This was an intense week at work, as we were hosting an important meeting of public and private stakeholders, the Observatory Plenary, for which we had been preparing a lot and which consumed two days of the week. Of course there are also some pictures from my cycling escapades and walks with Cheeta.
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On Sunday, I cycled south to Elche and Santa Pola. At one point I was passed by a group of people on classic motorcycles, who then pulled into a petrol station. I quickly followed them to get a few snaps:
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This man posed for me with a beautiful 250cc Ducati from the 1960s:
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A red beauty, probably also from the 1960s although I could not identify the brand:
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And then they were off:
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I continued my ride and stopped for a break on the beach in Santa Pola. It was nice and warm, but the place was much less crowded than it is in the summer:
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Relaxing on a bench and looking at the island of Tabarca:
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On the way home, passing through the centre of Alicante, I happened upon the Ciclovía. It is an annual event where a major thoroughfare is closed to accommodate a mass bicycle ride of a few km. It is aimed at families and casual cyclists, not hard core types like me. The idea is to get people out on two wheels who would not otherwise do it:
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A bicycle cop:
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During the week, one of the “children” of my late mother’s miracle cactus bloomed for the first time:
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24 hours later:
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Another 12 hours later, the following morning:
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About a day and a half later, the flower is gone:
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We had the first rain of the autumn this week. I tried to capture it from two different viewpoints:
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But weather returned to normal, and my wife and I went for lunch at Hostal Maruja, enjoying the view of the beach from our table on the terrace:
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Readers:
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My wife on her way to get her feet wet:
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A sequence of three images. A woman with her glass of wine, and her partner fetching one for himself, and then joining her:
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Meanwhile, an African vendor tries to close a sale on the terrace:
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On the way home, we stopped for some shopping, and among our purchases was a package of ice cream, bought for Cheeta:
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Cheeta loves ice cream. We call this expression “orgasmic eyes”:
The next several pictures are from the plenary meeting we hosted at our office.
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My Italian colleague Valerio:
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Our boss has a word with Valerio:
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Lunchtime conversation:
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Claire takes a snap:
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Luis, the head of our communications, getting ready for an interview on the margins of the meeting:
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Claire with her victim:
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Looking at some papers, seriously:
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Looking at me, less seriously:
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The people attending the plenary come mostly from northern Europe where autumn is already in full swing. So they enjoyed the Alicante sunshine, although a windy afternoon like this makes it a challenge to have a smoke on the terrace:
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A festive part of the event, dinner at restaurant La Cantera on the beach near the centre:
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One of the other evenings, I went out for dinner with a couple of colleagues and a visiting economist from the OECD. We chose a place on Plaza de Correos, a lovely square with some spectular trees, made even more so by the changing colours of the illumination:
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Chris and Francisco share a laugh:
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Saturday morning at the golf course. The weather is nice, so there is a queue of golfers waiting to tee off:
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After my golf lesson, I cycled a new route, 45 km to a town in the inland mountains called Castalla. A few km before arriving at the town, I stopped to have a look at the roadside vineyard:
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Harvest is just around the corner:
