Electrocution makes the top of my “Things that happened today” list

I woke up this morning and decided that it was way too early to leave the warmth of my sleeping bag for the cold air outside. So I hit the snooze button on my phone several times and stayed in bed until about 9:30. Una woke me up, barking inside the house because she was locked in, at about 8:30. I called her in and she hopped up into bed with me and snuggled for a bit. Not a problem as long as she's not covered in dirt. She wasn't so I assumed Paddy had not taken her on her morning walk yet, also because he hadn't come in to wake me at eight I assumed we weren't walking to Sahagun today either. Correct on both counts. When I finally rolled out of bed and pulled my jeans on no one was around.

I used the bathroom and weighed myself: 130kg even... that's 286lbs, down from 309ish before I left. Looking at myself in the mirror is like looking at this person I've not seen in a while. The me that I remember from high school almost. I can't imagine where I'll be weight-wise by time I leave for the States in August.

Checked the coffee pot, and while there was plenty left it was cold, so I dumped it out and boiled some water to make a nice strong pot of herba matte tea, the kind they drink in Argentina. Very good stuff, and plenty of caffeine. Yum. No one else here but Rebekah cares for it. Had some bread with a little peanut butter (good old Jif that Reb's mom sent from the States) and then I was ready to start my day.

The cabbage I cooked last night supplied a nice stock which I decided to make soup out of for today. Paddy had stashed it in the Dispenser last night before going to bed. Sebastien woke up and came downstairs and Paddy came home within a relatively close time frame. We sat around and chatted for a bit before Sebastien headed over to The Alamo to work for the day. A new issue of The New Yorker arrived today so paddy decided to sit outside in the sun and start reading that. I put some eggs on to boil for lunch and then went in to the salon to finish arranging things. I swept all around the room and into the hall, then put down the area rug that had been shipped from the US. It looks quite nice in there, and the couch is much lighter than I had anticipated it being. So now aside from some miscellany they salon is all done. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Beforehand I wired up the Bose stereo that came over. The only plug in the room is dangling from the wall mount, so I was careful not to fiddle with it too much. At some point or another though I grabbed it the wrong way and gave myself quite a jolt. Initially it was scary, but I pulled away very quickly, and it was only the briefest current, though the largest I can ever recall being shocked by. I'm not dead, so good news there, and a little electricity (240V here in Europa) can't hurt now and then, can it?

After I finished in there I moved on to the kitchen and started lunch. Decided to take another stab at making Ensaladilla Rusa with some ingredients we had laying around. A can of tuna, a can of peas, some raw carrot chopped up, the eggs I'd cooked and sliced (with the handy egg slicer I found yesterday... also found the garlic press, Hallelujah!), a little Gouda cheese, and chopped and boiled potatoes, mixed with some seasoning, mayonnaise, and mustard seed. It turned out quite well. In addition to that I heated up the cabbage base soup that I'd concocted last night. It was a very nice lunch.

After lunch I grabbed The New Yorker and scanned the stories, then did the sodoku (Edit: amusing comment. The word “sodoku” is being highlighted as being spelled incorrectly. The closest suggestion? “sodomy...” Great. I should probably add that to the dictionary.) puzzles from the papers that were laying on the floor in the kitchen. I think I'm going to sit down with some older issues and start reading them, translating as needed, to practice my Spanish. I suppose I should start concentrating on my Italian now though since I'll be leaving to start my Camino in two or three weeks, and after that will be in Rome.

I finished The Return of the King last night. I can't say I was overly pleased with the ending, but it was an ending nonetheless, and not the worst I've ever read. Decided to take a siesta after lunch so I started listening to Albert Camus' The Stranger. I'm not really sure how I stumbled across this book and another famous one he wrote called The Plague, but I believe it was due to one or the other being the basis for some movie I saw and seemed to enjoy enough to research it. Who knows. If anyone knows what I'm talking about let me know! Regardless, I'll indulge in a little existentialism over the next few days. Like electricity–it never really hurt anyone... right?

My siesta lasted quite a while and I got up just after six. Paddy and Sebastien were both in the kitchen reading. I made some more tea, and then came into the salon to chill in my newly completed atmosphere. Then, I think I did the most boring thing I've ever done in my life (probably not true, but this was up there.). I've had Beethoven's 9th Symphony stuck in my head for most of the day (an abridged version of it is part of the soundtrack to Orange Mechanique [in English A Clockwork Orange... I bought the CD in Paris]). So I grabbed a CD from the kitchen, threw it in the Bose, and then pulled the 1200 some-odd page Classics of Philosophy book of the shelf and sat down for some “light” reading. Yea. God forbid anyone under the age of fifty or so would have come in and seen that. How would I ever keep up any appearances of being a care-free youth?

After a chapter on the Pre-Socratic underpinnings of philosophy, I went into the kitchen and Paddy was “becoming peckish,” so I started to fix dinner. Hm, from the sounds of it my domestication seems to expand day after day, huh? No problem though, I enjoy cooking, especially because if I were to simply serve sauteed onions and garlic Paddy would still say, “Oh, it smells lovely!” I'm not sure if that's because he's not picky, or because he's British... or both.

Really though, dinner was easy and quite hardy. We finished off the cabbage rolls from last night, I cooked some green beans, and also fried some diced potatoes with the few sausages that were left from yesterday. The two (potatoes and sausages) mixed together were quite nice. After dinner I did the washing up and then Paddy, Sebastien and I lounged in the kitchen, finishing the wine we'd opened and having quite the oddball conversation covering topics from terrorism to philosophy (is that the same thing? Ha ha) from art to how to avoid hangovers. I really enjoy talking with Paddy as he's lived such a seemingly full and interesting life and has lots of stories to weave into any conversation. He also reminds me of spending time with my grandparents (they're about the same age). They always used to tell me, “Oh when you get older you won't want to spend time with us and will have better things to do.” It made me feel really bad growing up because I never knew more or less how to tell them they were wrong. Granted, yes, I grew older and became busier with things–life tends to do that–and after moving to Cleveland we didn't see each other every weekend like I did in high school, I still immensely enjoy being with them. They are two of the best people I know.

So no I'm just listening to the soundtrack from Amelie (excellent music and an even better French film if you've not seen it) and wondering how I've possibly managed to type 40 pages of text in just the short time I've been here. I think it seems like much longer than it has been. One month exactly as of yesterday. Oh! Just as an aside, I discovered this amazing system of trails in France called the Grande Randonee, which are maintained by a special government office, specifically meant as trails spread throughout the country for hikers. The system has over 100,000 miles of paths, so I need to get more information on the ones that follow the route I'd like to take while there. Even more support for me walking most places I travel here. Brilliant. Okay, I think it's time to climb into bed.

Bonne nuit.