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2.4.12

BARS & BANANAS


BARS. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re the places to meet people, unless you’re into BOWLS or BADMINTON or BELLY-DANCING or can afford to join the BRITISH GAMES CLUB or play golf.
There is one English bar in our small town and four Spanish, so choosing which one to visit depends on which TV programme you want to avoid. BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT (hmm!) or The X Factor send us to a Spanish bar. BARCELONA playing Madrid is a good night to drink English and then shut ourselves indoors with the cat, away from the shouts and groans and the BANGS of fireworks.
 El BUHO is an odd place, frequented by a group of BULGARIAN deaf and dumb people. They came over here to sell novelty lighters in the tourist bars, which can’t earn them much as they live ten to an apartment, but presumably is an improvement on their former lives. Their language is silent, but the flickering of hands is strangely disturbing - my instinct is to ask them to keep the noise down, but one can hardly do that!
Strangely, I don’t find Spanish nearly as distracting, and often leave the OH at home while I repair to a coffee-bar - preferably overlooking the sea - to write in peace.

BASURA. At strategic points throughout the town there are wheelie BINS for basura (rubbish) and recycling bins for paper, glass and plastic. They are emptied every day. It’s a good system, much better than having a set of bins for every home that are only emptied once a fortnight, yet there are still people who complain at having to walk those extra few yards, and dump their rubbish wherever they please. There's a B word for them, but it escapes me for the moment!

BANANAS. One of those words that is difficult to stop spelling! The first time I flew into Tenerife, I looked down from the plane window and wondered what the huge sand-coloured areas were. Now I know they are covered banana plantations, and we eat the produce every day. Each banana plant produces one enormous red flower, and the petals curl back to reveal rows of tiny bananas. These grow until eventually there is a bunch of bananas it takes a strong man to lift. I once heard a disgruntled Englishman complain that they were too small. At 50c a kilo, eat two!

BEFORE I sign off for today, thank you to all those who looked at my blog, and especially those kind people who commented.

13 comments:

  1. Great to read about your experiences abroad. I grew bananas when I lived in Australia. What a miraculous birth from that red flower to a huge hand of fruit. Well done with so many B words mentioned.

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  2. Where I live bars are only for young people to rub up against to loud music or for old men to go watch some ridiculous norwegian sport while shouting their hormones into the air. I stopped going to bars years ago. I do love bananas though :) Did you know they help you sleep?

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  3. Hah, great B words...I've never been a fan of bars, however I do love being a spectator and watching the people...now that is fascinating! especially since I don't drink :)

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  4. Bananas don't grow where I live, and I always feel slightly guilty that they have to travel so far just so I can eat them!

    Jenny
    Choice City Native A to Z

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  5. That's a lot of Bs - even for me!

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  6. Cuantos cosas tienes que empiezan con la letra B
    Muy bien!

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  7. I am LDS and do not drink but my sister has told me she is taking me to a bar when I turn 21 just so I can do karaoke with her!

    Konstanz Silverbow
    nothoughts2small.blogspot.com
    thewriterace.blogspot.com
    A to Z c-host
    www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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  8. Great 'B' words. I don't frequent bars, but bananas--well, I can hoist a banana!

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  9. Banananananana - yes, SJ and I laughed out loud to that one! :-D xxx

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  10. A nice group of B words. I think I know that B word you were searching for for those people who complain about walking to empty their trash. ;-)

    Bananas. We have little two-biters that are simply divine. Slice them up and serve them with a little melted chocolate- nirvana.

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  11. What an imaginative piece of prose - very readable.

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  12. Great blog with lots of b-words. LOL. I recognized basura right away because I love reading and interpreting signs written in foreign languages. But I usually spell Bananas as 'nanners' cuz that way I can stop spelling the word faster. LOL

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  13. Love reading about another expat's experiences. I am an expat in Athens, Greece and much prefer Greek hangouts to British places.
    Good luck with the challenge!

    Bex
    www.leavingcairo.blogspot.com

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