The main event of the second week of September was the return to the office on Monday the 7h, for the first time since we all went home in mid-March. There was certainly quite a bit of trepidation on the part of many of my colleagues, especially those who are in an open space or share an office with another person. I have a private office, so this was not an issue for me, and our building services people have worked hard over the summer to make the facilities safe in many ways big and small (example: toilet door handles have been modified to be opened with the elbow; the A/C system has been configured to not recirculate air, etc.). Meeting rooms can only be used up to 50% of capacity, you must wear a mask when moving around or talking to other people (and the office provides each of us with a box of 50 masks per month), the gym is closed for the foreseeable future, and so on. But it was still good to see my colleagues again after 6 months of seeing them only on the screen.
Besides work, I engaged in the usual activities of cycling and enjoying the good weather we are having.
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To start the week, I cycled to Agost on Sunday. Agost is famous for its ceramics, and many details of the village landscape reflect it, like this street sign:
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Door no. 1:
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Hair salon:
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I continued to indulge in a bit of food photography; here is a Thai aubergine paht peht at home:
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And at the Moments restaurant, a new dish on their menu, tuna served on a bed of bone marrow. Quite unique and very tasty:
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Our magic cactus went nuts this week:
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Monday morning I drove to the office, and of course I had to document things a bit. Carolina and Charo have such lovely smiles that even the masks cannot hide them:
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A meeting in progress, with remote participants as well:
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This was the last week at our office for our German-Venezuelan trainee Altair. It has been a strange traineeship year for her and the other 50-odd trainees we have had, with 6 months on site and 6 month teleworking, in Altair’s case from her parents’ house in Valencia. But we did at least get the opportunity to take her out for lunch at Moments:
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Altair with my French-Danish colleague Anne-Sophie:
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Going back to the office means that I must start my morning bike rides earlier, to allow for the 1/2 hour commute to the office. This has the advantage that I now get to see sunrise almost every morning, and now that autumn is approaching, the skies tend to look more interesting than in the summer:
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Clouds over El Campello:
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Playa Muchavista:
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Further inland, I photographed the landscape illuminated by the rising sun, like the village of Busot:
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And the nearby mountains:
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I have recently started playing golf again, and sometime when I walk back to my car from the practice range, I am watched by the residents of the golf course:
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Finally, four images from a walk on the beach promenade in the centre of El Campello on Saturday. Two men fishing in the harbour:
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Coming in:
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The bar El Lobo Marino:
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A conversation on the paseo:
