Got back from Spain last Friday, early in the morning, due to Brittany Ferries' sailing from Santander being delayed by several hours. The reason being not bad weather or mechanical problems but (wait for it) BF's wish to try out the ramp arrangements at Bilbao (they seemingly having picked up where P&O left off (the P&O boat "Pride of Bilbao" now no longer operational) and also at Roscoff in Britanny, where BF intends to pick up French passengers on the Portsmouth-Santander crossing. No great inconvenience to Geriatrikiter, this, (or Mrs G) but it obviously was to a number of fellow passengers, who missed appointments, missed seeing relatives who had to fly back to Australia, had to put up in hotels etc etc. So much so that one wonders about BF's commercial wisdom - how would commercial airline passengers feel, for instance, about their flight being diverted and delayed several hours in order to see if this or that other airport was suitable for landing the plane? To be fair, BF has made concessionary gestures, but the question about their commercial ethics, or nous, remains. Doesn't it?

Late Sept/Oct a very good time to be in Spain. Golden sunshine. No crowds. Golden oldies emerging and disporting themselves in the sea at (e.g.) Playa Chica in Tarifa. Some of the GOs in question being Miguel (senior), Manolo and his suegra who invited me to guess her age, which was not circa 70 as appeared but (proximo cumpleano) 90. To which one's only response can be something like Phew! or Fenomenal! Or Felicitaciones! And mucho credibilidad to her proposition that warm sunshine and sea bathing is a v. good thing.

Geriatrikiter's macho bubble somewhat deflated by running into Andy from New Hampshire who is aged 75 and has taken up kitesurfing. Was v. happy to feed and water said Andy, hear his interesting life story, and give him a few tips about how to get going. Interesting to see that he was making some of the same mistakes as I did, i.e. reacting like a windsurfer when you need to learn a different set of responses.

As for jumping, got a few jumps in, when the penny eventually dropped that what's needed is not a whole lot of speed, but arresting the speed momentarily. As Mathieu said, you have to STOP THE BOARD! This serves like a bump in the road or a dos d'ane which serves to get the board airborne - in conjunction with raising the kite up towards the noon position. Obvious, when you think about it. Anyway, apart from that, some great wave riding was had, especially with the poniente, and no injuries either sustained or dished out to anyone else, in the way of decapitation or slicing off the odd ear. Nor did anyone else, it's gratifying to report.

On the way home, as per usual, headed up to Seville, only this time via Medina Sidonia (which is fine) but also Arcos de la Frontera which would have been a mistake if you were in a hurry. Extensive road works north of Paterna, and Arcos itself a bit of a trial to get around - being one of those, or indeed the, archetypal white hill town(s) of Andalucia. The 19th century watercolourists got it absolutely right - being content to sit outside these congested places and do calm and beautiful watercolours rather than struggle up to them and get all hot and cross. On the subject of watercolours, came across some v . nice laid back examples reproduced in the King's Bastion (from the Marrache Foundations Trust) and also in Mr Benzaquen's shop - "View of Governor's Cottage" by the GG himself, Sir John Miller Adye. Those were the days - when your GG was an accomplished watercolourist. Must look him up in DNB.

North of Seville got off the autovia and headed for Badajoz where there was an almighty punch-up between the Brits and the French in the Napoleonic period, with the Brits rampaging disgracefully through the place after taking it, as I recall. The excellent Museo Arqueologico Provincial at Badajoz well worth a visit - prehistoric, Roman, Visigothic, Islamic and medieval exhibits on display - and also an unusual item found at Plasencia - a Hebrew pointer known as a Yad, used as a textual pointer in conjunction with the Torah - "para seguir los pasajes y no tocarlo, alterando su caracter sagrado, se utiliza en la lectura un puntero denominado yad." Mildly surprising to discover that the word doesn't figure in OED. Should have asked Mr Benzaquen about that, perhaps.

So how does Badajoz connect with the film we watched on Mon at the Film Club, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - and a mighty watchable film it was? It turns out that Noomi Rapace, the actress who plays the part of the disturbed Lisbeth Salander, had a father who was a Spanish gipsy flamenco cantador who hailed originally from Badajoz.

Small world, and the longer you live the more you realise that everything is somehow connected with everything else.

So who is the author of the following, spray-painted onto a wall in Tarifa - "Al igual que respiramos sin saberlo, moriremos sin quererlo."

And how about this for the name of a fishing boat registered at Morlaix - Tad an Diaoul. I'm guessing, but isn't this bit of Breton practically identically with Welsh, Tad y Diawl - Father of the Devil? Odd name for a boat, though.