I just got back from Sevilla. How happy I am to be in Jerez. There's a fresh breeze from the ocean, it's totally quiet on a Sunday afternoon at 4 pm.
We are going to have shark steaks on the barbeque for dinner. There are storks circling above the rooftop. Geoffrey is up there doing stuff in his workshop; just finished making himself a table saw out of a metal bed frame and various odd bits of metal, and a regular power saw which he set underneath it.
I am sanding my shoe lasts.

I was with Sachiko and some other friends last night at a peña where Pepe Torres danced. We went out afterwards to the main place for flamenco. Hidden in a place with the door half down, it lasts all night as long as the police don't come and force it to close down. There is no good place where they can sing and do what they want, as somebody is always bothered. It used to be the norm in Sevilla in certain neighbourhoods. Unfortunately and amazingly, the city allows music to be blasting from numerous huge speakers at an all night concert, keeping up everyone in that entire section of the city till 6 am, but a few people playing quality music, un-amplified, are shut down. Anyways, thank goodness Jerez is different. It is a community event complete with older people, here, and there is usually not a problem when it goes all night because, at least I suppose, people know that this is normal life here so they shouldn't live beside a peña if they don't want to hear it.

It makes me realise all the more how unique this place is where I live, what a treasure it is. A cultural treasure, a way of life that hardly exists anywhere else.

Today a student told me that she doesn't like Cadiz very much, due to negative experiences there. I forget the exact nature of them, but they were involving business. She works for large companies directing things.
I already know that the Gaditanos (people of Cadiz) are happy-go-lucky people. I have always automatically felt happy being there. Besides it is beautiful. It is on the Costa de la Luz (coast of light) and the first time I went there, the light had a heavenly quality to it. I'm sure I've said before that it is the only place in Spain where the traditional carnival survived the dictatorship, so they told me. They are utterly hilarious and take their ridiculousness and irreverence quite seriously. Besides, their humour is a good percentage of the time, quite intelligent, and they are known for having a mildly anarchist bent.
Well, said my student, the director of the company showed up to a meeting with the bank to ask for money, wearing shorts. They don't take anything seriously, she said. I think the company may not have survived.

The only major and important form of flamenco song in a major key is Alegrias (happiness), which is an invention of Cadiz. I have not studied it much, but just did so last month. I am currently trying to learn a few letras (verses) and to sing it a bit, so that I can understand the dance better. Generally I don't really enjoy listening to this form, as is just lacks guts, many times. But that depends who you listen to. Here is La Perla de Cadiz (the Pearl of Cadiz) singing one. I believe she is dead now, but don't quote me. She is accompanied by Paco Cepero, a flamenco giant, who lives here, and whom we shared the bar with a few Saturdays ago at the Tabanco (place where sherry is served out of barrels piled up).

La Perla de Cadiz