09/11/2006 Spanish Flew

I was as fit as a flea when I clambered onto the Easyjet plane at Madrid Airport.
However, by the time I arrived in Liverpool I was coughing and sneezing and felt terrible...
I could actually feel the germs getting a hold of me during the flight. Such is the wonder of recycled air on planes.
4 days later I still feel like shit...grrrrrr....
Anyway, had a great time in Spain...
I worked for a few days out in the country speaking to Spanish people as part of an intensive English course they were taking.
All the people I was working with were warm, generous, intelligent attractive people and I found it an immensely enriching experience.
The fact that I know they are likely to read this Blog at some point has had no influence whatsoever in my reporting of this experience, and anyone who says otherwise is clearly lying.
It's surprisingly tiring having to speak for hours on end without any breaks...even if my English is reasonably competent.
I also took great delight in doing my stand-up routine to a sea of uncomprehending expressions, murdered "Maggie May" at a Karaoke evening, and put together some improv sketches to remind me of how bad an actor I am....mercilessly hamming everything up beyond tolerable levels.
I also spent a couple of days in Toledo.
I caused a not insignificant amount of laughter amongst my Spanish friends when I asked if a prominent statue in Toledo was that of General Franco.
(I was not being stupid as I knew that Toledo was a Nationalist stronghold during the Spanish Civil War and was the scene of a number of pivotal battles. Therefore, it did not seem unreasonable that there might be some momento to the Generalissimo)
However, it turned out to be a statue of "Don Quixote".
As I later pointed out to them, it was a stupid mistake, as everyone knows that Quixote fought for the Republicans...
Bored, during my illness, I was rummaging about and found a poster for a practical joke company I founded in the 80s called "Rent-A-Laugh".
Sadly, no longer trading, the content of the poster which caused me to giggle were the advertised working hours of the company. 12pm - 5pm.
The late start spoke volumes of the then lifestyle of the "company directors" involved in the running of this business enterprise.