Hola!

Back! After leaving London for Paris on the Eurostar on Mon Aug 7th, and staying with Jo's ex-colleague in Paris overnight - we headed down to the South of France on the TGV (bliss - how train travel should be) to pick up my old school friend, Dobs' car from his place between Montpelier and Narbonne. After stopping the night we headed the 3 hrs down to Barcelona to meet Heather and Reka, our old friends from Houston, TX (pictured with me below on our hostel balcony at Placa Real, in the Barri Gotic region of Barcelona).

We spent a week together camping & hiking on the northern Costa Brava coast (Port de la Selva/ Cap de Creus) - stunning part of the country:

Hiking up to the 12th century castle that could be seen on a distant ridge from our campsite was a particular highlight of this week (that's our campsite, just to the left - as you are looking - of Jo's head, the white smudge on the shoreline! a 6hr round trip!):

After exhausting Heather and Reka sooooo much that they had to be driven back to Barcelona and flown home to San Francisco ...

Jo and I then headed for La Garrotxa, the "land of a thousand contrasts" - a volcanic national park 1 hr west of Girona, in Catalonia, where we found Jo's dream home and vistas to die for:

Followed by a few days beach rest on Futadera beach near Tossa de Mar, which although in the middle of the Costa Brava, was a refreshingly underdeveloped part of the coast and not in anyway typical of the stereotype. Our campsite was minutes from the beautiful coves in the Tossa link above (my phone camera battery long dead by then) and our campsite, though a little 'Butlins' like, was in the middle of the Massif Caderetes national reserve:

We then headed towards, Hijar, Teruel Province (72km from Zaragoza) to the hometown of Mercedes, my old school friend Toby's fiancee (now wife) for their spanish wedding, a Grand affair, where I gave the best man speech before 200 people (Jo didn't get a picture because she said she was so captivated by the speech itself - ah, my biggest fan!). Mobile phone pics of the day can be found here (on page 2, after the stag photos):

So now we're back and mulling the life we could have somewhere along the beautiful Spanish/ French border. Most of the last 3 weeks have been spent within 60 miles from last year's holiday to Collioure. London has long since lost its appeal and each trip we take to the region seems to spark plans for 'another' way of life. Who knows, by Sept 2007, maybe we may just have taken the plunge ... Bon Viaje!

More holiday pix of Summer in Spain/ Catalonia here.

Gentlemen, start your engines!

Our great summer tour kicks off with a night at Tom's place near the Sacre Coeur at Montmartre, Paris (pictured). Tom is an ex-colleague and mate of Jo's from Friends of the Earth. Cheers Tom! 20 days to go ... 20 days to gooo!

Donde este el torro?

Donde este el torro?
Originally uploaded by Nick Seecharan.

My old friend Toby's Stag day forfeit, in preparation for his upcoming wedding in Spain to Mercedes Lahoz - to wear/ act the Toreador for an afternoon and evening in Central London. More stag and wedding related pics at Flickr.

And 'poof'. Just like that, he's gone.

Bunny didn't make it. Not dead, as far as I know, but a cruel (on Jo anyway) reality check while relaxing at the chateau over in France last week helped us (Jo anyway) reach the conclusion that our home set-up just isn't right for the wee scrap of fluff (or his voluminous scat!). For now, he is back with his foster parents, Auntie Merryn and Uncle Mark round the corner. Jo has not quite thrown in her hand just yet, and is still exploring what (costly) home adaptations we can conjure up to make our home more bunny friendly. But for the moment - scat-free harmony has been restored. One down, one to .. no don't go there Nick! As I type, Fango is scratching the hell out of my new, recycled organic cotton cardi from howies. Incredibly, it looks green in the catalogue and online. But it turned up sky blue (see the picture evidence below) .. god you don't get much for 90 quid these days (I didn't pay that .. it was on sale ... still, boy! the cost of conscience-clear living). Why am I letting him do this - because as time passes you just lose the will to fight it - pets are for life after all not just for the christmas .. bunnies on the other hand. Gosh how flippant this post suddenly sounds, given the carnage and mayhem that has erupted in Israel/ Palestine/ Middle East ... if i didn't sound a trivial note here, however, there would be no sound at all, I fear - because I am mute ... with disbelief, like the majority of like-minded souls in my life, at what is happening over in Lebanon right now; at what is being allowed to happen. It's both surreal and farcical living in our civilised democracy these past few years. Actions speak louder than words and our elected leaders actions are neither civilised, nor (if you read the papers and watch the news) democratic. Is this what it feels like to be a condemned man? your world spiralling away from and out of your grasp, towards a depressing, conclusive and nasty end. When revenge is mete out, you could say that some balance may be restored, since it's innocents like me and people who feel the same way, that will pay the ultimate price. Will i be guilty? guilty because I, and many like me, here in the comfort zone lack the willingness and wherewithal to act directly to see our our convictions become a reality? Help me someone ... I just don't know where to start making the world do the right thing. I believe in and pray to god - the same as blair and bush who seem to wear their god-fearing hearts right out there on their sleeves. I just shudder to think .. exactly what the fuck is it they are praying for every day?? it's all fucked up beyond all recognition.