Hey! Hot damn! I made it! (As the Firesign Theater once put it, "I'm down! I'm grounded safe and sound! Trailing clouds of glory, I'm down!" Or, er, something like that.)
Man, that felt like a long haul. Mainly 'cause it was. And at the end of it all I find myself in Madrid, which is looking remarkably green, the product of a rainy autumn. When I stepped out of the arrival terminal at Barajas Airport this afternoon a few minutes shy of 2 o'clock, the sun shone brightly in a blue sky, the temperature hovered in the upper 40s. Down the access road that ran between the airport buildings, leaves gracefully came down at the urging of a breeze. It felt fine to be back, even through the slight haze from lack of sleep.
Was in my piso by 2:30, did a bit of dazed settling in, went out for a good meal, came home and crashed until around 10. Got my 'puter up and running, have sat here since then gradually adjusting to being in this space once more.
This relocation may turn out to be a teensy adjustment. I'll find out after I get some shuteye under my belt.
For anyone who may be interested, the headlines from today's edition of El Mundo, both concerning the recent massive oil spill off the northwest coast of Spain:
-- "El Rey pide a lot políticos 'menos fotos demagóticas' y más 'unidad.'" ("The King asks politicians for 'less demagogic photos' and more 'unity.'")
-- "Técnicos británicos detectan y miden dos manchas recientes de más de dos kilómetros cada uno donde se hundió el 'Prestige.'" ("British experts detect and measure two recent slicks of more than two kilometers each where the 'Prestige' sank.")
