Fallas During Monsoon Season

I was pedaling around for the first day of Fallas and happened upon this scene a block from my house. It made me laugh that they included an ambulance in the tableau, as if to warn kids of the dangers of bulls in the street, which, if you haven’t heard or seen, is actually a thing in Spain.

There were kids dressed up as doctors and nurses standing by, and one little guy in a suit told me he was the coroner. I thought that was going a bit too far, especially when he kept saying, "Forget the ambulance; call the meat wagon."

 

Perhaps my favorite Falla ever.

 The weather is still horrible.

Antediluvian photos:

 

Felices Fallas to All!

 I've never seen a forecast like this in all my years in Valencia. I was able to get in some bike rides over the weekend, but today is looking pretty grim as I look outside.

Observations on Facial Hair

 The only thing required to have a mustache, a goatee, a van dyke, or any other variation is to simply not do something that I don’t like doing, namely, shaving. This is no “win/win” situation because now I have something on my face 24/7 that I don’t want there, like a big scab.

March 2022

 I realize that the weather is the last rung on the conversation ladder, but the rain is keeping me off my bike and I have a lot more free time to cook, the opposite of exercise.

Random Thoughts

They say that nothing in the world is as life-affirming as the laughter of a child. So true, as this video shows.

 

If I had a time machine, I would either go back and start playing the piano as a child, or I’d go back five years ago and talk myself out of trying to learn it again.

 

Maybe I'm a freak, but even when things are going great for me, the best part of my day comes with the first four or five sips of my morning coffee. Shit goes south after that, to what degree depends.

 

U.S. Defense Department officials are now saying that ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed at a gender reveal party gone wrong at his home in the town of Atmeh, Syria.