The Spoons That Are My Ears!

Lisbon treated me well -- as it always does.
Such a beautiful and interesting city! One of my favourites in Europe...
This photo shows three people fundamental to the creation of my Sereia de Curitiba book. Publisher Pedro Marques, translator Safaa Dib, and illustrator Paulo Barros...

My heartfelt thanks to this talented trio, also to Luís Rodrigues, computer genius, and to everyone else involved in the Sereia events...

For instance... to the British Council, who paid for my flight from Madrid and provided a five star hotel for me... to Isabel Lopes, their representative, who met me at the airport, chauffered me around the city, took me to Belem for pasteis de nata and was extremely good fun all the time... to the teachers and students at the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, who were extremely lovely in every way... to the staff of FNAC... to the waiters of the Chiado café where I read... to all the lovely people who took the trouble to say hello and make me feel welcome -- and hugely welcome I did feel!

There are some photos on my flickr account, here... Also here and here, courtesy of Luís Rodrigues, and here, courtesy of Safaa Dib, and here, courtesy of Sandra Rosa... Luís and Safaa (and Pedro (not to mention many of my other Portuguese friends)) are characters in my stories and I will undoubtedly turn the new people I met on this trip into characters... Everything was wonderful! Now I'm off to have another coffee, which reminds me: here is the strangest galão ever!

I've just come back from the Picos de Europa, the most beautiful mountain range in Spain. I stayed in Rosa's communal farmhouse, a tiny stone building in the middle of a forest, with a dozen other people. Wild horses, wolves, lynxes and even bears dwell here -- in the forests, not in the house! Cantabria is now my favourite region of Spain. We used candles for illumination and toasted ourselves in front of a blazing wood fire and drank water from a fresh mountain spring. This kind of life is the best!

We climbed Peña Sagra for a spectacular view in all directions. To the north the Mar Cantábrico was a gorgeous blue, creamed with fluffy clouds on the horizon. This was the first time I'd seen the sea since my night at Osel Ling more than two months ago. It was overwhelming. The weather was perfect. Near the summit we had a picnic, then we descended through autumn trees in the sunset. There were eagles above us but no other climbers. The contrast with overcrowded Madrid was almost too extreme!

Many things have happened in the past week or so, but after this expedition I feel too zonked to write about them. Briefly, I met Luis Prado again -- Bibliopolis is a truly marvellous publishing house in every way. He gave me money for my book. I was vastly pleased. Last night I went to a gig in a jazz club. Rosa seems to know everyone in Madrid. I am preparing myself for Lisbon next week and Seville the week after. Mucho delight is mine! Photos of my trip to the Picos are on my flickr account here.

Fiestas and more fiestas! Does this country ever take a break from celebrations? I don't think so... On Saturday I went to a village called Buitrago where a medieval fayre was taking place. Men on horses jousted with cardboard lances. It was like a scene from Tirant lo Blanc but without real violence. Buitrago is a pleasant historical little place...

There was another fiesta in the city of Getafe on Sunday: more people dressed in medieval costume but also fire jugglers and Cuban music. And performance art. A man drew pictures in chalk dust with a vacuum cleaner while another man played avant-garde squeaky saxophone. Huh? I networked with the local Minister for Culture and have been invited to appear at a major conference of fantastic fiction next year.

October already! Lots of projects are coming together, so this should be a busy month for me. As a writer I have a big advantage in that I'm often at my inimitable best and I'm delighted the British Council have decided to accept this fact and support my trip to Lisbon. Courtesy of Livros de Areia the details of my trip are as follows: October 24: reading in a Chiado café; October 25: presentation at the British Council's HQ; October 26: presenting the book at FNAC Colombo. Further information here... I believe also that Pedro Marques will be in possession of the original drawings and paintings of my illustrator, Paulo Barros, one of the best mermaid artists ever!