As we entered mid-December, things became decidedly more Christmassy, both at work and elsewhere.
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I continued seeing glorious sunrises during my morning bike rides, here enhanced by a fishing boat on the way to the harbour:
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Sometimes it is worthwhile to look at what the sun is illuminating:
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On Plaza Seneca in the centre, various attractions for children have been installed:
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A delightful encounter one evening. Susan Wilson used to be the IP attaché at the US embassy in Brussels, which is why I know her. She is now back in the US, working as a senior IP manager for Intel Corporation. But she remains our friend, and she was back in Alicante to attend an event we were hosting. One of things Susan and I have in common is our love of beer, so we went to the bar Malatesta together with my colleague Alexandra:
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Susan lives near Washington. She takes her little dog with her on all trips, including trips across the Atlantic:
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On Thursday I invited my team for lunch at a restaurant in El Campello’s yacht club. A most enjoyable outing, and of course nobody went back to the office afterwards. Here are two ladies who are part of the team, Carolina and Marie-Hélène:
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An image from one of my morning bike rides, a young dog on a balcony in Aigues:
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On Saturday morning I went to the Mercado Central to buy some Osso Buco for dinner. I happened upon a delightful surprise, a choir performing Christmassy songs by the entrance:
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I always enjoy visiting the Mercado; it is one of the best in Spain, and certainly better than Barcelona’s famous La Boquería. It is not a tourist attraction but a place where local people go to buy food. I first walked through the fish and seafood section, which usually provides photo opportunities:
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I also like looking at the abundance of fruit and vegetables in the veggie part of the Mercado:
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This being Spain, there are several bars inside the Mercado:
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Later, I cycled to Jijona to have a look at the open-air nativity scene, one of the most impressive of its kind around here. All the figures are life-size:
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The main event:
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I then turned my attention to the various ancillary figures:
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On Sunday we celebrated the 37th birthday of our friend Lucas, son of our Argentine friend Eliot. We had a nice dinner on our back terrace–it is a blessing to live in a place where you can eat outside in December:
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The main dish was Osso Buco which I made. Osso Buco has lots of carrots, and my wife stole some of the ones I had peeled to make a delicious carrot cake which served as Lucas’s birthday cake:
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Eliot was nice enough to bring along Balu:
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Finally, a random image from my neighbourhood. It is common to see this kind of homemade posters put up by people looking for work, but this guy seems unusually flexible, with skills ranging from publicist to graphic designer to dog walker:
