This week was very much about people, and mostly people from the office. Three main events: the last department meeting of the year followed by a Christmas lunch; and then two art-related events, first a linocutting workshop at the office organised by my colleague Kari, and finally the last meeting of the year of our book club WeRead, held at a small bar in the centre of Alicante.
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I have not posted my pictures in my Dogs of Consum series recently, for the basic reason that the hooks to which people would tie their dogs in the vestibule of the supermarket have been removed, for reasons I do not fully understand. It may be related to a new animal welfare law that came into force on October 1st. This law, among other provisions, sets limits on leaving dogs alone, which some people (mistakenly) interpret to mean that you are not supposed to leave them waiting outside a shop. Actually, the law says no such thing but apperently our supermarket has taken a strict interpretation. So I rarely see dogs outside anymore, although one day this week I did find this one, whose human had used the bicycle rack as the fixing point:
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On Tuesday, we had the last department meeting of the year, with a group discussion of the new strategic plan we are working on:
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As is usually done on such occasions, the group discussion was followed by a readout by a chosen rapporteur from each group:
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In the spirit of the season, people had brought various goodies to munch during the meeting:
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Especially Tina’s homemade cookies were a big hit:
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After the department meeting, we moved on to a restaurant for our Christmas lunch (for avoidance of doubt, we paid everything ourselves). Much to our delight, our former director Paul, who retired at the end of May, joined us:
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I walked around a bit, focusing in on some of my favourite “victims”, such as Stephanie:
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Back at my table, I focused on the people in my immediate vicinity, starting with Paloma:
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A new colleague, Silvia:
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The main dish was paella. Nicolas discusses something with the server (there were two huge paellas, one with chicken and rabbit, and one with seafood):
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After people had eaten, we circulated a bit to talk to different people, so by remaining in my seat I had some variation in my subjects. Nicki came by to chat with Carmen and Silvia:
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Anne-Sophie and Ziga share a laugh:
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On Wednesday, the art club WeArt held a second linocutting workshop of the autumn, by popular demand. Linocutting is like woodcutting except that as the name implies, instead of wood, linoleum, a material that is softer and much easier to work with, is used. As before, Kari led the workshop:
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Working on her cut:
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Applying the ink:
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Delicate operation, under Kari’s guidance:
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Transferring the image to paper:
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The moment of truth:
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Happy with the result:
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The finished products:
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Thursday evening we had the monthly meeting of our book club, WeRead. The book we had read was Purge by Finnish-Estonian author Sofi Oksanen (highly recommended!). We were going to meet in a bar in the centre, so I took advantage of the opportunity to walk around a bit and look at the decorations. This is one of Alicante’s main shopping streets:
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Mercado Central:
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Avenida de la Constitución:
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The lobby of an office building:
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I arrived at the meeting place, and was obliged to put on appropriate headgear by one of the women who had brought a whole bag of that stuff:
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Then we sat down for some snacks, drinks and of course discussion of the book we had read:
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But it was also a festive evening. Eri and Viv posed for me:
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We had decided to have a sustainable gift exchange, meaning that we were going to give each other second-hand books. Despite the modest presents, people were quite delighted:
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A rare photo of me:
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Saturday morning I took my daughter to the train station; she was going to Madrid for the weekend. At the station, like in every public building in Spain it seems, there was a nativity display:
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