On the razz

Maggie is now back in Ciudad Rodrigo for the start of another academic year. She has moved into her flat and I'm here too for a few days to sort out my new job at the Dublin School of English. I have to go back to Culebrón to see if I can put the house back together before starting work at the beginning of October.

We went out with a couple of Maggie's pals on Saturday evening. There just happened to be a theatre festival going on in town - there seems to always something going on in Ciudad Rodrigo as far as I can tell. The show we saw involved six or seven men dancing and juggling and playing with fire on a stage that doubled as the backdrop for a video projection and firework launchpad. This special event, though, did not interfere with the general flow of the evening which started with a drink and a snack, progressed through quiet bars to noisier bars, obligatory tequila and general rowdiness.

We left at about 4am but there were still hundreds of people on the streets and in the bars. Unlike the UK the town had not been abandoned to the young by the older folk. There were plenty of us out and about and there was not a single moment when I felt in any way threatened by anyone's behaviour. Noisy yes, robust yes, violent no. Nice and lively for a town with only about 14,000 people