The raw material for this week’s blog comes mostly from two events. At the office, we hosted a couple of major meetings; and during my bicycle ride at the weekend, I witnessed the Moros y Cristianos festival in the town of Relleu. So as opposed to last week and its slim pickings, there were lots of images to choose from.
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I start with the events at the office. Every September we host the plenary meeting of the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights. Two days of speeches, discussion, and side conversations involving officials from the 28 EU member states, pan-European business and civil society organisations, and various invited guests. Lots of work for all of us, and especially for this guy, Mario, who is one of the people making sure that everything happens as planned:
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One of the special guests, a young Greek fashion designer, John Pan, who is passionate about IP:
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In the evening, we hosted a dinner at one of Alicante’s better restaurants, and one of the few with the capacity to host a party of this size. Given the nice weather, we ate outside:
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Anne-Sophie, a new French-Danish colleague, multitasking:
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Mario, nicely illuminated by the setting sun, in conversation with Nicole Marechal from CEFIC, the European chemical industry association:
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Before dinner, we made the participants work a bit while having their apéritif. We had set up four discussion corners, each manned by one of us and one of the stakeholders, where people could wander by and discuss the topic of that corner. Here is the corner discussing intermediaries (the likes of Amazon, YouTube etc.) and their role in IP infringement. Enrico Turrin from the European Federation of Publishers is on the left:
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The discussions were captured and became part of the next day’s discussion. Here is my colleague Erling doing the scribe duties:
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My colleague Blanca in conversation with Peter Hedin of the Swedish Patent Office, a longtime friend of the house:
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Two of our invited speakers, John Pan from Greece and Laura Musuroaea, a Romanian vlogger:
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On the second day of the plenary I had a split personality, because I also had to speak at another major event at the office, a conference on the future of IP, part of the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of our office. I had one of the opening speeches, right after Francis Gurry, Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (a UN body), speaking here:
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In the afternoon, with the plenary over and no further conference duties for me on Friday, I could relax and document the almost complete demolition of the abandoned building across the street. This is the view from our 3rd floor office window:
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A bit later, just after leaving the underground car park of our office, I stopped to photograph the ruin illuminated by the setting sun:
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Friday started with a visit to the bakery:
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It continued with our noontime drink at the office since this was the last Friday of September. A trainee who left us in mid-September had left this large bottle of Belgian beer in our fridge:
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Four ladies in conversation:
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Juan and Mario:
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Four Poles. From left to right, Michał, an economist working in my service; Kasia, one of our secretaries; Piotr, a senior economist from the OECD who was visiting us; and me:
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Friday evening, I had to stop by the supermarket on my way home and found these three cuties waiting outside:
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Later in the evening, I walked to Tutti’s for the usual Friday pizza. This scene, outside the restaurant, seemed slightly mysterious but interesting:
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As in many other countries, the Spanish league plays its matches spread out over the weekend so as to maximise TV exposure (as opposed to playing all the matches at the same time, as used to be the case). So there is also a game on Friday night, and this gentleman at Tutti’s seemed to be watching very attentively:
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On Saturday morning I was out walking again. People were eating breakfast in one of the bars, nicely illuminated by the rising sun:
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A teacher offers her tutoring services with a poetic handbill (“one child, one teacher, one pencil and one book can change the world”):
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I am not big on flowers, but this one attracted my attention:
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Later in the morning I went for my usual bike ride. I decided to go to Relleu, a town about 31 km from home. It is a good ride with a fair amount of climbing but also beautiful views like this:
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There were quite a few cyclists out and about:
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I always stop to look at this beautiful house in an almond grove:
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Approaching Relleu. The white sphere high above the town is part of a military installation on the Sierra de Aitana:
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When I entered the town, I could see that a fiesta was going on. Already in front of the town hall I saw some people dressed, shall we say, unusually:
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The main street was full of processioners and onlookers:
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Well-dressed girls and another cyclist:
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I went down to the main square to drink my Coke and to look at the festivities. The fiesta was the Moros y Cristianos, the traditional events commemorating the conquest of the Iberian peninsula by the Moors in the 8th century and the “reconquista” by the Christians between the 12th and 15th centuries. Our part of Spain was re-conquered in late 13th century, and most towns have these fiestas once a year. Each town does it in its own way–I have not seen people in horse costumes like these before:
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A horse-woman:
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Once all the people in horse outfits were on the square, a ritual dance was performed:
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Back on the main street, the main procession was getting ready:
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The procession had a horticultural theme, I suppose reflecting the traditions of the area:
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Flowers and the Valencian region flag:
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Finally, the last marching band left the staging area by the town hall, I took one last photo and cycled home:
