After my sister’s visit and the many days off during the previous two weeks, it was back to work, full-time, this week. Of the 24 images below, more than half are from the office, although the activities depicted are more pleasant than sitting in front of a computer.
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The department in which I work, the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights, is somewhat separate from the rest of the office, so we held a long-planned meeting to present ourselves to colleagues from other departments, and especially describe how we work together with them. As a by-product, Claire recorded us in action, and the recordings will be sent to the instructor who gave us a course in moderation/public speaking earlier this year, for individual feedback:
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Our colleague Vincent is retiring after working in the office ever since it was established in 1994. To give him a departmental send-off, a breakfast was arranged; but it was a surprise for Vincent, so the event was disguised as a fake meeting to discuss next year’s work programme. As in all such events, Stephanie played a major role in the organisation of this breakfast, and here she is, checking on Vincent’s whereabouts (the rest of us were already in the meeting room):
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Once recovered from the surprise, Vincent told us many stories from his 23 years at the office, some funny, some serious, but all interesting:
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Vincent speaks to Stephanie, Fouzya, Claire and Ann…:
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…and makes them laugh:
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On Thursday evening we had our monthly wine tasting. This time it was something different, a winery from Tuscany, Sangervasio. It is a family-owned business, and one of the owners, Luca Tommasini, was there in person to present his wines:
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The wines were wonderful:
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As is often the case when you meet the owner of a vineyard (rather than a marketing person), Luca spoke with passion and knowledge, in a mix of Italian and English:
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There was also an assortment of Italian cheeses and salami to go with some of the wines:
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Many of the retirees from the office remain in Alicante after retirement, unsurpringly. Takis is among them, and he takes part in many social arrangements at the office. Here he is with his wife:
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And here is a solo portrait of Takis. He is a delightful person in every respect:
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Because sunrise is after 8 a.m. right now (at least until we change back to normal time at the end of October), on days when I come to the office early, I enjoy sunrise over the Mediterranean; but there are also other ways to photograph morning light, like here:
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And here:
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On Sunday, the Volvo Ocean Race started here in Alicante, the second time in the past few years that our city has served as the starting point. It is a 9-month sailboat race around the world, with the first leg from Alicante to Lisbon. Lots of people came to see the seven boats off:
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We went for lunch at a restaurant in the harbour; from our table we could not see the departure of the boats, which frankly did not bother me much; I am not at all into sailing. But Elio was feverishly trying to load the app to watch the TV feed:
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I was more interested in the people, like this little boy who was very interested in the saxophone (there had been some marching band performance earlier in the day):
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Or this well-dressed lady:
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I was pleased to see one of Denmark’s most important companies as a sponsor here:
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The area was decorated with flags representing previous departure ports, such as Cardiff in Wales:
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But then our attention turned to the food. The restaurant is owned by one of the best chefs in Alicante, and the food, although standard Alicante lunch fare, was both tasty and presented in novel ways (compared to what it usually looks like). For example, this ensaladilla rusa, a typical tapas dish:
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Patatas bravas are usually roasted potato cubes with the spicy sauce. Here, the presentation is quite different:
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And a nice fish filet as the main course:
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Because of the many people who had come to see the boats, I had to park quite a distance away. On the way to the car, I photographed this classic Alicante sight, a white dove on one of the old ficus trees on Plaza de Correos:
