La vega de Salobreña

Frío, Ventoso y seminublado día de primavera en la vega de Salobreña.

Unknown Rant from ground zero (2005)

Here I am in the desert Aberdeen, seagull's land, greenish wilderness, fresh ocean of grass, Is it summer??, is it summer in Europe??, does exist summer? could you answer me??, excuse me my dear fellows, for all these questions at this insolent moment of the night, but you know, five years ago I arrived to these northern land, where summers are short, and the sun rises once or twice a month, that I forgot how smells the summer, I forgot how It looks like, I forgot Its taste too, because just an idiot can call these frozen days in Aberdeen 'summer', what a joke,nooooo my dears, everybody knows that in Aberdeen there is just one season, THE EVERLASTING WINTER, exactly my international friends, today August 5th of 2005 we have in Aberdeen a very nice temperature, 11.6 °C, yes you read well my dear, I said nice, I will say again NICE, and I will pray to the Aberdonian frozen gods to keep the weather like that until my departure to the japans, and don't get worst, because at list It's not raining hahahaha!.

Anyway, shall we forget about the weather for a while, because the purpose
of this email is to inform you my dear buddies about my current
situation, firstly, I do apologize because I didn't write to you before during the past few years, and I do apologize too because instead of writing to each one of you I am writing one shared email, just the almighty knows how I hate the shared
tipical emails, like love greetings, save the world ones or the tipical questions for predict your future, in my opinion emails of different kinds should be sent from one
single person to another, to keep this warmed feeling that arises when one
person writes to another, anyway, never there is a reasonable reason for
sending a shared email, and if there is one for this, should be because I
will be in Aberdeen for a very short time, less than three days, and it
would take me ages to write an email to each one of you.

I don't want to lie myself, the main reason for this long and boring email
is emotional rather than logical, I think. My dears, I have spent four crazy and interesting years in Aberdeen, I have met people from diferent nationalities, I have singed flamenco with an italian orchestra man who played the armonica and calls himself 'The Picaro italiano', I have met a beautiful flemish with grey eyes and warmed heart, I used to have supper with a giant from the frozen Finland, I have shared with a luxembourger endless meetings smoking and drinking coffee, luxembourger, who is without any doubt, one of the most pacient and comprensives persons that I have never ever met in all my entire life, by the way 'donde, donde Dondelinger estas???, I have sung 'Ooh joe Banana' in shorts with a stylish belgian
guy, I have smoked joints until the dawn with three modern greeks, I have
broken walls for hours in a shitty job with a chinese friend from Macao, I have worked in a spanish shit~hole restaurant called 'La Tasca' I have met an incredible and wised japanese who showed me the true meaning of the friendship, I have learned a
basic knowledge of japanese SAKEGAAAA TARINEIINNN DAIOOOOOOOO!!!!! wich
means 'more sakeeeee noooowww'.

And after all this crazy adventures, affairs, and missfortunes in the land
of the Scots, Here I am, as If I arrived yesterday, in front of one computer screen (at 3:00 o'clock in the morning, one hour more in my dear Spain), writing to you from the first place where I arrived in Aberdeen, from the nucleo of the tale, from the
Matrix, from the start of the book, from the Hillhead, like the Quijote at
the end of the book I returned to the beginning of the story, I believe that
this is in fact the meaning of life, the neverending search for finding the
truth outside the mother, and finally find the mother again, and this is
indeed the final chapter of my story in Aberdeen, at the of the day just one
story no better or worst than another, no better no worst than my next one
in the land of the Japans, with maybe diferent characters and diferent
scenario.

But the adventure must continue my friends, and this urchin granadine says
good bye to everybody, but one good bye very short, hoping that our paths
will cross again, if the Wheel of fortune wishes.


Pd: but why I started this boring e-mail complaining about the aberdonian
weather, why?, becouse I came to Aberdeen without any stone in my pockets,
and Aberdeen gave me many nice things, friends, love and experiences, TO THE
HELL WITH THE FUCKING WEATHER, I am a very lucky guy for having met people
like you, I love all of you.

Kiotsukete

Bernard

La Caleta

Summer view of La caleta (The cove) and the old sugar-cane factory.

Back to the rust: timeless Osaka

Thank you Beckers!!

My working years in Osaka were finished, and with them my wildest time in Japan, the running ups and downs in the arched streets of Osaka, my bicycle, my comrades, the charmy familiar restaurants, the Kansai people, everything was left one rainy night when I had to go to Tokyo for my new and better paid job.

Just in one day, my style of life changed dramatically, even If I was in the same country, soon I realized that Tokyo and Osaka were two different universes, Osaka was a concentrated space that was designed for bicycles, everybody rode them, and Tokyo a huge area, surrounded by dormitory towns, where life was unthinkable without the local trains and metros, Osaka was the chaos, with its crazy arcades, and chanels, people there lived freely in the messy streets and socialize in the pubs, restaurants, Isakayas and terraces, but Tokyo, was the order a busier metropoli, where people didnt speak too much to each others wore suits, and went to cafeterias,chain food shops, mostly alone, for studying, reading or playing games.

Soon I realized that in a highly populated and stressfull city like Tokyo It was Important to find a private public space, an own area to sit down after the job and rest from the commuting trains, the crowd and the asfalt, thats how I discovered Beckers, a wooden cafeteria located underneath's Fujisawa Station.

During two years, Beckers was my bubble, my oxigen tank, my bunker, my reading place my short scape from the multitudinous solitude of Tokio, every morning I get off the first train (I had to take three to get to my job!), and I fought against the crowd to reach Becker's door, once I entered in the place I was saved, the best English breakfast was waiting for me, a crunchy well made toast, fried bacon from the finest quality, scramble egg with some ketchup, and a tasted hot coffee in winter or a huge refreshing ice coffee in Summer, on Sundays I went there to read my favorite newspaper "The Japan Times" and to eat the burguer menus, with chilli sauce, fried potatoes and ice cola.

But the best thing about Becker's was its location, just underneath of the train station, in front of the sotetsu line, in the middle of the busy crowd but protected from the crowd, inside the cafeteria everybody was relax, listening the classical music, but through the windows you could see the twisted faces running to catch the trains, trying to be in time for their jobs, jumping through the upstairs to reach the station, aahhhh at that time how good was to be inside Becker's.

Thanks Becker's for those tasted delicacies, specially the breakfast, the big ice coffees and overall for have given me a good break-time space during my time in Tokyo's jungle.

Working at Kinokuniya bookstore

I made this sketch one year ago, I was in Yokohama's Kinokuniya bookstore when I realized how organized were the shopkeepers, same cool costumes, always willing to help, and always ready behind the counter, prepared for charging the costumers and dont make them waiting too much in the queue, they were like warriors waiting for a consumer army including myself.

Sketching japanese Part 2

More people sketchings, on the left page trying to study some old people figure. On the right couple and families. Some of them taken in situ in Yokohama, but some made after at home from the pictures I took with my camera.