Agosto mas frio

Madrid - the Cathedral, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

The coldest August in living memory, apparently. Still very pleasant here in Madrid during the day, although the evenings are not exactly warm. However, I saw films on the TV at breakfast this morning showing storms, wind and rain and apparently it is like that around Barcelona and the Balearics.

It just so happens that my sister, Fiona, is having a short holiday in Ibiza this week and I really hope it hasn't rained the whole time, after the disatrous summer in London.

Anyway, last night, one of my Spanish colleagues took me out for dinner just below this cathedral in the massive Casa del Campo, which seems to be as big as the whole of Madrid itself. Here we had dinner at a Basque restaurant where we ate some delicious ham, followed by grilled sardines and small green peppers, washed down with some young (and not too oakey) Rioja, red being a much more suitable companion to sardines than white.

Fred in the meantime spent his day doing two long walks in the centre.