the Skype up and running on my laptop and have now participated in an exhibition back in London by having my mug shot taken by a friend via this system. The end result actually looks quite cool and I am delighted to be a part of this 'happening'. It's also reassuring that with technology I can at last not feel alone and can connect with like minded folk as the supplies are running out here.