We started the week with a visit to a golf tournament in Spain’s most famous (and most expensive!) golf course, Valderrama. Back in Alicante, the book club WeRead held its last monthly meeting before the summer break. And I participated in a final meeting of my old department to mark the departure of the members of my former team (who are following me to my new department).
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We start with golf. My wife, the avid golfer, decided that she wanted to see the LIV Golf tournament in Valderrama, a golf course in the far south of Spain, close to Gibraltar. It is a course on which she is unlikely to play, given the ridiculous green fee of 500 Euro, so she wanted to at least see what the fuss is about. And seeing some of the top golfers in the world was of course also an attraction. So we got up early on Sunday morning and drove the 600 km to Valderrama, parked the car in a lot several km from the venue, and took the shuttle bus provided by the organisers to the course. We chose to follow a group of 3 players throughout the 18 holes to see the entire course. Here is England’s Tyrrell Hatton teeing off at hole 3:
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LIV Golf’s slogan is “Golf, but louder”, but when a player tees off, the stewards hold up signs asking people to be quiet:
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Many people had decided to spend their Sunday watching the tournament, and the crowds at the tee-offs and around the greens were quite dense:
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I was trying to capture images of the players with the ball still in the frame, not easy given the speed with which they hit the ball. On the tee shots it proved impossible, but here I did get the image I wanted, of Hatton playing a shot on the fairway:
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It was also nice (for me, not so much for the players…) when they had to play out of a bunker, like US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau here:
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DeChambeau in another tricky situation, on the last hole. He did not have the greatest day, but finished the tournament in a respectable 9th place at 1 under par (Hatton, shown in the previous images, finished 3rd at 4 under):
By 6 p.m. the tournament had finished, and we were hot and tired. But it was a nice experience. The event was very well organised, and the tickets were surprisingly cheap, 38 Euro per person, including the parking and the free shuttle buses (which ran very frequently). And the beer was cheap 🙂
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We had booked a seaside hotel in a nearby town called Torreguadiaro:
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We were both very tired, so we decided not to leave the hotel that evening (there were no bars or restaurants in the vicinity, and we did not feel like driving anywhere). Just as well; the hotel had a good restaurant with a view of the Mediterranean:
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I retired there to have a beer or two while my wife rested in the room. At the neighbouring table there was this nice couple who were engaged in a lengthy video call with a family member:
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I woke up Monday morning to a glorious sunrise from our balcony:
After breakfast, we set out on the long drive back to Alicante, arriving at home in mid-afternoon.
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On Tuesday evening, our book club WeRead met at the Pynchon bookshop/café to discuss the book of the month, “Pedro Páramo” by Mexican author Juan Rulfo, a book which inspired Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez to embark on his “magical realism” writing style. As usual, we placed the books on the table for a “group photo”. Reflecting the international makeup of our little group, we had paper copies in English, Spanish and Finnish:
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And on his e-reader, Dimitrios shows the Greek translation:
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We have a new German member in the club, Elke:
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Viv talks about the book:
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Viv listens:
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Kari speaks about the impact of the book on him. It was a very good meeting, we spoke for close to 2 hours, spurred on by a short novel of just 120 pages:
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On Thursday morning I got a nice break from the boring blue sky while cycling along the beach:
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Two- and four-legged social life on the promenade. I see a lot of dog walkers early in the morning; everyone tries to beat the heat:
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On Thursday afternoon I participated in a meeting of my old department. The reason I was invited was that part of the agenda was to say goodbye to my small team of economists who are following me to the new department that I head. In general, I will continue to be invited to social events in my old department, reflecting the deep bonds I have with many people there. So I will continue to have opportunities to photograph my ex-colleagues, as I did this time. Starting with Paloma, giving me a smile:
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Antoine, dedicated to his work as always:
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Michał, one of the people following me to the new department, says a few words, with the director Patricia and our trainee Romy listening:
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Then Patricia speaks, with Michał, Carolina and Romy listening. The people in the department had also arranged some parting gifts for them:
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The people listen:
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Kasia, a delightful Polish lady whom I will miss seeing on a daily basis:
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I finish with two cat pictures from Verdegás; as we all know, the main purpose of the internet is to show cat photos:
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