I took most of the week’s pictures during the weekends at the beginning and end of the week. In-between there were a few opportunities at the office, but otherwise it was a workweek of long and tiring days.
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On Sunday morning I set out on the bicycle on what I call my “southern route”, going south and inland from Alicante, and then returning home along the coast. This is the beach at Urbanova, now almost totally deserted. There are year-round residents in this community, but many of the apartments are only occupied during the tourist season or on weekends:
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Salinas de Santa Pola, on my way home. The sky was ominous, and I did get a good soaking during the last 20 km of the ride:
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A sign put up outside a property by the Elche municipality, announcing that works without a license have been done here, most likely an addition to the house built without a building permit. I am not sure what happens next; many of these signs look like they have been there for a long time. I assume that they are taken down once appropriate bribes are paid to the relevant officials:
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This week we had our semi-annual meeting of the governing bodies of our office, the Administrative Board and the Budget Committee (referred to as ABBC). The autumn meetings are particularly important as they approve the budget for the following year. The meetings took place Tuesday-Thursday, so on Monday afternoon the department that organizes them held a “dry run” of the presentations to ensure everything worked as it should:
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After the first day had ended successfully, the three ladies who are running all the logistics in the meeting room asked me to take a portrait of them:
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On Wednesday there was a general strike in Spain, but besides a few posters here and there like the one on the door of our post office, there was little to see in Alicante. There were apparently some picket lines in the industrial parks outside the city, but my commute to work was entirely normal:
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Never a week without at least one picture taken while walking my dog. Here is the morning light on Thursday morning:
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On Friday we held a despedida, or goodbye party, for Marc, a German guy working in my team, and one of the best. Unfortunately, his contract has come to an end, and we have no possibilities to extend temporary contracts beyond a certain point. So he will be moving to the Netherlands in January, we said goodbye to him this week:
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As is my habit at these events, I picked on people whom I know to be photogenic. Here is Caroline:
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Claire texting:
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Claire and Beatrice. As is obvious from this angle, Claire is pregnant:
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Friday evening we went to one of the few serious bookshops in Alicante, Casa del Libro, where one of my wife’s friends was signing her newly published novel:
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Back to cycling pictures, this time from the Saturday that ended the week. I cycled north to Benidorm. I have photographed this small road before, but this time the light seemed nicer than on previous occasions:
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I stopped in Villajoyosa, another favourite spot of mine. The reflections in this pool caught my eye, as did the classic car:
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Approaching Benidorm, I passed this impressive new building under construction. The construction sector is in deep crisis, but a few projects still continue:
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My bike on the paseo in Benidorm:
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Playa de Poniente, Benidorm. This new, curvy promenade was built a couple of years ago. I quite like it:
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The Benidorm rock, or simply “La Isla” as it is known locally, is the town’s most emblematic symbol:
