My windows - the begining

I decided to start writing about my windows. No, this is not a philosophical expression of some sort to refer to the windows of my soul or something like that. I would love to be more of a poet that I am, but, unfortunately I don't have much of a poet soul.

When I mean windows I literally mean windows. Today I realized that I love windows. I like to stare outside a window and see people passing by. I like to see the people and imagine something about them. Try to understand by their mere passing what they are thinking

I know, this sounds kind of creepy. But, hey, am I a Mediterranean or not? (yes, I am) And could you imagine wandering around any country in the Mediterranean and not see people sitting at the window staring outside? Staring at you... I am not going to they to explain why they (us) do it. You (British? Chinese? Northern European?) may just consider us nosy... So, this nosy person will start to describe some of the windows of his life. Staring from tomorrow because today I already procrastinated too much. I need to leave some procrastination for tomorrow.

Feta with the Queen

Those who know the fringe of Edinburgh well, also know that it's difficult to find good free shows. Sometimes they're terrible (I already had to leave one after 15 minutes), sometimes they're ok but when you find a good one you have to share it. I went to a very funny one, Feta with the Queen, reason why I'm sharing it here.

Katerina, the comedienne, is from Greece but has been living in the UK for a long time. The entire gig is about the stereotypes of British and Greeks. However, in this last point, I have to stress that the stereotypes of the Greeks can be easily applicable to most Mediterranean peoples: the equally bankrupted Italians, Spanish and Portuguese; the Bulgarians, Romanians and the Balkan Slavs enjoying their first steps in the EU (welcome to the club); Turks, Egyptians, Maghrebians... If someone comes from around the Mediterranean, it is very possible that they will feel that Katerina is talking about their own people.

Watching this gig made me think about other characteristics of the Mediterraneans. We build strong relations with our families, friends and neighbors but very week ties with the rest of the society. The state, that abstract entity that connects us all, belongs to all and, consequently, belongs to no one. And if something belongs to no one, as our Roman ancestors taught us: quod nullius est, id ratione naturali occupanti conceditur. Which means, things that belong to no one, belong to those who find them. 

This leads to avoid paying taxes, celebrating contracts that are disadvantageous to the state and advantageous to our family or friends, using public money for private reasons... All that is not as strongly condemned as it is, for example, cheating your family and friends or, God forbid, not call your parents with regularity. People may turn a blind eye to hiring a unqualified relative to a public position (actually, they'll even expect it) but they won't forgive easily if you don't spend the most relevant holidays at home (Christmas or Eid Al-Fitr, depending if you're in the North or in the South of the Mediterranean).

I imagine that for British (and Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians, etc.), the Mare Nostrum may seem a bit like the geographic basis for a big Cosa Nostra. But do indulge with us, please! Indulge with our strange relation with the state as we indulge with your strange relation with alcohol.

The challenge

So this is the famous Ben Lomond. Doesn't look so high in the photo but I can tell you is no piece of cake to climb it all!

Views from Ben Lomond

Loch Lomond

Unfortunately my camera is really kaput... The rice trick didn't work!
Still, I got the photos from my trip to Loch and Ben Lomond.

 The mist over the lake..

View over Loch Lomond from Ben Lomond.

Swimming British Lakes

In the last few weeks I decided to swim in some British lakes. Well, it wasn't really a premeditated decision but I ended up doing so.

During a very good and special week, I was down in England in the Lake District. The Lake District corresponds very much to what we, foreigners, imagine the English countryside to be like. Lots of lawns, green hills, cows everywhere, friendly people... And a nice strong rain every now and then. There I swam in the largest natural lake in England, the Lake Windermere. The weather was great and really inviting us in, as can be seen in the picture of me facing the dangerous swans.

Not so inviting was the weather today in Loch Lomond, described by wikipedia as "the largest inland stretch of water in Great Britain by surface area" (whatever that means). I camped in a camping site by the lake and it was a truly amazing place! With one minor problem: no showers. Actually, for any average Mediterranean person, this is not a minor problem, it's a major one as we are generally restless until we take our daily shower. As such, despite the not very inviting weather, after breakfast I went to swim in the lake. Not more than one minute, just enough time to feel like there had been water in me that day. The problem was that in the afternoon, while canoeing with friends, our canoe capsized and there I was back in the lake, this time for more than one minute... 

Don't worry, dear reader (the one that comes here once a month), my health will not deteriorate to the point of stop writing here. Major problem for this blog was that my wee camera was in my pocket. I still didn't turn it on as I'm waiting for it to be completely dry (five days in rice). It would be a shame if I had no way to photograph my British adventures for the blog. Let's hope the rice trick works! If it does, I'll have amazing photos of my climb to Ben Lomond to show here.

Loch Ness

Beautiful one day trip the most famous of Scottish lakes. And no, I didn't spot Nessie.

Portobelo on a sunny Sunday

Swimming in Scotland

Who said the Northern Sea in Scotland is too cold for a nice swim session?

This is me yesterday in Portobelo beach.

Life outside facebook

One week without facebook! Yes, it was precisely one week ago that I decided to check if there was still life outside facebook. I was surprised to realize that there is. Well, clearly there are advantages and disadvantages to it. 

The major disadvantage is that all the events are now organized using facebook. Now I understand the complaints of my facebookless friends who kept complaining they weren't told about events. It's just so easy to create an event, disseminate it around your friends and forget about those rare, exotic, loony people who are not on the most popular social network in the world. People like me, now!

The major advantage is to gain time to procrastinate in some other way. I wonder if that is an advantage... I closed my account considering that I was stealing too much time from work but until now I don't think there was a surplus of work. There is merely a more diverse procrastinating time.

Hummm... Given the lack of clear advantages and the existence of clear disadvantages, maybe it should be time to go back in. But I keep thinking that I'm probably still in that phase that quitting smokers experience after one week of stop smoking. They still don't feel better but feel in a terrible mood... So I'll need to give at least two months to life outside facebook to really experience how it's like.